Charitable giving is up despite economy

Giving is up, despite the economy

Katrine Phelps and Sara Babcock fill trays Wednesday morning at the Lamoille County Senior Center in Morrisville for the Meals on Wheels program. Despite the weak economy, donations to the program have risen. Photo by Glenn Callahan

By Jesse Roman

Published:

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 12:21 PM EST

A lot of Lamoille County residents have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Despite hard economic times in the last 12 months, charitable giving in this county has actually gone up.

“It shows how caring this community is that, when times got tough, people came out and stepped up their efforts,” said Brynn Evans, executive director of Meals on Wheels, which prepares and delivers thousands of meals a year to seniors in need.

The organization sends two annual mailings per year, seeking donations from the community. This year, it received more than $34,500 in donations, about $4,000 more than last year, and about $12,000 more than in 2007.

“It’s not what you would expect,” given the sour economy, Evans said.

The same is true at the United Way of Lamoille County and a statewide nonprofit group, the Campaign to End Childhood Hunger.

For the fiscal year that began July 1, 2008, the United Way set its fundraising goal for the year lower than normal.

“We always try to make a realistic goal, because you don’t want to make it too high and be disappointed,” said Dawn Archbold, executive director at the county United Way. “We lowered the goal from the previous year by $10,000 because of the economy — we didn’t think we could make that goal again.”

But it did. In fact it raised $189,000, more than it had raised the last several years, and more than in the years before the economy went kaput.

This year’s campaign is promising to be even better. Year to date, the Lamoille United Way has received already $7,500 more than it did during last year’s very successful campaign,

“I was extremely surprised. But I guess when it comes to Lamoille County, I should never be surprised, because to capacity to give here is amazing,” Archbold said. “Even though the economy has hit everyone, people are still donating as much or more. … We’re really surprised and fortunate; we really have no idea why this is.”

It’s not happening everywhere. According to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, an industry newspaper, the nation’s largest charities anticipate giving will decline this year by a median of 9 percent.

All over the nation, college endowments, arts organizations and similar groups report huge drop-offs in contributions.

“Colleges and arts institutions are the hardest hit during an economic downturn,” said Marissa Parisi, executive director of the Campaign to End Childhood Hunger, a statewide nonprofit. “Organizations like mine and Meals on Wheels have seen many donors shift their philanthropy to basic human needs. … As homelessness, poverty and hunger have gone up, we’ve seen the community really rise up to meet the need.”

The Vermont Community Foundation, based in Middlebury helps affluent donors invest large amounts of money and distribute it to causes, charities and organizations of their choosing. As of last year, the foundation had more than 500 separate charitable accounts and managed more than $100 million.

Stuart Comstock-Gay, president and CEO of the foundation, said that, while he isn’t seeing many new funds being opened, existing funds are steering a lot more of their money to help people in need.

“We’ve seen people from late 2008 (when the recession hit) through the first three quarters of 2009 giving at a very high rate, because they see a bigger need — especially for basic needs,” Comstock-Gay said.

To date, donors have spent 17 percent more than they did last year on charitable giving, Comstock-Gay said.

“We see people wanting to be more generous with what they have. They’re stretching their generosity as much as they can,” he said.

Money is being redirected to combat hunger, homelessness and human needs issues, he said.

“I think the arts organizations understand that food and shelter come first. You have to live. Yet, with no art, you’re in a bad place, too,” he said.

Never enough

Despite receiving more donations than in the past, Meals on Wheels did little better than break even this fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. Because the need for help increased, the money went out almost as fast as it came in.

The organization served a record 43,216 meals to seniors in Lamoille County last fiscal year, and Evans expects that number to keep increasing.

“A lot of people are coming to us because of the economy — their incomes have not grown because a lot are on Social Security, but food costs have gone up,” Evans said. “This year, we are projecting even more meals served; it makes me nervous. I don’t know if people can continue this, or if they gave all they could this year.”

The same is true at the Lamoille United Way.

“A lot of people have come in the last two years who had never come in for help before,” said Archbold, the director. The United Way helped 4,000 people directly last year alone, and also helped fund local social services, including Meals on Wheels.

Unfortunately, all the giving doesn’t mean things are rosy for nonprofits and charities.

“Even though there were increases in generosity, there is always a need to make more, because the need is so great and growing,” said Parisi, of the Campaign to End Childhood Hunger. “This is going to be a tricky next few years.”