A big hole is ripping through the safety net, according to the Orange County Funders Roundtable, a
coalition of local foundations that today released results of a countywide
study that found 58 percent of responding nonprofits are facing declining revenues in 2009 and
more than 66 percent are seeing a greater demand for services.
“It's a perfect storm,” says Michael Ruane, Children and Families Commission of Orange County executive director, of the study's conclusions. “Reduced donations,
increased demand for services and the impact of the state budget crisis on
the safety-net providers are putting incredible pressure on our local
nonprofits.”
The numbers are staggering:
-46 percent of surveyed nonprofits have lost granted funds and contracts that were anticipated;
-43 percent have major donors that were unable to provide continued funding;
-33 percent have already tapped into their reserves;
-and 13 percent are
using lines of credit to sustain operations.
Increased demand for food, shelter and medical
care by Orange County's newly poor is contributing to
the strain on nonprofits, which report more requests for social services coming from first-time assistance seekers. Former two-income families are turning to food banks
so they may feed their children. This must be addressed, the roundtable insists, because child abuse and neglect increase dramatically during times of economic distress.
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“It is critical that the public be aware of the dramatic new needs and
challenges that the economic crisis brings to Orange County,” says Shelley Hoss, Orange County Community
Foundation president. “The local
nonprofit sector plays a vital role in supporting quality of life in our
communities. But the local nonprofit safety net needs reinforcement. There
is an opportunity here for neighbors to help neighbors, for each of us to
help, by giving our financial resources and our time.”
Reuters news service's Dan Whitcomb reported earlier this week about food banks being swamped “in Orange County, which has been
portrayed as an oceanfront playground for the wealthy on such
TV shows as The O.C. and The Real Housewives of Orange
County.” (He forgot Arrested Development; they always do!)
Hunger relief groups report demand has increased 40 to 60 percent
since June 2008. “Our donations have not in any way, shape or form kept pace
with the skyrocketing need in Orange County,” Mark Lowry, director of Orange County
Food Bank, tells Whitcomb. “I've been here for over 20
years and while we've seen challenging times, I've never seen
such a dramatic increase in need.”
Indeed, the crisis has caused Lowry to do something that could be
playing a part in the alarming Orange County Funders Roundtable numbers
referenced earlier: he has stopped donating to any new organizations.
Previously in Welcome to the Poorhouse:
Problem Makers Become “Solvers”

OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.