Posted on 12/20/2003 6:09:16 AM PST by truthandlife
The stock market is up, but it's too little, too late for many charities.
For the second year in a row, the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast expects to take in less money than it had hoped. The organization raised just $68.25 million last year, $10 million below its goal.
The current campaign is projected to raise $65 million, perhaps less, campaign co-chairman Terry Koonce said. The goal was $70 million.
The predicted shortfall is bad news for agencies that depend upon the United Way, some of whom also have lost other sources of funding. Many have cut staff and services, just as the city's economic doldrums increased the need for help.
Despite signs that the economy is improving, nonprofit agencies here and elsewhere continue to struggle.
"I think we're continuing to see the same effects that hit us so hard last year," Koonce said. "The consolidation of corporate entities. Globalization. A number of companies have continued to downsize. And even though the economy appears to be picking up, in terms of people's philanthropic giving, there's a lag."
The United Way is changing the way it does business, in part because its traditional base of large employers faltered as some of Houston's biggest companies shed thousands of jobs in recent years. But that won't be enough to salvage the current campaign.
About $51 million in donations and pledges has been received so far, Koonce said, leading to predictions of another goal-busting year.
The campaign doesn't officially end until early March, and some workplace campaigns are still going on. But Koonce said that United Way staff has determined it is unlikely to top $65 million, based on early results and talks with companies whose campaigns haven't ended.
The United Way helps fund 250 programs at about 80 nonprofit agencies, and last year's $10 million shortfall -- the most drastic in the organization's history -- pinched many of them.
The Houston Area Red Cross, for example, received $500,000 less in United Way funding than anticipated.
As a result, it laid off 28 employees and temporarily furloughed others to save money. (The United Way laid off 17 employees as a result of the $10 million shortfall, spokesman Mario Gomez said.)
"In years past, we relied on our good reputation and allowed the public to respond to requests (for money), but we didn't approach it in an aggressive manner," said Diana Collymore, director of financial development for the agency.
No more. The Red Cross is holding more fund-raisers and sending more direct mail appeals, but it also has opened a store to sell disaster preparation kits, external defibrillators and other items in the lobby of its headquarters, 2700 Southwest Freeway. The products soon will be available through the Web site, www.houstonredcross.org, spokesman Russell Hubbard said.
The Depelchin Children's Center lost $347,000 in United Way funding, but made up some of the loss with new federal grants and an unexpected increase in bequests, President Curtis Mooney said.
But it also lost state money for adoption costs and, as a result, will place just 60 children for adoption this year, down from 78 last year, Mooney said.
The story is similar across the country.
"The poor economy, although it's starting to pick up, has hurt charities," said Alejandro Amezcua, association director for communications and research for the National Council of Nonprofit Associations.
According to a survey released last month by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, contributions to the nation's 400 largest charities declined in 2002, the first drop in 12 years.
Two reports released this month by the Aspen Institute warned that nonprofits will be strained for several more years as state budget deficits are whittled at the expense of youth programs, after-school programs, job training programs and other social services. Government funding accounts for almost one-third of charities' funding, according to the Aspen Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C.
In Houston, many large employers -- including Enron, Dynegy and Arthur Andersen -- have shrunk dramatically.
More people needed help just as the United Way's traditional donor base declined.
"Historically, the large employers have provided the bulk of the funds, through corporate gifts and employee gifts," said Koonce, retired president of Exxon Mobil production. "That's still the case, and likely will continue for some time to come."
But the United Way also is targeting smaller employers. It focused on law firms this year, with a number of firms running their first-ever campaigns, Koonce said.
It has appealed to individuals, too, including urging people to give through its Web site, www.unitedwayhouston.org.
Programs that depend upon United Way funding are aware of the problems, said Anne Neeson, vice president for fund development for the United Way.
"We're prepared for whatever the outcome is," she said. "But our real focus is to bring in as many dollars as we can before March 1 so we don't have to make quite as many (tough) decisions."
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I contribute directly to charities I wish to support now.
Too much PC and bureaucratic waste.
I find more satisfying charities like my local Boys and Girls Club, food bank, local fire and police ............
Our local mid-sized family-owned grocery store now offers gift cards so from time to time I buy some for the food bank.
Employee extortion that is. Everyone knows the incredible pressure and threat of loss of employment if one refuses to give to the United Ripoffs.
United Way, which part of this don't you uunderstand?
Leni
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