State Employee Charitable Campaign (SECC)

The State Employee Charitable Campaign is the only statutorily-authorized workplace campaign for state agency and higher education employees throughout Texas. Thanks to legislation that created the SECC in 1993, employees of state agencies, junior and community colleges, universities, and retirees throughout Texas enjoy the benefit of giving to many of their favorite charities through an annual workplace giving campaign which features the convenience of payroll deduction.

Each fall, we get the opportunity to learn about the charities in the SECC, choose which ones we want to help, and then fill out a pledge form to indicate how much we wish to donate to which groups. We can make a one-time gift by cash or check. Or, even better, our gift can be deducted from each paycheck beginning at the first of next year. The campaign runs annually: September through October. During this time period, you can expect to attend an informational meeting or be approached by a co-worker with information and a pledge form. This directory provides information on all the charities in the campaign — a great resource not only for helping you make your choices, but also for finding help if you need it yourself.

Contributions made by state agency employees are distributed by the State Comptroller to participating federations, who then send the funds along to their members. Each university distributes funds to federations through its own payroll system. At the local level, the Local Campaign Managers distribute the funds the same way. But because it is almost impossible to account for donations lost through such things as an employee leaving or transferring, a percentage method is used to distribute funds. At the end of each year’s campaign, the percent of funds pledged to each charity is calculated. Each charity then receives that percentage of what is eventually collected. Undesignated pledges are shared with all participating charities using the same percentage. Each charity also pays its share of the cost of running the campaign (printed materials, etc.) based on the same percentage.

How much to give is totally up to you; your personal generosity is no one’s business but your own and remains confidential. Still, many of us like to have some idea of what is appropriate to consider as a gift.

FIRST … Consider giving the average amount of $219 a year, which is $18.25 per month.

SECOND … Consider one of the standards used in campaigns like this throughout the nation — giving one hour’s pay per month, usually calculated as 0.006 of your annual salary.

THIRD … Consider participating as a leadership giver — one of the many people who like to do a little more by donating at the leadership giving levels described later.