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For Ranelle Melton, 2008 didn’t go that well.
The president and CEO of the Allen County Council on Aging saw a decline in all streams of income her non-profit organization uses to keep operations going. Fundraising was down. Foundation gifts were down. State and federal allocations, both down.
Like many charity officials, Melton is now looking for creative ways to cut this year’s budget as sources of income in 2008 dried up in the face of hard economic times. It’s a bridge many charities are beginning to cross in the new year as they seek last-minute donations.
“We’re out scrambling for every dollar we can get,” Melton said. “It’s never been this bad.”
Melton’s non-profit agency provides help for seniors who need to make ends meet. Rides are provided, help around the house is given and medical equipment can even be lent.
But donations given by seniors – the one or two dollars given after a ride – dropped from the typical $20,000 to $25,000 a year to just $15,000, Melton said.
More widely known local organizations, such as the Salvation Army, weren’t immune to decreased donations, either.
As of Monday, the Salvation Army was about $130,000 behind its goal of raising $675,000 for its Christmas campaign, which normally accounts for 30 percent of its budget, Maj. Mark Welsh said. Welsh pointed to the recent ice storm and a late Thanksgiving as some non-economic reasons for falling short.
Welsh isn’t ready to give up.
“We’re optimistic we can get very close to (our goal),” Welsh said. “What usually happens this time of year is people will give year-end gifts.”
Donors can still send year-end gifts to the Salvation Army by Jan. 15 and get credit for them on their 2008 taxes as long as they date any checks, gift certificates or credit card donations Dec. 31, according to Welsh.
A major factor in charitable struggles this year was the stock market, said Dave Bennett, executive director of the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.
The Community Foundation provides endowments, grants or scholarships.
Many people use the stock market to give to the foundation, Bennett said.
“With stocks so depressed right now, the value of (a donor’s) gift is lower, or they feel it’s not a good time to make a gift right now because stock is so cheap,” said Bennett in an interview late last month, adding that the foundation funds look to be down about 25 percent. “It’s fair to say fortunes follow the stock market.”
Wednesday, Bennett said there has been a surge in giving to the foundation in the past two weeks. People were beginning to make out year-end checks, beginning to donate once they looked at how their tax situation was shaping up.
“We’ve had some good activity at the end of the year,” Bennett said. “We’re not going gangbusters, and we’ll still be down, but my impression is that maybe people think the worst is behind us, that we’ve stabilized.”
Also contributing to charities’ plights is giving through foundations. Though Melton said she thinks the downward trend in foundation donations has now leveled out and won’t decrease any more, she said some donations from foundations have been reduced by as much as 50 percent.
“It makes you suck air for a minute,” Melton said.
The problem is, though, foundations are also having trouble.
The United Way of Allen County, the biggest contributor to Melton’s agency, cut its budget by 11 percent and laid off staff for 2009, Jerry Peterson, the organization’s president and CEO, said in a recent interview. He said a 10 percent budget decrease for non-profits is not surprising as government funding for non-profits dries up.
The organization also anticipated a dip in how much money it raised, from $4.8 million in 2007 to roughly $4.6 million in 2008, according to Peterson.
“I’ve talked to a number of local non-profits doing the same,” Bennett said. “They’re realizing income will be tightening.”
So many charities are still looking for year-end gifts, such as the sedan that Melton’s agency received from a donor last month and a microwave donated for the organization’s break room, both “miracles,” she said.
For the Salvation Army meeting its projected goal is crucial because need increased 43 percent this past Christmas, according to the organization.
In 2007, the Salvation Army helped more than 8,100 people with mortgage payments, rent, utilities and food.
Through November 2008, the organization had served 9,930 people with the same needs. If the money isn’t raised, those people will not receive the full scope of help the organization wants to provide, Welsh said.
Plus, cuts will have to be made, as they have in the past few years, Welsh said.
No layoffs are expected, according to Welsh. The organization usually cuts programs it planned to offer if the financial goals had been met, he said.
“We’ll look at everything,” Welsh said. “There is no sacred cow.”
The overall situation had many charities scrambling for potential donors at the end of the year.
Take the AIDS Task Force of Northeast Indiana, which on Dec. 1 posted an “End of the Year Appeal” on its Web site at www.aidsfortwayne.org.
Written as a letter and signed by the president of the task force’s board of directors, Ralph Adams, and executive director, Gregory Manifold, the appeal encourages people to give as much as they can, even though they themselves might not have much to spend on gasoline.
It also sums up 2008 for many people, donors and those in need alike.
“Job losses, home foreclosures, volatile stock markets – it’s not exactly looking like a holly-jolly holiday,” the letter said.
jeffwiehe@jg.net
