2023 Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign
Launching October 2023
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
The eligibility requirements below are effective with the upcoming 2023 Campaign. Thresholds and administrative rates from prior campaign applications do not apply. You must be a 501(c)(3) charity.
Administrative Rate: The Administrative Rate is the total support and revenue that an organization allocates to fundraising and administrative expenses. Calculated as (Fundraising Expenses + Management & General Operating Expenses ) ÷ Total Revenue and measures expenses incurred on fundraising, management, and general operating expenses as a percentage of total revenue. You must use your 990 to calculate this ratio and also attach your 990 with your online application. Your charity's administrative rate should not exceed 25%.
- Charities with an administrative rate of over 25% from their most recent 990 will be required to submit a plan to reduce future administrative expenses. This plan will then be provided to a council committee of three that will carefully review and evaluate the application for acceptance.
- Charities exceeding a 25% administrative rate for two consecutive years will no longer be eligible to participate in the campaign. Future applications will be considered when expenses are within maximum percentage guidelines.
CAMPAIGN ADMINISTRATIVE FEES
Administrative Fees for the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign will equal 10% of donor receipts. This fee will be charged against disbursements to charities after the close of the campaign. Administrative fees for the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign shall not exceed 10% of the funds raised. There is no application fee to apply.
The Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign is not affiliated with the Combined Federal Campaign.
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
Section 1: Verify 501(c)(3) Status: The first step in your application will be to verify your charity's exempt status electronically using the application system's Guidestar Integration. Your charity must be registered on Guidestar.org to complete this step of the application.
Section 2: Background Information: This section is integrated with Guidestar allowing charities to easily pre-fill their application. The information requested is provided below:
- DBA: If the charity operates under a “Doing Business As” (DBA) name, enter it here. This name must be legally registered with the documentation provided. Please note that the DBA name will be used in 2023 Giving Guide and the CVC website charity search. If there is no DBA name, leave this line blank, and the organization’s Legal Name will be used.
- New or Returning Charity: If your charity participated in the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign within the past 5 years select returning charity use the easy record lookup tool to search for the charity's name or CVC code.
- Contact Information: An Administrative and a Development/Fundraising contact should be entered here. The fundraising contact person should be the individual most knowledgeable about the charity's mission and programs and may be requested to present at employee fundraising events.
- Website: The charity's website address.
- Year Founded: Year the charity was founded.
- Physical Address: The charity must enter its physical address without PO boxes. If the physical address is outside the state of Virginia the applying charity must explain how the charity will provide services to Virginia citizens and what percentage of Virginia citizens are served.
- Keywords: Describing Your Organization's Work: Used in the searchable charity directory. Data is pulled from Guidestar into the application.
- Summary: A 25 word summary of your mission and services for CVC's printed directory. This may be the only information some donors review when selecting charities from the printed Giving Guide.
- Organization Mission Statement: A comprehensive extended statement of services that will clearly define the charity's mission to donors. Your mission statement will be displayed to potential donors in CVC's online directory. Data is pulled from Guidestar into the application.
- Category & Services: Select the category and services categories from the selection menu for your charity.
- Coverage Area: Select International, National, Statewide, or Local and select the region(s) served.
Region 1 – Southwestern Alleghany, Clifton Forge, Covington, Botetourt, Craig, Salem, Roanoke, Montgomery, Radford, Giles, Franklin, Floyd, Pulaski, Bland, Martinsville, Henry, Carroll, Patrick, Galax, Grayson, Wythe, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Bristol, Russell, Buchanan, Dickenson, Wise, Norton, Scott, Lee
Region 2 – Northwestern Region Frederick, Winchester, Clarke, Warren, Shenandoah, Page, Rockingham, Harrisonburg, Augusta, Staunton, Waynesboro, Highland, Bath, Rockbridge, Lexington, Buena Vista
Region 3 - Northern Loudoun, Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Prince William, Manassas, Fauquier, Stafford
Region 4 - South Central Region Amherst, Lynchburg, Bedford, Appomattox, Campbell, Charlotte, Prince Edward, Halifax, South Boston, Pittsylvania, Danville, Nottoway, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Brunswick, Emporia, Greensville
Region 5 - Central Rappahannock, Culpepper, Orange, Spotsylvania, Fredericksburg, Madison, Louisa, Greene, Albemarle, Charlottesville, Fluvanna, Nelson, Buckingham, Cumberland
Region 6 - Greater Richmond King George, Caroline, Essex, Westmoreland, Richmond County, Richmond City, Northumberland, Lancaster, Middlesex, King & Queen, King William, New Kent, Charles City, Prince George, Petersburg, Dinwiddie, Chesterfield, Henrico, Powhatan, Goochland, Hanover, Amelia
Region 7 - Hampton Roads Region Gloucester, Mathews, James City, York, Surry, Sussex, Isle of Wright, Franklin, Southampton, Suffolk, Hampton, Norfolk, VA Beach, Chesapeake, Northampton, Accomack
Section 3: ACH Enrollment
Charities now have the option to receive campaign disbursements through ACH
Section 4: Charity Volunteer Opportunities
Charities can submit available volunteer opportunities for state employees.
Section 5: Financial Review
This section of the application will require the applicant to calculate their charity's Administrative Rate.
Section 6: Board of Director's Recommendation
Charities will be required to send an email through the Application System to a member of their Board of Directors. The Board member will view electronically sign an online form agreeing to the following:
- Requesting Inclusion in the 2023 Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign
- Stating whether the charity will participate independently or with a Federation. If with a Federation the name of the Federation.
- Certifying compliance with the Office of Charitable and Regulatory Programs (OCRP) registration requirements throughout the charity's participation in the 2023 Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign. For questions, contact the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) at 804.786.1343 or visit their web page (see Virginia Solicitation of Contributions Law for details). You may search here to see if your organization is registered.
Section 7: Attachments
Applications must include THE OFFICIAL SIGNED COPY of the most current IRS Form 990 or 990EZ signed by an authorized agent or officer from the organization. If your organization files a 990-N (e-postcard) attach proof of filing from your most recent tax return.
If you need assistance with the application process, please email the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign at support@cvcgives.org.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR FEDERATIONS
Current participating Federations with the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign are:
| America's Best Charities | United Way of Hopewell-Prince George |
| America’s Best Local Charities | United Way of Northern Shenandoah |
| America's Charities | United Way of Rappahannock |
| Community Health Charities | United Way of Roanoke |
| EarthShare | United Way of South Hampton Roads |
| Global Impact | United Way of the National Capital Area |
| Neighbor To Nation | United Way of the New River Valley |
| United Way of Central Virginia | United Way of Southwest Virginia |
| United Way Greater Williamsburg | United Way of Virginia's Eastern Shore |
Member charities should work with their federation to apply with CVC. Federations can easily use this application system to submit applications for their member charities. There are two methods federations may use to apply.
Option 1: Federations may start an application and then invite the member charity to assist with completing any or all parts of their member charity application including attachments.
- Within the application on the left side of the screen, the Federation admin will be able to click the Add Collaborators button. Upon doing so they can enter the email address of the collaborator/member charity they are adding, set the permissions of the user to View & Edit or View Only and provide an optional message to the collaborator.
- Once the invite is sent, the collaborator/member charity will receive it in the email provided by the federation. Within the email, the collaborator/member charity will be able to Join the application or Decline the invite.
- Upon clicking Join Now within the email the collaborator will be able to either log in or complete the registration process, depending on if they already have an account.
- Once they have logged in they will be successfully added as a collaborator to the application.
NOTE: If the collaborator/member charity is sent an invite to multiple applications, they will need to join each application through the email that is sent. If you need assistance with your application or have questions, please email us at support@cvcgives.org.
Option 2: Federations may complete each member application on their own, on behalf of the charity. Click on Apply Now to begin. A separate application will be needed for each member charity.
2023 CVC Charity Application
2023 Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign
Launching October 2023
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
The eligibility requirements below are effective with the upcoming 2023 Campaign. Thresholds and administrative rates from prior campaign applications do not apply. You must be a 501(c)(3) charity.
Administrative Rate: The Administrative Rate is the total support and revenue that an organization allocates to fundraising and administrative expenses. Calculated as (Fundraising Expenses + Management & General Operating Expenses ) ÷ Total Revenue and measures expenses incurred on fundraising, management, and general operating expenses as a percentage of total revenue. You must use your 990 to calculate this ratio and also attach your 990 with your online application. Your charity's administrative rate should not exceed 25%.
- Charities with an administrative rate of over 25% from their most recent 990 will be required to submit a plan to reduce future administrative expenses. This plan will then be provided to a council committee of three that will carefully review and evaluate the application for acceptance.
- Charities exceeding a 25% administrative rate for two consecutive years will no longer be eligible to participate in the campaign. Future applications will be considered when expenses are within maximum percentage guidelines.
CAMPAIGN ADMINISTRATIVE FEES
Administrative Fees for the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign will equal 10% of donor receipts. This fee will be charged against disbursements to charities after the close of the campaign. Administrative fees for the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign shall not exceed 10% of the funds raised. There is no application fee to apply.
The Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign is not affiliated with the Combined Federal Campaign.
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
Section 1: Verify 501(c)(3) Status: The first step in your application will be to verify your charity's exempt status electronically using the application system's Guidestar Integration. Your charity must be registered on Guidestar.org to complete this step of the application.
Section 2: Background Information: This section is integrated with Guidestar allowing charities to easily pre-fill their application. The information requested is provided below:
- DBA: If the charity operates under a “Doing Business As” (DBA) name, enter it here. This name must be legally registered with the documentation provided. Please note that the DBA name will be used in 2023 Giving Guide and the CVC website charity search. If there is no DBA name, leave this line blank, and the organization’s Legal Name will be used.
- New or Returning Charity: If your charity participated in the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign within the past 5 years select returning charity use the easy record lookup tool to search for the charity's name or CVC code.
- Contact Information: An Administrative and a Development/Fundraising contact should be entered here. The fundraising contact person should be the individual most knowledgeable about the charity's mission and programs and may be requested to present at employee fundraising events.
- Website: The charity's website address.
- Year Founded: Year the charity was founded.
- Physical Address: The charity must enter its physical address without PO boxes. If the physical address is outside the state of Virginia the applying charity must explain how the charity will provide services to Virginia citizens and what percentage of Virginia citizens are served.
- Keywords: Describing Your Organization's Work: Used in the searchable charity directory. Data is pulled from Guidestar into the application.
- Summary: A 25 word summary of your mission and services for CVC's printed directory. This may be the only information some donors review when selecting charities from the printed Giving Guide.
- Organization Mission Statement: A comprehensive extended statement of services that will clearly define the charity's mission to donors. Your mission statement will be displayed to potential donors in CVC's online directory. Data is pulled from Guidestar into the application.
- Category & Services: Select the category and services categories from the selection menu for your charity.
- Coverage Area: Select International, National, Statewide, or Local and select the region(s) served.
Region 1 – Southwestern Alleghany, Clifton Forge, Covington, Botetourt, Craig, Salem, Roanoke, Montgomery, Radford, Giles, Franklin, Floyd, Pulaski, Bland, Martinsville, Henry, Carroll, Patrick, Galax, Grayson, Wythe, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Bristol, Russell, Buchanan, Dickenson, Wise, Norton, Scott, Lee
Region 2 – Northwestern Region Frederick, Winchester, Clarke, Warren, Shenandoah, Page, Rockingham, Harrisonburg, Augusta, Staunton, Waynesboro, Highland, Bath, Rockbridge, Lexington, Buena Vista
Region 3 - Northern Loudoun, Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Prince William, Manassas, Fauquier, Stafford
Region 4 - South Central Region Amherst, Lynchburg, Bedford, Appomattox, Campbell, Charlotte, Prince Edward, Halifax, South Boston, Pittsylvania, Danville, Nottoway, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Brunswick, Emporia, Greensville
Region 5 - Central Rappahannock, Culpepper, Orange, Spotsylvania, Fredericksburg, Madison, Louisa, Greene, Albemarle, Charlottesville, Fluvanna, Nelson, Buckingham, Cumberland
Region 6 - Greater Richmond King George, Caroline, Essex, Westmoreland, Richmond County, Richmond City, Northumberland, Lancaster, Middlesex, King & Queen, King William, New Kent, Charles City, Prince George, Petersburg, Dinwiddie, Chesterfield, Henrico, Powhatan, Goochland, Hanover, Amelia
Region 7 - Hampton Roads Region Gloucester, Mathews, James City, York, Surry, Sussex, Isle of Wright, Franklin, Southampton, Suffolk, Hampton, Norfolk, VA Beach, Chesapeake, Northampton, Accomack
Section 3: ACH Enrollment
Charities now have the option to receive campaign disbursements through ACH
Section 4: Charity Volunteer Opportunities
Charities can submit available volunteer opportunities for state employees.
Section 5: Financial Review
This section of the application will require the applicant to calculate their charity's Administrative Rate.
Section 6: Board of Director's Recommendation
Charities will be required to send an email through the Application System to a member of their Board of Directors. The Board member will view electronically sign an online form agreeing to the following:
- Requesting Inclusion in the 2023 Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign
- Stating whether the charity will participate independently or with a Federation. If with a Federation the name of the Federation.
- Certifying compliance with the Office of Charitable and Regulatory Programs (OCRP) registration requirements throughout the charity's participation in the 2023 Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign. For questions, contact the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) at 804.786.1343 or visit their web page (see Virginia Solicitation of Contributions Law for details). You may search here to see if your organization is registered.
Section 7: Attachments
Applications must include THE OFFICIAL SIGNED COPY of the most current IRS Form 990 or 990EZ signed by an authorized agent or officer from the organization. If your organization files a 990-N (e-postcard) attach proof of filing from your most recent tax return.
If you need assistance with the application process, please email the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign at support@cvcgives.org.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR FEDERATIONS
Current participating Federations with the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign are:
| America's Best Charities | United Way of Hopewell-Prince George |
| America’s Best Local Charities | United Way of Northern Shenandoah |
| America's Charities | United Way of Rappahannock |
| Community Health Charities | United Way of Roanoke |
| EarthShare | United Way of South Hampton Roads |
| Global Impact | United Way of the National Capital Area |
| Neighbor To Nation | United Way of the New River Valley |
| United Way of Central Virginia | United Way of Southwest Virginia |
| United Way Greater Williamsburg | United Way of Virginia's Eastern Shore |
Member charities should work with their federation to apply with CVC. Federations can easily use this application system to submit applications for their member charities. There are two methods federations may use to apply.
Option 1: Federations may start an application and then invite the member charity to assist with completing any or all parts of their member charity application including attachments.
- Within the application on the left side of the screen, the Federation admin will be able to click the Add Collaborators button. Upon doing so they can enter the email address of the collaborator/member charity they are adding, set the permissions of the user to View & Edit or View Only and provide an optional message to the collaborator.
- Once the invite is sent, the collaborator/member charity will receive it in the email provided by the federation. Within the email, the collaborator/member charity will be able to Join the application or Decline the invite.
- Upon clicking Join Now within the email the collaborator will be able to either log in or complete the registration process, depending on if they already have an account.
- Once they have logged in they will be successfully added as a collaborator to the application.
NOTE: If the collaborator/member charity is sent an invite to multiple applications, they will need to join each application through the email that is sent. If you need assistance with your application or have questions, please email us at support@cvcgives.org.
Option 2: Federations may complete each member application on their own, on behalf of the charity. Click on Apply Now to begin. A separate application will be needed for each member charity.