When charitable giving's down, nonprofits get creative
| Friday, May 01 2009 07:17 PM
Last Updated Friday, May 01 2009 07:29 PM
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Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Volunteers at the Community Action Partnership Food Bank, from left, Lina Espericueta, Sandra Flores, Fabiola Borja and Hillary Retamoza, sort food for distribution. The food bank on Feliz Drive in Bakersfield is open five days a week, Monday through Friday from 9 to 11:45 a.m.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian People walk patiently through the line at the Community Action Partnership Food Bank for a small box of food.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Gary Romriell, Community Action Partnership Food Bank manager, walks through a flurry of activity as food is unloaded and distributed from the food bank on Feliz Drive in Bakersfield.
Here's how tight money is at the Kern Chapter of the American Red Cross: Staffers now have to mop the floors and clean the toilets. Those who survive impending layoffs face across-the-board pay cuts. Forget about pest control.
"We're on the verge of not existing," chapter CEO Lorraine Castro said.
But like many local nonprofits facing a steep decline in donations, the chapter cannot afford to do nothing.
So the 92-year-old chapter is changing tactics -- writing more grant proposals, collaborating with other local charities and focusing on online fundraising.
Local nonprofits are not taking the recession lying down. With demand for their services up, some are finding new and often creative ways to make ends meet.
A good example is the Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County. It has turned its attention to groups that have not been as hard hit by the economic downturn, such as the health-care industry and wealthy individuals.
At the same time, it recently put more emphasis on reaching out to agencies with shared interests like educating kids about nutrition and fitness. Now the organization generates income by teaching and doing other things within its field of expertise.
National pattern
Similar strategies have taken hold across the country.
Not only are nonprofits returning to basics by sharpening their missions and their messaging. They're also shifting fundraising away from endowments and other capital gifts toward people and programs, where cash-strapped donors can see their money at work, said Don Fellows, president and CEO of Marts & Lundy Inc., a New Jersey consulting firm to nonprofits.
That's a big shift from a few years ago, when charitable giving was easier.
"When there's a lot of money out there and fundraising is easy, you don't have to be as sharp with your case," he said.
There is cause for hope, according to a 2008 report by the Giving USA Foundation. It said charitable giving has historically increased by 6.2 percent in years with a recession, compared with a 8.4 percent jump in years without one.
But keeping wallets open is no less a challenge. Nonprofits still need to find ways to connect with potential donors.
"We find in times of recession that it's more and more important to donors to feel that they are making smart decisions with their charitable dollars," said Della Hodson, president of the United Way of Kern County.
Her group is trying to be more smart, too, by applying for grants, which is something the organization hasn't done much of in the past. Instead of serving mainly as a conduit for charitable giving, it recently partnered with eight local nonprofits to teach people how to save money for a home, an education or starting a business.
Looking to new sources
Several local nonprofits reported seeing fewer corporate sponsorships and event donations. So they look for other financial sources.
The Kern Adult Literacy Council, for example, saw more donations to the silent auction at its recent gala. And although there were fewer large event sponsorships, the number of small ones doubled, executive director Donna Hylton said.
The organization is writing more grant proposals, too.
"We're just trying to change up our approach a little bit, I suppose you could say," she said.
The county's largest nonprofit, Community Action Partnership of Kern, has responded to an overall increase in demand for its services in several ways, executive director Jeremy Tobias said.
Although fundraising traditionally has not been a big focus for the organization, he said, it recently kicked off a campaign to raise money for a new freezer that would boost the capacity of its increasingly popular food bank.
The group also is writing more grant proposals, and has been forced to rely more heavily on volunteers to carry out some of its work.
"We're looking toward volunteer assistance more and more -- more than ever," Tobias said.
Partnerships help
A new strategy at the Kern County Museum has been to seek out new partners interested in helping put on events.
That has led to the first Senior Summer Festival set for June 4, co-sponsored by the Rosewood Senior Living Community.
Assistant museum director Jeff Nickell said the new approach has worked well -- certainly better than just cutting back.
"The thing is," he said, "if you sit on the sidelines and wait for people to come, generally, that's not going to happen."
