Donations to charities decline
But demand for services rising as people seek help
By Roger Fillion, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published October 9, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Photo by Matt McClain / The Rocky
Tough times to be hungry Monique Vigil holds her one-year-old daughter, Aaronia, at a free hot lunch organized by Capitol Hill Community Services Wednesday. 4
Wall Street's troubles and the faltering economy are delivering a one-two punch to Colorado's food banks, animal shelters and other nonprofits such as the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross.
These organizations are experiencing greater demand for their services from people in need.
But the increased demand is coming just as these groups are bracing for a cutback in financial contributions from their donors - if the cutbacks haven't already occurred because of the economy.
"A lot of our donors have said, 'We love you. We want to contribute. But we can't as we have in the past,' " said Gerald Koch, an "envoy" for the intermountain division of the Salvation Army who handles social services as well as energy and disaster services.
How much are major donors cutting back?
"Maybe last year they gave us $5,000. And maybe this year $2,500 is the best they can do," Koch said.
He noted the cutbacks are coming as the Salvation Army is fielding more requests from people needing help to pay their rent and utilities.
"It has been much more this year than last year," Koch said of such requests. "And in the last three months it has gone up about 10 percent."
Colorado is home to about 4,800 nonprofit groups with annual budgets of $100,000 or more. The last recession - which ran from March 2001 to November 2001 - triggered a drop in donations to those nonprofits.
According to the Colorado Nonprofit Association, the drop in donations from individuals averaged 5.4 percent a year from 2000 to 2003. That amounted to some $175 million each year.
"It's the classic case of having to do more with less," said Charley Shimanski, CEO of the Colorado Nonprofit Association.
Food banks, soup kitchens and food pantries report more people seeking food assistance, especially meat and produce which tend to be more costly.
The Denver-based Food Bank of the Rockies is a case in point. The group serves as the "middleman" between food donors and some 700 soup kitchens and food pantries in Colorado and Wyoming.
Kevin Seggelke, CEO of the Food Bank of the Rockies, said these food pantries and soup kitchens have seen greater demand in the past eight to nine months.
"Their demand is up from 20 percent to 30 percent," he said.
He's also concerned about financial donations to his group during the upcoming holiday season. The food bank typically gets 60 percent of its donations then.
"We are very guarded in our forecast given what's going on economically," he said.
At the Dumb Friends League, which operates two animal shelters in Denver and Castle Rock, year-to-date financial donations are down about 12 percent.
Greg Geissler, director of development for the Mile High Chapter of the American Red Cross, summed up donors' reactions during tough economic times this way: "People start to pull in and think inward rather than outward."
What can you do to help?
Charley Shimanski, CEO of the Colorado Nonprofit Association, offered this advice to people:
* "Do whatever you can to keep your charitable giving at the same level it has been."
* "If you can't give more or you can't give at all, give more of your time. Nonprofits can always use good volunteers to offset rising costs."
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October 9, 2008
8:31 a.m.
Suggest removal
Romanesco writes:
"Tough times to be hungry Monique Vigil holds her one-year-old daughter, Aaronia, at a free hot lunch organized by Capitol Hill Community Services Wednesday. "
Can't afford food, but at least she has make-up and jewelry.
October 9, 2008
9:41 a.m.
Suggest removal
NeilT writes:
Romanesco writes: ""Tough times to be hungry Monique Vigil holds her one-year-old daughter, Aaronia, at a free hot lunch organized by Capitol Hill Community Services Wednesday. "
"Can't afford food, but at least she has make-up and jewelry."
Maybe, just maybe, she returned from a job interview in time to feed her daughter. Or maybe she has a job and can't afford much.
Do you think the term "working poor" is a joke?
I'm no expert, Roman, but that doesn't look like designer jewelry to me.
October 9, 2008
1:21 p.m.
Suggest removal
mrfxx writes:
IBM has an annual charity drive which a number of my co-workers, for the first time in their careers with IBM have declined to contribute to.
Reasons include:
Because IBM had to settle a mandatory OT class action lawsuit (which many of us didn't benefit from), this year IBM chose to reclassify many of us US-based workers as hourly - at a 15% pay CUT. We were assured that we could make up the difference if we worked 5 hours/week OT - and now we are not allowed to work OT. For most of us, the pay cut took our wages below what we were making in 2000, as we are lucky to get a 2% raise every 5-6 years (by the way - IBM is not paying market rate - those who have gone "job hunting" have found that the old pay we were getting is "not a problem" - and the Indians have found out the same thing in India).
The CEO, meanwhile, has received salary increases in his 6 going on 7 year tenure amounting to over 300% - and has had additional perks and bonuses. He has earned those by having revenue increases (on the backs of employees) of over 15% for 16 out of the last 17 quarters, moving to layoff over 100,000 US employees (sending their jobs to India) and selling the PC division to China.
The group I am with will be training our Indian replacements in Nov - and will probably be laid off in time for Christmas. We do feel sorry for those currently needier than we are - but figure that we may well find ourselves in need of assistance from charitable organizations soon ourselves.