Campaigns Go On, but the Transition Is Around the Corner

Inside the government, the General Services Administration will coordinate briefings for the incoming team and create a directory of information for new presidential appointees. Congress has provided funding for transition support to the incoming administration since 1963, according to the Congressional Research Service.

For fiscal 2009, the administration has requested $8.5 million to support presidential transition efforts.

Record Year for Charitable Donations

A round of applause, please, for federal employees, postal workers and military personnel who help the needy, the sick and others through their donations to charity.

The tally from the 2007 Combined Federal Campaign, the government's workplace charity drive, is wrapped up, and government employees donated $273.1 million.

That's an increase from 2006, when the campaign raised $271.6 million, and set an annual record for the charity drive. Since it began in 1961, the charity drive has raised more than $6 billion, according to the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the annual fundraising drive.

The largest of the workplace drives was sponsored by the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area. Washington area government employees donated $60.7 million, according to preliminary results from 2007.

Employees in other areas also made generous donations, including those overseas, in central Maryland, Hawaii-Pacific area, San Diego, San Antonio, Atlanta, South Hampton Roads, Chicago and North Central Texas, the preliminary results showed.

The campaign's leadership award was presented to Edward Novak, who served for 10 years as chairman of the Local Federal Coordinating Committee of the CFC of Central Maryland. It has emerged as the third-largest campaign, raising more than $6 million last year, OPM said.

Stephen Barr's e-mail address isbarrs@washpost.com.