City of Tumwater signing up for state workplace giving program 

The City of Tumwater is signing up for the state of Washington's Combined Fund Drive workplace giving program. 

As part of their consent agenda at a meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 18, the Tumwater City Council authorized a data sharing agreement with the Washington Secretary of State, which administers the program.

The program provides a system for active and retired public sector employees to make charitable donations via payroll deductions. Through their Combined Fund Drive online account, donors can contribute to more than 4,500 listed charities as a one-time donation, monthly or for a set amount of time.  

In a Tumwater Budget and Finance Committee meeting on July 24, Finance Director Troy Niemeyer said joining the program would help increase payroll efficiency, as the department would not have to deal with multiple accounts. 

“If we have a dozen charities that we're going to allow staff to donate to, that's 12 different vendor accounts … and we have to reconcile those accounts every single payroll,” Niemeyer said. “This is one account, one check, that we write to the Combined Fund Drive.” 

The city council also approved a resolution updating the city’s policies regarding charitable partnerships. The resolution streamlines the policy to remove specific mentions of nonprofits, and broadens the language so the city can choose to support any organization registered under the Combined Fund Drive. 

Mayor Leatta Dahlhoff noted the resolution addresses recurring council questions about eligible charities and requests for an updated list of supported organizations.