Nonprofits nationwide say they are still reeling from the recession, and a recent survey suggests mental health and crisis-intervention groups are among the hardest hit.
GuideStar, which collects and publishes information about nonprofits, surveyed 6,679 public charities and private foundations in different industries across the country, including 813 in California. Respondents were asked how their budgets and services fared in the first five months of 2010.
About 40 percent of respondents said they have seen contributions drop this year, and 63 percent said demand for their services is up. But the figures were even higher among the 170 mental health organizations surveyed: 51 percent said contributions have declined, and 78 percent reported increased demand for services.
Less money and more demand is a "fairly uniform" issue among California mental health nonprofits, said Rusty Selix, executive director and legislative representative for the California Council of Community Mental Health Agencies, a trade group representing about 70 nonprofits.
Economic stress has created more demand for mental health services, but has also led to cuts in funding, primarily from the government, Selix said.
"It's an increase in unmeetable demand; it might have been met in better times," he said. Selix estimates that capacity for mental health services for California adults has fallen 10 to 20 percent because of funding cuts.
Nationwide, mental health organizations attributed the decline in funding to primarily fewer and smaller donations from individuals, corporations and private foundation grants. Thirty-five percent said government grants were smaller. One in four said government contracts were smaller, while 14 percent said government contracts were discontinued.
The survey found that some sectors have fared better this year. Food and nutrition organizations have experienced an increase in demand, but contributions have largely kept pace.
Of 126 food organizations in the U.S., 81 percent reported greater demand. However, 56 percent said contributions increased, and 18 percent said they remained about the same according to figures provided to California Watch by GuideStar. For the 24 percent that said contributions declined, the main reasons were fewer and smaller donations from individuals.
Among the survey's findings for nonprofits overall:
-
Eight percent of respondents said their organizations were in imminent danger of folding because of financial reasons.
-
Budgets increased this year for 41 percent of nonprofits. Twenty-nine percent said their budgets decreased, and 28 percent said budgets stayed about the same.
-
58 percent have cut back on activities and services to reduce their budgets.
-
Half have frozen salaries to reduce their budgets.
-
Seventeen percent have used volunteers this year for positions that were formerly paid.
Comments
via Twitter