Fund-raising shortfall for United Way charities

Earlier this month, John Rush, president of United Way of the Ozarks wasn't going to cry "Wolf!"

But now, just a few days short of the end of the annual fund-raising campaign, the man in charge of finding funds to help support 29 charities in this area, is getting antsy.

At this point in the computation of figures, United Way is about $1 million short of its goal of $3.2 million.

Part of the problem, Rush said, is that the kick-off party for the annual United Way drive was the Thursday after Sept. 11.

He added that the United Way had to adapt the Sept. 13 kick-off campaign to reflect the somber mood after the terrorist attack it went from the usual "circus" atmosphere, to one of compassion and spirituality.

The Sept. 11 attacks directly affected the flow of incoming support.

"Up until Sept. 10, things were going along very well we had increases of 10 or even 20 percent higher than last year," Rush said. "But then Sept. 11 hit. The biggest impact was immediate. Nothing happened for a full week. People were transfixed to their TV screens. I've been told that people didn't even write checks."

Area businesses

But when those checks are part of an annual fund-raising campaign among area businesses, it puts the United Way far behind in the task of reporting employer and employee contributions for the two-month campaign that is held each year in September and October.

Delayed reporting of the funds collected is "what will press us between now and Nov. 8 when we close the campaign," Rush said.

Rush knows for sure that $30,000 has been lost locally because four companies reported they made their United Way contributions directly to New York victim charities.

Rush said there are more than 100 of those victim charities that have collected more than $1 billion or about one-fourth of what United Way collected nationally last year. "There's never been such a response to a charitable appeal like that," Rush said.

Several local organizations that receive funds from United Way were significantly impacted by the terrorist bombing the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and local domestic abuse shelters and intervention organizations, he said. Those local organizations had immediate financial needs because they had clients who needed their help instantly.

But Rush isn't crying wolf yet because he has noticed that people are still giving locally.

"If you care about the people in New York, it isn't too much of a leap to care about people in Springfield as well," Rush said. "Generosity is begetting generosity."

He said that donors this year have a "heightened awareness of need and are increasing their giving."

Gary Gibson, campaign chair, said at an Oct. 29 press conference that some companies haven't held their final campaigns yet.

The Nov. 8 victory party will be held at the Salvation Army, Rush said, at which time final reports on all division contributors will be made. Divisions include major gifts, commerce, business and industry, insurance and real estate and finance, public service, professional, special gifts, Ozarks area (outside of Springfield) and health care.

There are no plans to extend the campaign. "We like to get out by Nov. 8 because so many other charities look for donations during November and December," Rush said. Char-ities under the United Way umbrella don't actively seek contributions during September and October, he added.

This year United Way has added Catholic Charities to the list of organizations it helps support. It also recently added the Boys and Girls Town of Missouri.

Red Cross

So far, $221,000 has been specifically donated to the American Red Cross for New York victims through the local chapter. But another $20,000 plus has been earmarked for local needs, according to Cheryl Searcy, executive director.

Normally at this time of year, because it doesn't actively solicit during the United Way's annual campaign, the Red Cross doesn't receive significant do-nations.

But this year the local chapter received $2,000 to $3,000 in donations since Sept. 11, Searcy said.

"People in the community recognize that locally the Red Cross can't provide a national response unless you have a strong local chapter. They recognize we have expenses when something like this occurs, so rather than give to the national relief effort, they send to the local Red Cross," she said.

The added visibility of the Red Cross as a result of the New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania tragedies has resulted in donors deciding to give both nationally and locally, Searcy said.

The local Red Cross chapter covers Barry, Christian, Dade, Dallas, Stone, Taney, Ozark, Douglas, Lawrence, Greene, Polk, Webster and Laclede counties.

"We have a significant amount of expenses for what we've done over last six weeks," Searcy said, referring to such expenses as overtime for people who worked extra hours, additional supplies and food for volunteers who worked, although much of the food was donated by local restaurants.

In addition, the Red Cross has distributed a large amount of material on mental health issues for the community because of the extreme emotional response the terrorist attack generated.

She added that each contribution must be acknowledged by mail with a receipt for tax deductions which means letters must be sent to the more than 2,000 people who gave to the national campaign.

Victory Mission

Although expected donations are coming in, Jim Harriger, Victory Mission's executive di-rector is keeping his finger crossed.

"We do not know how we've been affected," by the events of Sept. 11, Harriger said. "We are ... where we planned to be at this time, but I don't know how much better we would have been doing" if the terrorists hadn't attacked.

What's scary to him and to other nonprofits is what the picture will be at year's end. "That's anybody's guess," he said.

Victory Mission, a faith-based mission that serves the poor, doesn't take government money and isn't under the United Way umbrella. Harriger said United Way already has one organization it supports that helps the poor the Salvation Army.

He said the mission is "very blessed" by donations from the community, but his year-to-date fund-raising budget is down about $60,000 from $680,000 budgeted to $620,000 actually received.

"While I've had days I grit my teeth and say Ewe! We ought to be doing better,'" Victory Mission will reach its the monthly budget goal of about $100,000 for October, he said.

"Right now it looks okay, but if we have another attack or if the post office really cuts back and it takes longer for us to get mail, it will affect our income stream," Harriger said.

Contributors who want to avoid mail delays for donations can log on to the Web site at victorymission.com if they want to give through the Internet.

Overall, Victory Mission needs about $1.2 million for the year. Harriger already has cut his budget of $1.3 million by 6 percent, he said, but there's just so much he can cut.

His fixed yearly costs medical insurance for employees, $56,000; liability and bonding insurance, $13,000; worker's comp, $22,000 can't be cut.

Harriger said he managed to cut costs by not replacing employees who have left and by reducing what he can, such as printing costs and cleaning supplies.

Victory Mission's work keeps increasing it served 57,000 meals last year, and already this year, it has served 40,000 meals, and it's only early November.

Last year the value of food given away by the mission was $232,000; this year it's already up to $221,000 and the holiday season is yet to come.

Local artist and businessman Scott Hepper, who owns Springfield Coffee Co., is helping out with a food drive for Victory Mission during November. Any-one who brings a case of food to the Springfield Coffee Co. will receive a print of Hepper's Missouri Prairie Thun-derstorms painting, (which was done for the Missouri Prairie Foundation's 35th anniversary celebration), a coffee mug and a sample of coffee. Hepper raised $18,000 for the American Red Cross by donating his print of the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Harriger isn't going to worry, he said, because "non-profits have to be optimistic."

Family Violence Center

At the Family Violence Center, "donations came almost to a standstill" after Sept. 11, according to Debra Baker, community educator for the center.

"We normally receive donations on an ongoing basis throughout the year. We do rely heavily on the community for donations."

But after the attack, food from Ozarks Food Harvest, which provides food to the battered women's shelter, "dropped from 60,000 pounds a week to 20,000 pounds."

"We were wondering what we were going to feed these women and children tomorrow," Baker said. Since then donations have "picked up," she said.

People weren't thinking about "how that tragedy could have possibly affected the smaller communities and the nonprofits," Baker added.

Until the community was aware of the problem for the shelter, they didn't even think about it, she said.

But as the awareness sank in, donations increased.