Fund Raising Veteran Anthony De Cristofaro Joins Executive Staff of America's Charities

CHANTILLY, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Anthony De Cristofaro, a long-time leader in the field of workplace giving, has joined the staff of America’s Charities, a national non-profit organization that helps employers run customized, low cost, high-tech workplace giving campaigns. Steve Delfin, President and CEO of America’s Charities, announced that De Cristofaro is taking on the new position of Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Communications Officer.

“In the last ten years, he has helped raise more than $500 million for local, national and international charities. I enjoyed working with him on the board of America’s Charities and am absolutely delighted that he is joining the staff.”

“Tony brings three decades of experience in non-profit marketing, communications and fundraising to America’s Charities,” said Delfin. “In the last ten years, he has helped raise more than $500 million for local, national and international charities. I enjoyed working with him on the board of America’s Charities and am absolutely delighted that he is joining the staff.”

De Cristofaro most recently served as Executive Director of the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area (CFCNCA), part of the largest workplace fundraising campaign in the world. Federal employees in the National Capital Area pledged more than $66.5 million to nearly 4,000 charities in 2009, an increase of six percent during the second year of the toughest recession in national history. During his tenure, the organization won the CFC Innovation Award from the Office of Personnel Management for seven consecutive campaign years (2003-2009). He also served on the management team of Global Impact, which has been operating the CFCNCA since 2003.

Prior to CFCNCA/Global Impact, De Cristofaro served the United Way of the Nation’s Capital and had two tenures at United Way of America. From 1993 to 1995, he was vice president of media for Hill and Knowlton Worldwide Public Affairs Company. De Cristofaro has also worked with local United Way organizations in Texas and Indiana, and had his own consulting business for several years.

De Cristofaro directed public relations programs that have won recognition from numerous organizations, including the Public Relations Society of America, the Office of Personnel Management, the Houston Advertising Federation, and the Annual Report Conference. He has presented workshops to a wide range of organizations, including Microsoft, Compaq Computer, the American Marketing Association, the Public Relations Society of America, the International Association of Business Communicators, and several United Way and CFC groups. Public Relations Quarterly named him one of the leading public relations counselors in Washington, D.C.

He is also an active national and community volunteer, working on many social justice issues through his church, the Knights of Columbus, the Alpha Phi Omega national service fraternity, Catholic Charities USA, and the American Cancer Society National Capital Area Chapter.

He earned his bachelor's degree in English magna cum laude from Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, and has done graduate coursework at Ball State University in Indiana, where he was the university’s first John W. Hill Fellow in Public Relations Research. He has lectured at Anderson University and Trinity University. He lives in Fairfax, Virginia, with his wife of 30 years, Beth De Cristofaro, a resident chaplain at Georgetown University. They have two grown daughters who have followed their parents into public service.

America’s Charities’ members include over 200 national and local charities serving people and communities across the United States and around the world, including Make-A-Wish Foundation® of America, Ronald McDonald House Charities®, NAACP Special Contribution Fund, Lance Armstrong Foundation, Teach for America, Reading is Fundamental, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Junior Achievement, Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home, Goodwill Industries International, Hospice America, Meals On Wheels Association of America, Share Our Strength, National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States, Southern Poverty Law Center, and many more.

These members participate in over 600 employee giving campaigns, reaching some 10 million employees annually through programs at Lockheed Martin, American Express, ExxonMobil, AAA National Headquarters, Gannett, American Airlines, Dell Computers, National Geographic, UnitedHealth Group, United Airlines, SRA International, USA Today, plus 260 campaigns within the U.S. Government’s Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) and 180 campaigns through state and local governments.

Over $500 million in employee donations has been raised by America’s Charities for its member charities and others, including $23 million for member charities and another $7 million passed along to other charities designated by employees in 2009. The organization’s model emphasizes its Big Five Best Practices:

• Customized campaigns
• Designated giving
• State-of-the-art technology
• Lower costs
• Trust, transparency and customer service.

America’s Charities methodology differs from the United Ways, which have in recent years changed their focus to raising funds for their own community impact grant program, aggregating dollars and distributing money to charities that meet specific criteria, and away from promoting giving to charities the donor designates.

America's Charities mission is to develop the spirit of caring and sharing at the workplace and run campaigns that respond to the needs of employers and employees. We do this by providing employers and employees with efficient, effective, low-cost workplace giving campaigns; offering a broad range of charity choices that reflect the diversity of the American people; and then providing charities with the financial resources they need to carry out their mission.