This time of year, many folks think about giving food, toys or clothing to those less fortunate. That makes this the season of giving, a time many nonprofits and charitable organizations rely on to stay afloat the whole year. In these hard economic times, the generosity of businesses throughout the year is even more important than before.
Statistics from the Giving USA Foundation, which tracks donations to all charitable organizations in the United States, show that giving overall in 2009 dropped 3.6 percent over the prior year, which comes out to a decrease of $303.75 billion dollars nationwide. However, corporate giving rose by an estimated $14.1 billion, up about 5.5 percent from the previous year.
“This was an increase in giving over the prior year, in large part, due to an increase in in-kind giving,” said Edith H. Falk, Giving USA Foundation chair.
How charitable giving fared this year will not be officially known until the latter part of 2011, but Falk says right now “most nonprofit executives are anticipating that giving in 2010 will be flat with or slightly increased over the prior year.”
That’s in line with what some Flagstaff nonprofits are seeing this year as well.
“We’re optimistic that we’ll be better off than last year,” said Kerry Blume, president and CEO of United Way of Arizona. “We’ve not met the growing need of our community, but people are doing what they can to help. Flagstaff is a really caring community. Almost every business in our area is giving employees opportunities to help and then matching those donations.”
Local companies, large and small, are giving however they can, Blume says, ranging from big businesses like Gore and APS matching monetary donations from employees to Northern Arizona University hosting events to smaller businesses giving discounts, donations and providing services at no cost, all important to helping nonprofits help those in dire need.
One such company that dedicates itself to helping the community all year long is Kinney Construction Services (KCS), high- lighted by Blume as one of the many local businesses with outstanding generosity.
KCS helps the United Way, YMCA Kids Campaign, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and others in various ways, from volunteering time, equipment and services to monetary donations both by the company and individual employee campaigns. They also “try to do one good sized construction project per year for a community organization,” said Tim Kinney, president and CEO of KCS.
“This year, it was the construction of the new Hope Cottage building,” said Kinney. “My friend, John VanHouten, asked me for a donation towards the capital campaign and I told him I can do better than that. We built the building with no overhead and profit and discounted subcontracts and labor costs, saving Hope Cottage hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Kinney says giving is something that should be done by everyone who can give time or money “as a matter of good citizenship and human compassion.”
“It’s contagious,” said Kinney. “When I started bringing opportunities to volunteer and contribute to my employees, the response was incredible. They all wanted to help and that grows as an internal movement. One Friday afternoon, one of my superintendents came into my office and said, ‘Me and a bunch of KCS people are taking off early to go to the east side and help the flood victims. We’re taking a couple of backhoes and a loader. If you pay for the fuel, we’ll do the work.’ They have done that a few times now.”
Richard Svendsen, co-owner of Starlight Pines Bed & Breakfast and president of the nonprofit PEAKS Pride, shares Kinney’s passion.
“Community businesses need to take an active role in the community, which will set the tone for others to follow suit,” said Svendsen.
Svendsen’s business and nonprofit work together to hold canned food drives, yard sales and do other fundraisers for a variety of community organizations every year.
“There is no better feeling in the world than giving back to your community,” said Svendsen. “You can probably start doing it today without a single penny! Ask your employees to donate a few canned goods once a month – use those boxes you get from your copy paper as a container to collect the canned goods, then call a local food bank – or PEAKS Pride – we’d be happy to pick up your boxes of canned goods and get them to those in need!”
Other local businesses are focusing on helping area charities in their crunch time, right now in the holiday season, by collecting toys – like the free oil change in exchange for a toy offer that Flagstaff Auto Repair is offering – as well as restaurants, like Tinderbox, feeding hot meals to the scores of hungry in Flagstaff.
“Our first ‘Food Drop’ was at the Sunshine Rescue Mission this month, where we fed approximately 50 people. This is something we hope to make a regular happening at locations around the city that could use this help/assistance,” said Tinderbox manager and co-owner, Kevin Heinonen. “The community has made our early success possible and because, in our case, feeding people of this community is what we do, and it should be available to all.”
Despite all the help, times are still tough. Sonja Burkhalter, executive director of Northland Family Help Center, says her organization has seen monetary donations fall 38 percent since four years ago, though she says Flagstaff businesses do still find other ways to come through for their clients, despite being stretched thin.
“There seems to be a greater demand on businesses in Flagstaff because there are so many nonprofits in our community,” said Burkhalter. “There are over 400 nonprofits in Flagstaff; all with needs and admirable causes – and worthy of community support. My sense is that Flagstaff, as a whole, has maintained a higher level of giving than the rest of Arizona or the nation. Flagstaff is a consistently generous community.”