Employee Spotlight: Karenis Foster

Each winter, federal employees and retirees contribute to thousands of charities through the?Combined Federal Campaign ?(CFC), a workplace charity fundraising initiative overseen by the Office of Personnel Management. The theme for 2023 was “Give Happy,” which highlights the connection between giving and happiness: When federal employees give together to charities that make people’s lives better, they spread happiness, and they become happier, too.?

The CFC makes it easy for federal employees and retirees to make tax-deductible donations to multiple charities if they wish, through either a one-time donation or by setting up recurring donations from their paychecks that can make a long-lasting impact. Through the CFC, donors can also find volunteer opportunities for thousands of vetted charities.?

Since the CFC’s inception in 1961, members of the federal-worker community have given nearly $8.7 billion to charities that help people in need in local communities and all across the world. In 2022 alone, about 80,800 CFC donors gave more than $70.5 million in monetary pledges through the annual fundraising drive, as well as $2.1 million in volunteer hours, according to the CFC website.?

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development (RD) employees participate in the CFC each year, and Management and Program Analyst Karenis Foster, MBA ?was one of RD’s two CFC co-coordinators for the 2023 fundraising drive.?

Karenis joined RD in 2017 as a Pathways Program intern and is now a lead Management and Program Analyst within RD’s Enterprise Office. She has a bachelor’s degree in political science, a master’s degree in business administration, and a graduate certificate in financial accounting. Her work involves identifying and documenting administrative and program business processes that need to be re-engineered through automation or process improvements.?

Karenis said she loves the positive impact RD has on rural Americans, and the CFC is one more way for RD employees to be of service to others.?Karenis saw a call for volunteers to co-coordinate the CFC for RD and knew she wanted to get involved. “Without second-guessing, I decided to sign up,” she said.?

This is Karenis’ second time being involved in charity fundraising. In October, she volunteered at a Petco Love Mega Adoption Event where she lives, in Houston, Texas. The event found homes for more than 700 animals.?Karenis helped to gather donations to help save animals’ lives, and she even adopted a puppy herself!?

Each week during the CFC fundraising campaign, Karenis and her RD CFC co-coordinator, share information with RD employees about a different charitable cause. One of Karenis’ favorite causes is the arts and humanities category, which encourages raising funds for libraries, museums, performing arts organizations, and other charities focused on arts and culture.?Karenis said she loves how music, photography, movies, paintings, poetry and other artforms—even the art she uses daily in her work, while designing a SharePoint site or developing an application—enable people to explore their own creativity, think critically, and think outside the box.?

“Art and humanities broaden our experience and enrich our lives,” she said. “With a rapidly changing world, art in our communities helps us to understand not only ourselves, but our history, and to preserve those memories for future generations.”

Other CFC causes of the week include animal welfare, ending poverty, military and veterans services, human rights, and the environment. In addition to supporting these causes through the annual fundraising drive, federal workers may raise funds for specific causes through special solicitations from the CFC. In early 2022, for example, federal workers contributed?more than $600,000 in monetary pledges to support humanitarian needs related to the war in Ukraine.

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