Bay Area nonprofits are fearing for their lives - San Francisco Business Times:

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That is the most jarring findinbg in of theBay Area’s annua nonprofit pulse survey, and illustrates the toll the recessioh is exacting from the sector. “This really is somethinb we have notseen before,” said Anne Wilson, CEO of Unitedx Way of the Bay Area. Across the Bay demand for services is growing while resources are The fate of state fundin as California grapples with its budget mess only adds to the uncertaintgy hanging overthe sector. Health and humanm service agencies are most likely to suffer lostgovernmen contracts.
If significant numbers of the Bay Area’z 48,000 nonprofits close — there are 7,100p in San Francisco alone, and 46 percent of those have budgetseunder $25,000 — there could be dire consequences. For starters, the rankws of unemployed would swell. According to an Aprik 2009 reportby ’s Institute for Nonprofitt Organization management, 7.7 percent of all wageds paid in San Francisco last year were paid by The Institute, meanwhile, closed in March, citingf financial problems. Beyond the lost jobs and tax revenue, nonprofitw executives worry that the organizations that dosurvive won’r be enough to meet swellingy demand for services.
Without small nonprofits, they might not even be able to connectt to many ofthe needy. “Thr (large) organizations we see, like St. Anthony’sa Foundation and Project OpenHand … will continue to said Paul Ash, executive director of the , which supplie myriad hunger agencies across town. “Thd groups we do see struggling are the smallert organizationswho … are just doing good work in a littler piece of our community. Thosew seem increasingly shaky and where we see programs on the In hopes of limiting both and have set up emergency safetygnet funds, and San Francisco Foundation has set up another fund for nonprofift collaborations and mergers.
United Way has accelerated itsown grant-making procesxs through its Road to Recovery keeping its 211 referrapl line operational is a priority. Nonprofitsw are managing the bestthey can. One in five respondente has laid off stafd in the pastsix months; one-quarterr has reduced staff hours, and one-third of thoses is considering layoffs. Almost half of respondinbg organizations, 44 percent, say they will redirect stafdf timeto fundraising, and one-third say they have no more than two month of operating expenses in reserve. “Thw United Way is not immune from theeconomicd environment,” Wilson said.
“We’ve also taken cost-cuttingf measures ourselves, including staff and salary This year’s workplace giving campaign doesn’t end untill June 30, but Wilson said United Way estimatee that revenue will be down as much as 15 The survey was conducted between Aprip 14 andApril 27. Of 2,090 nonprofits in the nine BayArea counties, 391 or 19 percent responded. “We are in a crisis of capital. Many organizations’ two main fundingf streams are local and state governmengt andinstitutional philanthropy,” said Jeanne CEO of in San Francisco.
“We don’ty frame it any longer as ‘weathering’ this … The sector will look very differentf two yearsfrom now. There’s no way we’re goingv to reset to where we were.”