SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - Susan Hemmerle calls The Horse Shelter’s reserve account - to be used in times of emergency or struggle - the “rainy day fund.”
It’s beginning to pour.
The nonprofit organization, which serves as a sanctuary for abused, neglected or abandoned horses in the state, is feeling the financial crunch as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks havoc on its revenue base. The state’s stay-at-home orders have forced the closure of the Santa Fe nonprofit’s resale store, which carries a mix of clothing, jewelry, art and riding gear. It also delayed to October an important spring auction scheduled for May.
Hemmerle, The Horse Shelter’s director, said the store and the auction combined generate about $160,000 per year for the organization. She estimated the auction delay and the shutdown of the store for three or four months could result in a loss of about 20 percent of its operational budget.
That makes the reserve fund all the more important. And still that might not be enough to survive, leading Hemmerle to submit a recent letter to the editor to The New Mexican asking the public for donations.
“We have a really good board (of directors) and we are fiscally responsible, like any good business and nonprofit,” Hemmerle said. “We have our rainy day fund, but you don’t want to use that up. We are experiencing losses, but we don’t know how severe.”
For nonprofits that rely on donations and public fundraisers, the COVID-19 crisis has created yet more - and if possible, more urgent - competition for the philanthropic dollar. Observers say organizations that raise money to directly support COVID-19 relief could easily affect smaller, cause-specific nonprofits as fears of a recession spread through the economy.
Initially, at least, food banks and others that work to help those in need during the crisis are seeing a rise in attention and funding.
Jill Dixon, director of development for The Food Depot, said the nonprofit has seen a surge in donations in the weeks since the novel coronavirus outbreak. Dixon pointed out it’s a mix of new donors, those who have been inactive for a while and regular contributors who are giving a little more in this time of need.
“We’ve had many folks give portions or their entire stimulus check, if they felt like they didn’t need it,” Dixon said. “That brought me to tears a couple of times last week, hearing that and reading the notes on those.”
Dixon said The Food Depot has stopped taking food donations and is accepting only money for the moment. Part of that stemmed from a safety concern for workers and volunteers, but she also noted financial donations are a more efficient way to contribute given the current situation. “We are able to purchase (food) at a reduced cost,” Dixon said. “We’re not paying straight-up retail. We’re purchasing in bulk, and we get a more advantageous price than most people are going to get at the grocery store.”
The need, she said, is significant. On April 18, The Food Depot delivered needed staples to more than 3,000 people during a two-hour period in Santa Fe. Dixon said a similar food pickup event in Española last week served more than 4,000 people, with a line of cars stretching into the heart of the city.
When the epidemic caused school closures for the rest of the 2019-20 academic year, it forced Communities In Schools of New Mexico to change its approach on the fly. The organization, which aids some of Santa Fe Public Schools’ lowest-income students, quickly shifted its focus to training its 80 volunteer tutors to connect with students online. It also started an emergency donation drive for families in need of temporary housing or paying for rent, utilities and other essentials.
Executive Director Julia Bergen said the effort raised $75,000, and Communities In Schools has spent about $20,000 so far. The organization has also helped families of students not involved in the program but who were in need.
The organization has relied on funding from the district as well as city and county government for revenue, Bergen said. It has also worked to get assistance from the private sector.
With the uncertainty of how much public sector funding will be available for the next school year, Bergen said she and her staff have worked diligently over the past month to apply for grants from state and federal programs while also looking at other fundraising options.
“We’re being very aggressive in our fundraising and trying to be innovative and creative,” Bergen said. “At the same time, we’re trying to be very practical and realistic that we are where we are right now. It’s tough for any one of us to really know what the future portends. So, we have to plan and be very thoughtful in our planning.”
Nonprofits that serve causes not directly affected by the crisis are still assessing the situation.
Corinne Collins, executive director of the Cancer Foundation for New Mexico, said the organization’s fundraising has not yet been negatively affected. That’s critical, she said, because the group assists cancer patients in Northern New Mexico who struggle with travel costs related to their treatment.
Collins said an important arm of its fundraising campaign, the annual Sweetheart Auction that generates roughly 50 percent of its yearly revenue, was held in February. However, its September Supper Club gathering could be in jeopardy.
Collins said her staff is exploring other options, including virtual fundraising, but acknowledged raising money could become more difficult if the economic outlook remains dim. “We feel the need will be greater than ever, given that so many people are losing their jobs and their safety nets,” Collins said. “If they experience a cancer diagnosis on top of that, that is going to be really, really tough.”
Fundraisers say while the need for help on a variety of fronts appears to be growing, the number of potential donors could dwindle the longer the economic crisis lasts. And Dixon said the growth of GoFundMe - a popular website through which individuals can establish their own fundraising efforts - already posed a challenge for nonprofits. Couple that with the trend of businesses forming their own relief funds during the pandemic to assist their employees or to help raise funds for other nonprofit groups, and it creates an abundance of choice.
“There is a lot of competition out there, and there is always the competition that you’re used to,” Dixon said. “Donors have a lot of choices when they decide to become philanthropic.”
Hemmerle said The Horse Shelter has applied for local and national loans and grants, including the Paycheck Protection Program that allowed small-business owners to apply for as much as $10 million to keep employees on the payroll for eight weeks. Hemmerle said the organization received some money from smaller, local programs but was denied through the federal program when funds ran dry.
She said she intends to apply again for federal money after the latest small-business stimulus package passed last week. “On one side, I understand it because I am sure all of their systems are overwhelmed by the amazing volume of what’s happening,” Hemmerle said. “The other part is, you don’t know where you stand and what to expect. You apply, and the next thing you hear is that the funds are all used up.”
The only hope is that a rainy day doesn’t turn into a monsoon.
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