In the early 1940s, the federal government began to set up tables where federal employees received their paychecks. The government did this to make it simple for federal employees to make a donation to local charities that were important to them.

 

In 1957, twelve national health charities banded together to create the National Voluntary Health Agencies™ (NVHA), creating what is known as a federation. Today, more than 34 federations work with the federal government's Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), which is recognized as the largest workplace giving campaign in the World, raising more than $265 million a year. Community Health Charities annually distributes more than $60 million of all public sector contributions, making it one of the campaign's largest partners.

 

In the private sector in 1983, the idea of a federation also became appealing to corporations who wanted to make it easy for their employees to give to local charities. The administrative and clerical cost associated with setting up, managing and maintaining relationships with dozens of charities to implement such a campaign could create a significant burden to the corporation. Similar to the public sector, 13 national health charities banded together to form the Combined Health Appeal^® (CHA) to provide support and services to private sector corporations to conduct workplace giving.

 

In 1998 NVHA & CHA merged, making Community Health Charities the largest workplace giving collaborative with a focus on health issues. Over the past 5 years, CHC has distributed more than $330 million to is member charities.