WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2017 — The Defense Department raised more than $14 million for the Combined Federal Campaign in 2016, surpassing its $9 million goal by more than $5 million and making DoD the highest-achieving federal agency in the 2016 campaign, Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work said today.

At a Pentagon CFC awards ceremony attended by campaign workers from DoD organizations around the world, Work said that DoD garnered about 40 percent of the overall campaign contributions from federal agencies.

DoD’s ‘Boots On The Ground’ for CFC

“It really is the campaign chairs, the vice chairs, the campaign managers, the loaned executives [and] the key workers,” the deputy secretary said, “[who] are the … boots on the ground. They're the ones in the fight. And they really did great this year.”

Working at the DoD inside the Pentagon, he said, puts him around people who are devoted to public service. “And contributing to the Combined Federal Campaign is just an extension of that devotion,” he said.

All of the charities rely on those who give, Work said.

Giving Despite Hard Times

The deputy noted that times are difficult for a lot of American families.

“Giving is hard sometimes. But even when things are hard, the employees of the Department of Defense always reach into their hearts and their pockets and they say, ‘We are going to help other people.’ It's really inspiring,” he said.

Giving Worldwide

Work thanked the overseas CFC team, which brought in $4.7 million of the overall $14 million raised.

“CFC works at every single base, every single station all around the world, and they really, really helped us,” the deputy secretary said.

In the past several years, real cuts to the federal workforce have moved beyond the headlines to real life, he said. “… Our civilians in the Department of Defense, despite the real cuts of the employees, pay freezes, hiring freezes … are among the best this nation has to offer,” Work said.

The deputy thanked everyone in the audience for those they represent and for everything they do every day in DoD “to protect our citizens, to promote U.S. values around the world, and to protect the United States from enemies foreign and domestic. This $14 million is really going to be a big thing to a lot of people’s lives.”