Cost of Living – Tight Times Even Tighter for Charities
Donations to charities grew about 4.5 percent in the 2007 fiscal year which ended in July for most groups, to what sounds like a reassuring $72.5 billion. The data is from an annual survey of the 400 charities that raise the most from private sources, done by The Chronicle of Philanthropy, a biweekly publication that covers the nonprofit sector.
But that number doesn’t reflect the sudden downturn in donations these last few months, as large financial institutions and historically generous donors have collapsed, dozens of states have announced huge budget deficits, many municipalities are cutting their support of social service agencies — and some nonprofit agencies are facing a drop in individual contributions.
And all of this is occurring as demand for many groups’ services is growing sharply.
Because the end of the year is when nonprofit groups typically expect a jump in contributions — and because that surge is so suddenly and completely in question — program administrators say they are scrambling to keep up.
“We have seen an increased need from people who are facing foreclosure, job loss and decreased work hours,” the Rev. Michael M. Boland, chief executive of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, said in an e-mail message. “We are seeing a lot of renters forced out of apartments because the owners were foreclosed upon, and we’ve seen an increase in the number of requests for our emergency services, which include food pantries and hot dinners for the hungry and homeless,” he said.
Cost of Living – Tight Times Even Tighter for Charities – NYTimes.com.