An Uncharitable Record : Giving: Nonprofit groups should take more responsibility for the poor, many say, but O.C. donations are smaller than elsewhere.

The banker’s words had a familiar ring, but they still turned Ron Ainsworth’s stomach. He had asked the man’s employer--a major Orange County financial institution--for a $1,000 contribution to a privately-funded charity that helps children who are wards of the court.

The bank had contributed to Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for three years, but not this time. Bank officers had re-examined their philanthropic policy and decided last year that donating to a charity that helps abused, abandoned and neglected kids did nothing for their business.

Contributions to CASA did not attract the institution enough recognition, the vice president complained. The bank could get more accolades by giving to the arts, or funding a hospital wing, he told Ainsworth.

“He said, ‘We’re not getting enough bang for our buck by giving you this money,’ ” said Ainsworth, who was disappointed but not surprised.

“Few companies and people in Orange County feel the desire and need to give back a little bit of what the community has given them,” he said. “Nobody wants to look at the darker side of life, but it’s there. It’s hard to get people in Orange County to acknowledge that.”

Though Orange County residents have been traditionally reluctant to take on the burdens of the poor, their contributions are needed more than ever, as Washington retreats from human services efforts and the county grapples with the aftermath of bankruptcy.

But while they enjoy one of the nation’s highest standards of living, Orange County residents have consistently given less money to charity than donors in virtually every other metropolitan area in the United States.

At the same time, the mood in Orange County “is that the government needs to get out of the business of caring for poor citizens and turning that responsibility over to private agencies,” said Kristan Schlichte, executive director of Orange County Catholic Charities.

The wake from the county’s Dec. 6 bankruptcy declaration rocked every county department, but none more than those which serve the poor.

Earlier this year, the Board of Supervisors slashed funding for indigent medical care by $12.1 million, or 30%. Supervisors shut down a Westminster health clinic that served 3,700 patients annually and ended a program that provided follow-up care to about 900 poor women with abnormal Pap smears. The county also ended its outreach program for the mentally ill homeless and cut the number of shelter beds it funds for them from 40 to 18.

The slashing of social service programs, including health care, means that the county’s poor will find it harder to get assistance that was limited to begin with, said Dolores Barrett, director of social services for the Salvation Army in Orange County.

“The services that the county offered to the poor before the bankruptcy were hardly adequate. After the bankruptcy, they were disastrous,” Barrett said.

Some believe, however, that government can withdraw substantially from the work of providing social services to the poor, if it is replaced by private efforts.

John O’Leary, deputy director of the Reason Foundation’s Privatization Center--a Santa Monica-based conservative think tank--said government should gradually cut public funding for social service programs.

“But part of the bargain is that individuals should accept more responsibility in funding and administering these programs,” said O’Leary. “Good citizenship requires that individuals involve themselves. This is an essential part of a healthy society.”

County residents agree. A Times Orange County Poll conducted for this series found that 51% of local residents believe that churches, nonprofit groups, private citizens and the poor themselves should be primarily responsible for helping those in poverty. Just 34% said the government should play the lead role in taking care of the poor.

If historical giving is any guide, however, Orange County residents are not about to change their habit of pinching pennies when it comes to charitable giving.

Individual contributions to all nonprofit groups, including the United Way, Catholic Charities, the Salvation Army and St. Vincent de Paul, are only a fraction of the donations given the same organizations in other cities and counties. This was true before the county declared bankruptcy and even when its economy was strong.

“Orange County has never had a good record of giving. Private giving here is well below the national average and what is appropriate for income levels in this community,” Barrett said.

A 1993 study on generosity by Princeton University showed that Orange County’s per-capita contribution to the nonprofit sector is only 14 cents per year, not including donations to churches. Of the 85 major metropolitan areas surveyed in the study, only six donated less than Orange County, whose residents rank in the top 2% in income in the United States.

Fully 43% of respondents to the Times Orange County Poll said they had given no money to local charities in the preceding 12 months, and another one-third said they contributed $100 or less.

Some leaders of nonprofit agencies blame the county’s stinginess on a moral failure and skewed priorities.

“We’ve lost a sense of moral responsibility,” said Karen McGlinn, executive director of Share Our Selves, a Costa Mesa charity. “We’ve taken care of developers much more than the poor.”

A recent United Way review of metropolitan areas with demographics similar to Orange County’s showed that Orange County residents last year gave that agency just one-fourth of what residents donated per capita in Seattle. They also contributed less than half the amount given in St. Louis and just over half the money donated in Santa Clara County.

The trend is also true for other local nonprofit groups, including Catholic Charities of Orange County, whose budget ranks seventh of the 12 dioceses in California, even though Orange County has the second-largest population of Catholics in the state.

The Princeton University report, which relied on data from 1989, showed that “despite the strong advocacy by conservatives for voluntarism and a strengthened nonprofit sector, nonprofits have a larger per-capita role in liberal districts.”

This is clear when comparing San Franciscans’ contribution of $1.16 per capita to nonprofit groups--the highest in the nation--against Orange County’s donation of 14 cents per person. Employees in San Francisco also contribute 75% more to the United Way than workers in Orange County.

Leaders of local nonprofit groups said they are frustrated by the lack of generosity in the 36th most wealthy county in the United States, where annual median income per family is $51,167, according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Orange County is also fourth wealthiest in the state.

“Many people complain that they are already paying a huge amount of taxes that they believe are going to help the poor,” said Bill Wenke, Salvation Army director in Orange County. “That just isn’t so,” he added.

However, Thomas A. Fuentes, Orange County GOP chairman and a founder of St. Vincent de Paul Society’s food distribution center, scoffs at suggestions that county residents are uncaring. Fuentes said he believes local residents are generous when asked to contribute to charity.

He blamed the small contributions on “an absence of leadership” by officials of nonprofit groups and a dependence on government.

“The existence for years of government alternatives has hindered the development of leadership. It’s too easy to seek government grants,” Fuentes said. “ . . . The elimination and reduction of government programs will provide the momentum for the individual and the private sector to get more involved in helping the needy. I genuinely believe that.”

Some Senate Republicans want to encourage more private sector involvement in charity by offering a $500 tax credit for charitable contributions. Republican leaders have argued that private charities can do a better job than the government of serving the needs of the poor.

In order for the private sector to take over social services, charities also “need to get citizens more involved and take on the responsibility of helping their neighbor in need,” Fuentes added.

He and leaders of nonprofit agencies said the lack of private financial support for their groups does not necessarily reflect apathy or disdain for the poor by county residents. St. Vincent de Paul Society President Dan Harney and HomeAid Executive Director Mike Lennon said the groups are partly to blame for not making the public aware of the poverty in Orange County.

“One of our great failures is not communicating the message that there are people in great need out there. Some are hungry. Others need housing or jobs. But that’s not to make excuses for people who fail to help others,” said Lennon, whose group works with the building industry to renovate homeless shelters and other buildings for nonprofit agencies.

Amid the dearth of private contributions and shrinking government funds, a network of about 300 nonprofit agencies--some comprised of just a few volunteers--tries vainly to fill the needs of the poor, working out of warehouses, churches, small offices and even individual homes.

Mostly anonymous, they work throughout Orange County. Always underfunded, they dispense food, diapers, emergency rent money and other essentials to a population that keeps growing and which they can never help effectively.

The organizations range from the Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter in Newport Beach, run by nine full-time staff persons and about 200 volunteers, to St. Michael’s Society in San Clemente, which is run by a staff of 15 volunteers.

Many county residents, however, will never use the groups’ services and have little knowledge of the need for them, because they have insulated themselves from poverty where they live and work, Harney said.

The Times Orange County Poll supported Harney’s beliefs. Of those surveyed, 52% said they never or hardly ever travel through Orange County neighborhoods where people live in poverty.

Officials from other nonprofit groups said the fund-raising problem is compounded by county government officials, who are unwilling to take full advantage of the remaining federal programs that funnel money to local agencies that assist the poor. Much of the funding received by nonprofit groups comes from federal dollars disbursed by the state. But counties and cities must apply for the funds.

San Francisco, which aggressively pursues federal grants, gave the city’s Catholic Charities $2.75 million from federal funds this year--$75,000 less than Orange County Catholic Charities’ total budget for the year, said Frank Hudson, the group’s chief executive officer. Orange County Catholic Charities receives just $844,000 from Orange County, all of it federal funding that the county passes on.

The situation will not change, Ainsworth believes, until people “start giving from the heart.” So year after year, he returns to contributors’ offices, hoping that, despite past rejections, they will be persuaded this time.

“I am relentless. People don’t have the ability to look you in the eye and say ‘No.’ Instead, they tell you, ‘You’re too late,’ or, ‘Our company had a change of direction, come see me next year,’ ” he said.

“Damn right, I go back to them next year.”

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By the Numbers

CHARITABLE GIVING

Catholic Charities of Orange County, despite having the second largest diocese in the state, had only the seventh-largest budget in 1994:

Dioceses: Budget

Los Angeles: $19,631,034

San Francisco: $11,820,000

San Jose: $7,000,000

San Diego: $6,000,000

Sacramento: $5,700,000

Oakland: $5,100,000

Orange: $3,582,618

Santa Rosa: $3,300,000

Fresno: $2,896,136

San Bernardino: $2,246,656

Stockton: $878,000

Monterey: $400,000

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How giving in Orange County compares to other areas with populations similar in size:

United Way contributions per donor, 1994

Seattle: $31.20

St. Louis: $19.35

Santa Clara County: $14.27

San Diego County: $8.63

Orange County: $7.80

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Salvation Army budgets, 1994 (in millions)

San Diego County: $8.7

Phoenix: $5.2

Reno, Nevada: $4.4

Santa Clara County: $4.3

Orange County: $4.0

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POLL RESULTS

Who do you think should have the primary responsibility for taking care of poor people in Orange County?

Government/public agencies: 34%

Nonprofits, church/religious groups: 30%

Individuals, families, themselves: 21%

Other: 10%

Don’t know: 5%

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In the past 12 months, have you given any money to a local charity or other group that, as part of its mission, takes care of the poor in Orange County?

No, have not: 43%

Yes, $100 or less: 33%

Yes, more than $100: 24%

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To which of the following kinds of charitable causes in Orange County would you bemost inclined to donate your money?

Feed, shelter the needy: 26%

Churches, religious: 22%

Education: 17%

Medical: 14%

Substance abuse: 9%

Arts, museums: 3%

Others: 5%

Don’t know: 4%

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Do You Know?

1. What percentage of South County residents say they never or rarely venture into the county’s poorer neighborhoods?

2. True or false: Most county residents would agree that a family of four can get by on an annual household income of $20,000.

3. Which group most often comes to mind when county residents are thinking of people who live in poverty: children, the elderly, immigrants/minorities, or single parents?

ANSWERS ON WEDNESDAY

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Answers to Monday’s questions

Q. What percentage of Orange County’s 356,000 residents age 60 and older live below the federal poverty line?

A. 5.3%

Q. What percentage of the county’s Cambodian population is receiving welfare?

A. 65%

Q. What proportion of county residents say they have done work in the last year for a charity or other group that takes care of the poor?

A. One-fifth

Sources: Times Orange County Poll, individual organizations