Virtually Engineered 2020 Combined Federal Campaign Kicks Off
The CFC will have a new but not unexpected wrinkle this year—it is all virtual. As NIH director Dr. Francis Collins alludes to in his 2020 CFC message, we won’t be embarrassing him and the IC directors with shooting hoops or attempting 40 push-ups this year. However, undaunted, the NIH CFC coordinators, along with this year’s lead IC, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, are vigorously “engineering” a CFC campaign that will come to you through your computer screen.
You can watch the inspirational kickoff message from the NIH director at https://cfc.nih.gov/, where Collins stresses that the hardships Covid-19 has placed on individuals and families make our support of charities more important than ever. CFC co-chair NIBIB director Dr. Bruce Tromberg adds that this year’s campaign theme “Show Some Love—Be the Face of Change” “reflects a climate of change and the many facets of adapting to a virtual world.”
Another change for this year’s CFC is that, acknowledging the effects of Covid-19 on NIH’ers and their families, the NIH CFC goal has been set at $1 million, reduced from the $2 million goal of previous years.
The video of the Oct. 8 CFC kickoff featuring Collins, Tromberg and NIBIB Executive Officer Jason Ford can be viewed at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=38793.
The first event of the 2020 season is a Halloween Charity Fair and Mask Contest, which will be held Oct. 29, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. It is your opportunity to have fun designing an original mask that is creative, inspirational, funny or scary—with extra points for including a CFC message. Additional information about the virtual event and how to enter will be arriving in your inbox soon.
Stay tuned for more CFC announcements and check your NIH email for Tromberg’s Sept. 24 kickoff message, which concludes, “Although many of us are apart, we can come together virtually and learn about joining the CFC community and get inspired to ‘Be the Face of Change.’”