Charities feel the pinch...

[Guest guest]

> October 14, 2001

>

> CHARITIES

> Outside New York, Charities Feel the Pinch

> By TAMAR LEWIN

>

> In normal times, 100 donations a week flow into the Make-a-Wish Foundation

> in Cleveland. But since Sept. 11, donations have dried to a trickle.

>

> "We're feeling the pinch bad, so we've eliminated one of our seven staff

> positions," said Traci Felder, executive director of the foundation. "The

> money just went away overnight, and it's not picking up. We used to

> average about $2,500 a day. I don't have this week's figures, but

> Thursday, Oct. 4, we got $370."

>

> While the relief funds created for victims of the terror attacks have been

> deluged with money, small charities throughout the nation are suffering.

> Fund-raising events and direct mail campaigns are bringing in less than

> expected, and some major givers are reneging on their pledges, sending

> contributions instead to relief funds for New York's victims.

>

> Small nonprofit agencies that help the needy — food banks, battered

> women's shelters, programs for the homeless and people with AIDS — have

> been hit especially hard.

>

> In Washington on Oct. 6, 5,000 people turned out for the annual AIDS walk,

> compared with the 20,000 to 30,000 who usually show up. The walk raised

> only $420,000, a far cry from the expected $1.2 million. Meanwhile, direct

> mail fund-raising for the Whitman-Walker Clinic, which sponsors the

> Washington AIDS walk, dropped 50 percent in September.

>

> "Since Sept. 11, we've lost $1 million in revenues," said A. Cornelius

> Baker, Whitman-Walker's executive director. "We have to begin trying to

> drain blood from a stone."

>

> While Whitman-Walker has been the second-largest beneficiary of the local

> United Way, that too may change. United Way officials said it was too soon

> to tell how contributors in the current campaign would apportion their

> money between local and New York needs.

>

> "All the United Ways and all our agencies are nervous," said Tony de

> Christofaro, a spokesman for the United Way for the National Capital

> Region. "We're hoping people won't make either-or decisions, that they'll

> contribute to their regular causes and then, above and beyond that, to the

> relief effort."

>

> But for now, many donors seem to be favoring New York's relief effort at

> the expense of local organizations.

>

> "We're $300,000 behind in meeting our budget for the year," said Marilyn

> Fountain, community relations coordinator for Star of Hope, which runs

> three residences for the homeless in Houston. "On Sept. 20, we had no

> money at all come in. Since then, it's not an empty box, but it's stayed

> about 35 percent down from what it should be."

>

> Also in Houston, the Spay-Neuter Assistance Program, which provides free

> or low-cost sterilization for cats and dogs, had to cut its services 10

> percent when its Sept. 29 fund-raiser fizzled. Five large corporate

> donors, whose names were included on the invitation, backed out, with one

> saying it could longer support the program because the company had sent

> $50,000 to the New York Red Cross.

>

> "The face of philanthropy in the United States has changed forever as a

> result of the terrorist attacks and subsequent economic events," said Sean

> Hawkins, the program's executive director.

>

> At a time when the economy is faltering, Mr. Hawkins and others say the

> loss of support in the year- end giving season could seriously hamper

> their ability to provide services next year.

>

> Pamela Altmeyer, president of the Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, whose

> fund-raiser on Friday was far smaller than planned, said she was worried

> about whether small charities like hers were even going to survive. "Even

> I sent money to New York," she said. "But at the same time, the layoffs

> here have really increased the need for food. I know hunger and housing

> and all the day- to-day needs are never going to look the same as this

> horrible, horrible thing purposefully inflicted on innocent people."

>

> Already, many have had to tighten their belts. In Los Angeles, the Society

> for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals laid off eight of its 55

> employees and closed one pet adoption center and is planning to close

> another. "It's too soon to tell if the Christmas season will be completely

> lost," said Madeline Bernstein, the society's president.

>

> Last week, Habitat for Humanity laid off 35 employees and worked out a

> plan with the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, a large contributor,

> to give the full $2 million donation this year that it had planned over

> the next five years.

>

> For social service agencies, next year's prospects look bleak. Making

> matters worse, private foundations are likely to cut back their grants,

> given sharp declines in the value of their endowments because of the

> economy.

>

> Even in New York City, with about $850 million pouring into terror relief

> funds, nonprofit programs that address other needs are suffering. At Gay

> Men's Health Crisis, which serves people with AIDS, direct mail donations

> have been down 30 percent since the attacks, while the number of new

> clients has doubled.

>

> "We usually take in 100 new clients a month, but we're up to 200 in the

> last 30 days, with people using drugs more, or needing more mental health

> services," said Ana Oliveira, the group's executive director. "The needs

> are growing. But with the financial situation, we have to be cautious.

> We're holding off on hiring new staff."

>

> Groups in other cities, too, are overwhelmed by the coupling of greater

> needs and less support.

>

> "There was zero money coming in for about 10 days after the attacks, and

> it's still pretty bad," said Brian Burton, executive director of the

> Wilkinson Center, which serves low-income people in Dallas. "Dallas has

> been hit hard with layoffs, and we have 40 people lining up in the morning

> for our job assistance program. We can't handle that many, so we have to

> send some home."

>

> The largest national charities, like the American Heart Association and

> the Sierra Club, say that they have not seen a significant decline in

> donations. But they, too, have made adjustments since the attacks.

>

> The Sierra Club canceled a mailing that was to go out this month, and is

> rethinking the tone of its December appeal to make sure it does not appear

> to be attacking President Bush personally.

>

> "We don't have any difficulty saying we don't think it's going to help

> America's energy future to drill in Alaska," said Carl Pope, the Sierra

> Club's executive director. "But this is not the time for war analogies or

> anything that sounds like an attack on the president."