Charities
The State Employee Combined Appeal (SECA) is the commonwealth’s annual workplace giving campaign. By participating in SECA, a charity is able to reach a market of approximately 100,000 eligible employees with no fundraising costs from their own budget. Employees from across Pennsylvania can give to any SECA charity.
Eligibility
Charities wishing to participate in the SECA campaign, including both new and returning applicants, are required to apply annually. The application submission deadline is January 31 to participate in the campaign that takes place the following fall.
SECA policy sets objective criteria to ensure that every charity in the campaign has met a threshold of financial and administrative integrity. The application requires an organization to attest and provide proof that it meets these requirements.
Application Process
Charities must participate in SECA as a “member organization” under one of the participating umbrella organizations. To indicate your organization’s interest in applying, or to inquire about eligibility to participate under a given umbrella, contact the appropriate umbrella organization.
Umbrella organizations will provide prospective applicants with the annual online application in approximately November of each year.
Member charities should not indicate an umbrella organization on their application without obtaining prior permission from that umbrella.
SECA will review applications and issue approvals and denials by March 31. Approvals and denials will be issued to the umbrella organization. Most denied agencies will have an opportunity to appeal, depending on the reason for denial.
Participation
After an organization is accepted to participate in SECA, it will be assigned a designation code that will be listed in the campaign resource guide. During the SECA campaign, which takes place each fall, donors will use the designation codes to direct their donations to specific charities.
During the calendar year after the campaign, umbrella charities will be provided with designated funds and donor information for their member organizations on a monthly basis. Umbrellas must then distribute the funds and donor information to the designated member organizations at least quarterly.
More Information
More information can be found in SECA's policy documents, Management Directive 530.23 and the corresponding Manual 530.21.
Questions
Questions can be directed to RA-SECA@pa.gov or 717.787.9872.