Charitable giving mostly flat in area

Some of Spokane’s best-known nonprofit groups reported a mostly flat year for charitable giving, a trend echoed in a survey of Northwest nonprofits released in December.

Slightly more than half of the 375 groups surveyed in that regional report said contributions either grew or held steady. The rest reported a decline or did not comment. The Collins Group, a fundraising consulting organization, conducted the survey.

“I would say we fit right in with that trend,” said Michone Preston, executive director of Habitat for Humanity–Spokane. The nonprofit hoped to boost donations by 10 percent last year, and planned to build 22 homes for the needy in 2007. The group said its donations last year didn’t grow by that amount, however, so Habitat has since scaled back its plans to 20 homes.

“We’re not complaining,” Preston said. “But we’re going to push ahead to get those extra dollars.”

Other groups reported shortfalls for the year. Donations to Catholic Charities of Spokane’s annual Christmas Collection drive are down $60,000 from the same time in January 2005. “We’re cautiously optimistic that we’ll reach our goal,” of $725,000, said Loreen McFaul, development director for the group.

One charity in the Spokane area ended 2006 with overflowing coffers – The Spokesman-Review’s annual Christmas Fund began the new year with a surplus of $18,000 after exceeding its goal of $485,000 for 2006.

However, for most of the area’s large charities, donations in 2006 charted a middle course.

“Right now we’re at least staying even and we hope to see a slight increase,” said Janice Marich, interim president of Spokane County United Way. Marich noted the importance of yearly increases in donations for nonprofits, which like all businesses are faced with rising health care, insurance, rents and other costs.

Marich also pointed out that while giving overall is up nationally, gifts to organizations that aid the homeless, mentally ill or substance abusers are on the decline.

“Those aren’t always the charities that are able to raise the most money, but the need is no less the same,” she said.

For nonprofits like United Way, the challenge remains to stretch every dollar as far as it will go.

“It’s a delicate balance,” she said. “It never changes – that need never goes away.”