Crime Stoppers Finds Itself in Financial Fight to Survive

With a series of fund-raising setbacks and a sharp increase in the amount of rewards being paid out, the San Diego Crime Stoppers has slipped into its darkest financial situation since it was launched six years ago.

The nonprofit agency, which has been instrumental in helping solve numerous high-profile crimes through its telephone hot line and reward system, is also suffering from a decline in membership and a staff shake-up.

Although the organization has employed two full-time staff members, the group’s special events coordinator left earlier this year and will not be replaced, and the board’s executive director is resigning this summer.

“We’re still floating,” said Judith Ross, the executive director who is scheduled to leave Aug. 1.

“We still have money in the bank to pay rewards and pick up our expenses. But we are in a situation that now, because of the lack of funding coming in, we need to regroup and restructure.” Estimates of how much money remains were unavailable.

Ted Owen, president of the Crime Stoppers board of directors, said part of the problem is that community leaders and the public are besieged by requests for donations from all kinds of charities, and that his anti-crime group is finding a smaller pool from which to solicit funds.

As an example, he said, he spoke at a luncheon Thursday before a large crowd of business leaders at the downtown Rotary Club. “I passed out envelopes, and, if we get five corporate donors out of the 300 people there, I’ll be happy,” he said.

Despite recent reversals in cash flow, Owen and Ross remain optimistic about making up fund-raising deficiencies.

Owen said the board’s executive committee will meet Monday to begin dividing up Ross’ duties among various board members. Ross’ replacement will handle fund raising, and board members will pick up administrative duties. Volunteers man the tipsters’ hot line.

Next month, Ownes plans to meet with county police chiefs to request a share of assets realized in police seizure programs.

He and Ross also are hoping that an upcoming charity golf tournament will raise close to last year’s tournament total of $20,000. Only half of the player slots have been sold for this year’s event, however.

Crime Stoppers was organized in 1984. It sponsors an anonymous telephone tip line and offers rewards to people who provide information leading to the arrests of criminals.

Owen said the group has assisted in many police investigations, including providing information about Craig Peyer, a California Highway Patrolman later convicted of murder, and about two teen-agers involved in throwing a rock off a highway overpass and seriously injuring a driver.

“We’ve had incredible success with people willing to step forward,” he said. The group has gathered information in 30 murder cases and 1,500 felonies since its inception, he added.

But Ross said a series of fund-raising setbacks has placed the organization in its “worst ever financial” situation. “We’re finding money’s a little more tight all the way around,” she said.

The organization needs to raise $160,000 a year to cover salary, costs and rewards.

The problems began last October, when the group’s largest benefit, a 10K run, was postponed at the last minute because of scheduling conflicts with the city’s Soviet arts festival.

Held instead on a Sunday night in December, the event drew only 3,500 participants; past runs attracted up to 7,500.

“This hurt us very much,” Ross said. “Financially, it put us back about $20,000 to $30,000.”

Earlier this year, the group’s annual “membership drive didn’t live up to our expectations,” she said. As part of the effort, the 36 board directors were asked to bring in 30 new members at $5 to $100 each.

“Some did great, other’s didn’t have time,” Ross said. “We were hoping to get $15,000-plus, but that didn’t materialize. We raised just a little over $13,000.”

Then came Crime Stoppers’ “Enough is Enough” conference earlier this month. Last year, the event drew 500 people and raised almost $9,000. This year the conference was attended by 300 people, and earned the group a little more than $3,000.

Ross said that one of the group’s largest obstacles is getting the public to realize that Crime Stoppers is not an arm of the San Diego Police Department or City Hall. She said many people believe the group is supported by taxpayers and are therefore reluctant to donate to it.

Worsening the situation is that, although funds are down, the reward money being paid out is doubling. Crime Stoppers was paying about $2,000 a month in rewards last year; this year it is up to $4,000.

“Right now we’re getting a lot more people who know about crime,” Owen said.