NCFM Member Jeanne Falla and NCFM PR Director Steven Svoboda at CFC tabling event in San Francisco.
NCFM NOTE: The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) is an annual process through which eligible and approved nonprofit corporations are authorized to solicit donations from Federal employees. Without approval soliciting Federal employees for donations is illegal. NCFM has an “International” designation allowing it to solicit donations from Federal employees around the world. The actual campaign for soliciting donations is only a few months long. During that period eligible nonprofits may be invited to make presentations and participate at events sponsored by Federal agencies. NCFM PR Director Steven Svoboda and NCFM Member Jeanne Falla participated in a “CFC Fair” recently. Here’s Steven’s report:
I manned a table for NCFM at a Combined Federal Campaign Charity Fair held on November 15, 2012 at the Federal Building in San Francisco. The event ran from 9:30 AM to 1 PM.
Foot traffic was a bit on the light side but 100 or so people passed by. Perhaps 30 of those people stopped to talk to the folks manning the tables including me. There were 18 total tables available to CFC certified non-profit organizations but there were three non-profit no-shows so 15 organizations were present.
Interestingly, most people who stopped at any of the tables stopped at most if not all of them. NCFM member Jeanne Falla had graciously suggested three talking points that worked phenomenally well with the predictably mostly liberal San Francisco government employee crowd while still staying true to NCFM’s principles and missions, which were more fully laid out in the brochures we had on hand and distributed to passersby. The three talking points were, in Jeanne’s words:
1) Responsible Fatherhood – NCFM helps make this more possible by improving father access to children.
2) Non-traditional male occupations – NCFM supports men becoming teachers, nurses, etc. for same reasons women’s groups supported women entering male-dominated professions decades ago. Male role models in education are especially important to children who lack fathers at home.
3) Advocates for men in changing society – NCFM believes in fair, balanced representation for men both at work and home (sizable percentage of members are women); this benefits women as it allows men more opportunity to fulfill their responsibilities to family and community (vs. women having to do all the work at home).
I estimate I was able to get 50 NCFM brochures into the hands of those passing by. Not a single person who stopped to talk with us argued with our positions, even after they reviewing our brochure giving our fuller masculist program. I believe this is due in part to our professional materials and presentation, and in part to changes in society as feminism comes to be seen as an artifact of the past and people strive to get beyond dogma and to work to promote the well being of all of humanity.
Steven Svoboda
Public Relations Director
National Coalition for Men
