It's #GivingTuesday, is DSF on your gift list?

#GivingTuesday is a global giving movement. We’re proud to be a part of this celebration! We hope you will consider making a gift to DSF either via our website (www.dsfoundation.org) or on our Facebook Fundraiser page facebook.com/donate/303129880531402/ - Facebook will match up to $7M donated to charities starting at 8am on 11/27/18. With your gift, we can continue to help those in the DS “family” during times of hardship and crisis. Just recently, we provided $5,500 to the family of a local guard at US Embassy Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso who died in a motor vehicle accident. And $6,500 to a DS Agent to help cover uninsured medical costs associated with an illness. And most recently $500 to the family of Sgt. Ron Helus, Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, who was killed while responding to the shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill of Thousand Oaks, CA on 11/7/18. It is with your support that we can continue to make these gifts. We hope you’ll consider making a donation today. Thank you.

Golf Outing photos up on our website, check them out!

Check out some fun photos from the 2018 DSF Charity Golf Outing which was held this summer. It was a crazy day - beautiful weather but flood waters from the Potomac chased us off the golf course. I’ve never seen so many golfers without shoes! Luckily, it was an epic fundraising event for us: we netted more than $236K. Amazing! Thank you to all who golfed, sponsors and donated. Registration will open February 1, 2019. Be sure to register quickly, we’ve sold out the past few years. #DSFGolf2018 #DSFGolf2019

CFC for everyone! Even federal retirees!

It’s CFC season. We sure hope everyone who participates is picking DSF as one of their charities. The CFC is so much easier to use since they updated the process last year. And oh my, we can tell. CFC giving to DSF was up almost $10K from the year before. Yay! So log in and make your pledge(s). All current and retired federal employees - visit https://cfcgiving.opm.gov/welcome to make your pledge. DSF's CFC number is #96262

FEEA Scholarship opportunity

The Federal Employee Education & Assistance Fund has opened their 2019 FEEA scholarship application! They offer $1,000-$5,000 scholarships for full- or part-time permanent civilian federal or postal employees, their spouses, and their children, grandchildren or legal dependents under the age of 25. The FEEA Scholarship competition is for those attending or planning to attend an accredited institution for higher learning for an undergraduate or graduate degree or certificate. You can learn more about the program and get the link to the application at www.feea.org/scholarships. Final deadline for submitting is Monday, March 25, 2019, at 3pm EDT.

DSSAA Picnic registration ends Friday 10/19/18

Hurry! Time is running out to buy tickets for the 2018 DSSAA Family Picnic. Our partner organization, DSSAA, is hosting a fun filled family day at Ticonderoga Farms out in Chantilly, VA on Saturday, October 27. It looks to be such a great event! Check out their website for more info dssaa.org/family-picnic. Hope to see you there!

Board Election deadline extended to Oct 30

Are you interested in serving on the Board of the Diplomatic Security Foundation (DSF)? An election will be held this October (2018) for four open board positions. The deadline to self-nominate has been extended to Tuesday, October 30. Board members must be a current, former, or retired DS employee. Board positions are voluntary. All Board members are required to be/become dues paying members of DSSAA. DSF holds elections every two years; those elected will serve a four-year term from 12/2018-12/2022. The next election will be held Fall 2020, term ending 2024. For more info, visit dsfoundation.org/board-election

Three New DSF Grants to: Dili, Bamako, Juba

This week, we mailed out three new grants (view all our grants on our Grants page). Thank you to everyone who supports DSF, which allows us to help those in our DS “family”

$3,000 to a local guard at US Embassy Dili, Timor-Leste, whose house was destroyed by fire

$3,500 to the family of a local guard at US Embassy Bamako, Mali who died of a heart attack

$1,000 to a local guard at US Embassy Juba, South Sudan who was severely injured by the gate at the embassy compound

CFC now available to DS Retirees

Did you know that DS retirees can now participate in the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) and support charities locally, nationally and internationally? And that includes DSF (CFC #96262)! 

Last year, the CFC made some important changes to modernize the program. One of those changes gave retirees and survivors the opportunity to contribute directly through the CFC, including through monthly annuities, to support more than 8,000 CFC approved charities.

In 2017, Federal employees and retirees pledged more than $100 million in total in monetary pledges. DSF received almost $29,000 in pledges, up more than $10,000 from the previous year. These pledges help people and communities in need and are a reflection of the generous nature of the Federal community.  While we here at the DSF (CFC #96262) would love for you to support us, we just hope that you will consider participating in the 2018 CFC Campaign by donating to any CFC charity.

Take a moment today to make your pledge by visiting the CFC's Online Donor Pledging System at https://cfcgiving.opm.gov/welcome    

For more info about DSF’s involvement with the CFC, visit our CFC Webpage

Grants made this summer

Lot of grants going out our doors these past few months. Some of them heartbreaking, some of them heartwarming. We're so grateful to all of you who provide us with the donations that allow us to help those in our DS "family" during times of need. Keep donating!

Recent Grants since May: 
$2,640 to a local guard at the US Embassy La Paz, Bolivia, whose house was severely damaged by a fire
$3,000 to the family of a local guard at US Embassy Pristina, Kosovo who died of heart attack
$2,750 to an instructor at the ITF in Summit Point, WV, to help cover uninsured medial costs associated with cancer treatments. 
$5,000 to the family of a local guard at US Embassy Erbil, Iraq, who died after a battling lung cancer.
$6,715 for a local guard at US Embassy Sana'a, Yemen to assisted with medical costs for a kidney transplant
$3,000 to assist the family after the death of a DS Training Center instructor.

A link to all our Grants