Nonprofits rely on donations 'that come out of nowhere'
Lynchburg News and Advance
Sunday, December 4, 2005Earlier this year, a woman sent a $10,000 check to the Free Clinic of Central Virginia. “I opened the envelope and I was absolutely stunned,” said Bob Barlow, executive director of the Lynchburg clinic.
Barlow said the woman had never been a donor, so he called her to find out what had prompted the gift. In the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami, the woman said she wanted to help closer to home.
“She said she had decided to make an investment in her community,” Barlow said.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, recently followed up with another $20,000 check.
Though such large donations are relatively rare, all nonprofit agencies have anecdotes about relying on the generosity of strangers to keep their organizations afloat.
At Daily Bread, a daytime shelter that feeds the homeless and anyone in need of a hot meal, donations are even more important this year.
“We have a $40,000 deficit,” said Lolita Warwick, executive director of the seven-day-a-week operation.
A change in the formula for a state grant meant the Daily Bread lost one of its major sources of income, Warwick said, and will have to cut back hours and staff time after the first of the year.
That’s why gifts mean so much to the soup kitchen.
“I have a lady (and her son) that’s going to be bringing me some hams, and they do it every year,” Warwick said.
For Christmas, a church group has adopted about a dozen families who are regular customers of the Daily Bread, Warwick said, while a local business is donating a tree.
Nonprofits also rely heavily on volunteers. At the Free Clinic, for example, more than 300 doctors, dentists and pharmacists donate $1.2 million to $1.5 million worth of free labor each year, Barlow said.
“It’s a tribute to the quality of life in Central Virginia,” he said. “… It’s a miraculous gift.”
The operating budget of the clinic is about $500,000 a year, but with in-kind contributions, including $1.9 million worth of medications, the clinic’s budget is closer to $5 million, Barlow said.
While organizations rely on help year round, nothing brings out kindness like the holidays.
About two weeks ago, a local businessman who was giving turkeys to his employees decided to do more.
“He picked up an extra 20 or 25 for the Salvation Army,” said Major David Cope, who in turn distributed the turkeys to needy families for Thanksgiving.
Cope can reel off story after story about people wanting to help others they will rarely meet.
“During the holidays, people are more sensitive to those in need,” he said.
Another woman called Cope recently to say that she is embarrassed by the mountain of presents and toys that surrounds her family on Christmas Day. This year, her family decided, they wanted to help a less fortunate family have a better Christmas. They have adopted a mother with four children and will buy clothing, food and toys for them.
The church also depends on shoppers stuffing a couple of dollars in the Salvation Army’s kettle and students collecting cans for a food drive to help the area’s homeless and poor.
Other agencies rely primarily on annual fund drives.
“You go to the post office every day and you’re really hopeful,” said Rhonda Ford, executive director of Miriam’s House, a long-term shelter for homeless women and children.
Ford was pleasantly surprised when she recently received a $1,000 check from a grantor she had never heard of before.
Though sometimes finances are tight, Ford said it’s OK “because of things that come out of nowhere.”
One such gift came from a group of local employees who heard that one of the home’s stoves had gone out, and they pitched in to buy a new one. A local optician, likewise, is offering free eye exams to residents of Miriam’s House.
Some organizations, like Bright Hope, rely on volunteers and gifts for their entire operation. Patricia Braxton, the unpaid director of the educational learning center, said the program is able to support its tutoring and life-skills classes because of community support.
“We basically survive and just live off the contributions,” she said.
Those contributions have included 18 computers for a computer lab and a minivan, a donation that provides transportation for children. Everything - from books to snacks - is donated.
Salaries are a luxury the organization is not planning on offering any time soon.
“We would like to have a larger facility before we start doing the salary thing,” Braxton said.
Bright Hope is a partnership between Change Me Ministries and the Altrusa Club of Lynchburg, and serves elementary and middle school students, as well as adults.
The Patrick Henry Boys and Girls Plantation has received some large unexpected gifts in the last year. One woman left her entire estate of about $1 million to the homes.
“She herself had been orphaned or abandoned at an early age so she felt a connection to the home,” said Jason Watson, executive director.
The nonprofit operates three homes for boys in Brookneal and another one in Cluster Springs, as well as three homes for girls in Rustburg, Bedford and Wyliesburg. The children, ages 6 through high school, usually have a parent or guardian, but need time in a home for a variety of reasons. The average stay is 12 to 18 months, Watson said.
While large donations are not common, the home has also recently received $10,000 from a woman who wanted to pay for tutoring services, and a man visiting relatives in the area who “just walked in and gave us $5,000,” Watson said.
The Daily Bread’s Warwick said she knows a lot of organizations are stretched thin right now because of Hurricane Katrina and other disaster relief, but hopes people remember their neighbors in need.
“We rely strictly on the community to keep going,” she said..
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