Gauging the challenge ahead

As the economy continues to decline and the state makes increasingly deeper budget cuts, it’s natural to assume that more and more people will need the services of nonprofits just at the time when the financial viability of those organizations is in question.

That combination of increased demand and decreased supply of support services could be disastrous for the state and could set us back a decade or more in the fight to make sure that everyone has what they need to live healthy and productive lives.

The challenge right now is that it’s hard to gauge the dimensions of the problem we face. The fact that the downturn seems to have occurred so quickly coupled with the reality that no one seems to be able to predict when it will bottom out, makes crafting a reasonable response difficult, at best.

I’d like to hear how the recession is affecting nonprofits in our state. Have you already seen a decline in revenues or are you projecting a decline? Have you experienced an increased demand for your organization’s services? Are you economizing? If so, is it by choice or circumstance? That is, are you already facing problems or are you preparing your organization for harder times ahead?

Share your stories. My hope is that by doing so we’ll be able to take some comfort in knowing we’re all in the same boat and at the same time, we’ll have a little more information at hand when we decide how to respond to the challenges ahead.