Charities Suffer Drop in Funds as Need Rises

California foundation leaders called for help Tuesday for a growing number of victims of the Sept. 11 tragedy: nonprofit groups that are losing donations as they face increasing pressure to provide food and medical care to people who have lost their jobs.

A survey of 413 nonprofit providers of “safety net” services to low-income Californians showed a $25-million drop in donations--a figure representing a small portion of the money lost by the safety net nonprofits in the state.

The survey said the average dollar amount lost by each group is $62,000--meaning that the total funding lost by the state’s 3,939 safety net nonprofit groups may actually loom closer to $300 million.

The survey, prepared by the California Endowment, also estimated that, as the economy slows, an additional 750,000 Californians--and maybe as many as 1.1 million--may need assistance for basic necessities such as food, clothing and shelter.

Such demands come as the nonprofits providing the help are getting fewer donations from businesses and individuals, experts said.

“Obviously the response to the tragedy in New York shows how generous people are, but I think they just need to be reminded that all of the local community needs haven’t gone away,” said Ginny Connell, executive director of the Palmer Drug Abuse Program in Camarillo, one of the organizations surveyed. “It really can hurt.”

The drug abuse program, which provides treatment for Ventura County teenagers, made about $3,000 less than last year during its fall fund-raiser in October, Connell said. Attendance and spending at a silent auction were down significantly, she said.

Other local groups tell similar stories.

A Ventura-based organization that provides volunteers to spend time with frail and homebound senior citizens is reporting a $25,000 drop in donations this year compared with last year. The group is run by only two full-time staff members who manage more than 200 volunteers.

“If we have to cut back on staff, I don’t see how we could do the program,” said Barbara Weinberg, executive director of CAREGIVERS: Volunteers Assisting the Elderly.

The group is banking on a direct-mail campaign that will be launched next week to boost donations, she said.

“Everything stopped after Sept. 11 and we got very worried,” Weinberg said. “We’re hoping this will pick it up. It is very important.”

President Bush, speaking Tuesday at a town hall meeting in Orlando, Fla., made a similar appeal to the country.

“I’m worried about the fact that charitable giving in America has dropped off as a result of 9-11,” Bush said. “There are still people in America who hurt. They were hurting before Sept. 11. They hurt today.”

Since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, more than 100,000 Californians have lost their jobs, as the already slowing economy suffered a downturn in tourism accompanied by a cancellation of hotel reservations and flights. Nationwide, a half-million people have lost jobs since the attack, according to figures presented at Tuesday’s news conference.

And the economic slowdown has eaten away at the stock portfolios of charitable foundations, leaving some of them less money to give away.

The California Endowment, a $3-billion health foundation, lost about $500 million in value this year because of the declining stock market, said the organization’s President Robert Ross. But the endowment, like many other foundations, profited tremendously for years from the bull market, so it has opted to give more than in the past in response to the crisis, he said.

“We’re hoping corporate America will do the same,” he said.

In California, more than half of all charitable organizations reported an increase in demand for their services, according to the survey. Demand for food bank and meal services has risen 40%.

The demand for emergency housing has jumped 20% and the need for mental health care and primary medical care has increased 19%, it said.

At the same time, funding has decreased for the nonprofit groups surveyed. Nearly 40% of safety net nonprofits reported a decrease in funding from corporate donors and giving programs. About 30% reported a decrease in giving from foundations, individual donors and fees for services.

The loss of donations comes at a crucial time for charities, which typically make the bulk of their annual revenues with end-of-the-year fund-raising.

Fewer Donating to Mission

The Ventura County Rescue Mission in Oxnard has seen a drop of about 2,000 donors so far this year, said Executive Director Carol Roberg. The mission on 6th Street provides a year-round shelter for homeless men, free lunch and dinner for families and job training services.

Roberg said she became alarmed when the group’s direct-mail campaign in October did not produce the usual number of new donors, which Roberg attributed to the Sept. 11 attacks. At the same time, the shelter is feeding more people, she said, primarily families struggling through the sluggish economy.

“This is the time of year we acquire new donors, and if we don’t get them, it will have a profound effect throughout the year,” Roberg said. The rescue mission just launched a campaign to phone past donors to ask for help this year.

Clyde Reynolds, director of the Turning Point Foundation, which provides services to mentally ill homeless people from Ventura to Simi Valley, said he sent 80 solicitation letters around the time of the terrorist attacks and got back only three donations. The group sent another mailing this month.

According to an October survey by Independent Sector, a Washington, D.C.-based coalition of nonprofit groups, 50% of those Americans interviewed said an economic slowdown would reduce their giving this holiday season.

“We need to educate people that there’s a real threat here at home in Ventura County as well as elsewhere when these basic safety-net providers are threatened,” said Doug Green of the Ventura County Community Foundation. Studies have shown Ventura County ranks among the lowest counties in the state in terms of charitable giving, he said.

Of the charities surveyed in the California Endowment report, nearly a quarter have reduced staff or plan to do so.

“December is a live-or-die month for many of these organizations,” said Joe Haggerty, president of United Way Los Angeles. “These are the kinds of organizations that, if any one of us went to our desks and found a pink slip, we would need to turn to them.”

That is what happened to Armando Becerra. Becerra, who attended Tuesday’s press conference, was a cook at the Hilton Burbank Airport on Sept. 11. By Sept. 14, he was out of a job because of a landslide of cancellations.

Not long after, he lost his second job--he worked 14 hours a day to support his wife and two young children--at a restaurant at Universal City.

Group Calls for Year-End Giving

His eyes filled with tears as he recalled trying to find another job, and then seeking assistance at a food bank. Becerra finally found a $10-an-hour job as a cook at a nonprofit children’s program run by Voluntarios de America.

“My life changed 180 degrees,” Becerra said.

The press conference was held Tuesday to announce a new campaign, called California Cares, to encourage year-end charity donations.

Popular entertainers have loaned classic songs to the campaign: John Lennon’s “Imagine,” “California Dreamin’ ” by the Mamas and the Papas, and “My Generation” by The Who.

*

Times staff writer Myron Levin contributed to this report.