In nonprofit nitty gritty we are checking in with Springs nonprofit organizations in advance of Giving Tuesday and Colorado Gives Day.
Nonprofits pushed to their limits
In a year of financial and social strain, Colorado nonprofit organizations have been pushed to their limits—and the crisis is not over yet.
According to Amber Coté, Director of Education for the Colorado Nonprofit Association, as 2020 began, “many of our nonprofits were looking toward growth, expansion of services.” But when the coronavirus hit, nonprofits put those goals on the back burner to accommodate massive increases in need.
“Infectious disease specialist is a hat none of us thought we would have to wear,” says Jennifer Peterson, Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Field Institute (RMFI), the nonprofit that works to conserve and protect public lands in Southern Colorado.
“Broadly speaking, health and human services have seen a huge uptick in a need for services,” says Coté. She adds that with this increase in demand has also come more strain, “because they’re dealing with the same things everyone’s dealing with.”
Many in need for the first time
According to Care and Share Marketing and Communications Director Joanna Wise, the foodbank supplier has been consistently providing 50 percent more food than it did last year since March. But, adds Coté of the foodbank, “They can’t keep up with the need even though they have been getting more donations of food and money.”
Based on statistics from Feeding America, the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the number of individuals experiencing food insecurity in the Pikes Peak Region to increase from one in ten in 2018 to one in six this year.
The economic downturn precipitated by the COVID-19 virus put many in need for the first time, but for some who use the services of local nonprofits, the virus is just another burden.
Says Travis Williams, Chief Development Officer for local homeless shelter Springs Rescue Mission, “Our homeless neighbors…they understand social distancing because for many of them they’ve [already] felt distanced socially ….” He explains that for many individuals experiencing homelessness, sleeping in a creek bed and the prospect of violence are dangers just as present as the coronavirus.
Nonprofit funding efforts jeopardized
For still other organizations, the coronavirus is a small worry compared to other pressing needs.
Renee Orie is president of the Orie Maharaj Family Foundation, a Colorado Springs-based foundation that works with health systems in third-world countries. Currently, the foundation’s efforts are concentrated in Bangladeshi refugee camps housing about 2 million Rohingya refugees.
Genocide, the occasional coup d’état, and sanitation practices like bathroom pit placement are Orie’s biggest concerns. “When the rain comes, it floods and then everybody gets cholera,” she says.
Coronavirus restrictions forced Orie to cancel planned art auction fundraisers, missing out on some $36,000 in projected revenue. She says that thankfully, the foundation’s projects are able to limp along without those funds.
Community support
But for other Colorado nonprofits, limping along without needed funds is just not an option.
RMFI entered 2020 with 95% of its funding accounted for, says Peterson. During the year, corporate donors like REI and Patagonia generously carried through on their financial commitments to RMFI despite their own financial hardship, but it’s difficult to know about next year, when the retailers’ sales might also be impacted.
And while dramatic increases in outdoor recreation seem to have locals realizing the importance of outdoors stewardship, that’s no guarantee of full funding. “I’m not worried about 2020, I’m more worried about 2021,” Peterson says.
Care and Share expanded capacity this year, adding a small, mobile food pantry called a “mobile market” to its services. But to continue meeting needs in Southern Colorado, the organization looks to open another distribution center in Alamosa, outfit more mobile markets, and expand its own network of food pantries. All of those goals will require community support.
According to Williams, new donors to Springs Rescue Mission are up about 30 percent over last year’s levels. He says, “It’s encouraging to see so many stretch themselves to care for this community’s most vulnerable.”
But the coronavirus pandemic—and its effects—are far from over, and nonprofits will rely on community support to continue helping neighbors inside and outside of the Pikes Peak Region. Says Wise, “We do project this is going to be a long-term recovery effort,” and it may be years before needs in the region return to pre-pandemic levels.
Says Peterson, “It’s brutal, but through it all I just keep coming back to being grateful.”
The giving season
Area nonprofits accept your help – through donations of money or your skills and time – but two days are designated to encourage and remind people of the need.
Giving Tuesday is Tuesday, Dec. 1.
Colorado Gives Day is Tuesday, Dec. 8.
