By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

Non-profit and cultural organizations across the region are in the midst of a flurry of fund-raisers and appeals to make up budget shortfalls before their fiscal years end June 30 – and as they brace for more cuts from funding agencies and corporate donors.

Every weekend this spring has brought competing events – from benefit parties to 5K races to family fun days. Public radio stations WFAE-FM and WDAV-FM both are holding short on-air pledge drives this week in hopes of breaking even for the year.

Executives at Ada Jenkins Center and other local organizations are staging events or sending letters and emails and hoping for year-end cash infusions. And they’re biting their nails as they await 2009-10 funding announcements in the coming days.

The Arts & Science Council is informing arts and cultural groups this week how much they’ll get beginning July 1, and with contributions down sharply, cuts are on the way. Next week, it’s the United Way of Central Carolinas’ turn to begin doling out bad news, as it announces 2009-2010 funding.

Executives at non-profits say the battle for corporate sponsorships and individual donations is unusually difficult amid the weak economy. The combination of donors’ tight finances and colliding fund-raisers has even led organizers to cancel events, as happened with the Davidson-based Kate MacIntyre Foundation’s “Art for Life” fund-raiser in April.

PLANNING FOR CUTS

Cindy Rice

Cindy Rice, executive director of Davidson Community Players, said she’s trying to raise about $12,000 to make up for a drop in corporate and individual contributions this year. And she has prepared various budget scenarios for next year tied to how much funding comes from the Arts & Science Council.

“We’ve budgeted for a drop of 25 percent. That’s $15,000,” Ms. Rice said. “My expectation is it could be as low as $10,000.”

This year, the ASC gave Davidson Community Players $20,000 in operating funds, or about 6 percent of the theater group’s $310,000 annual budget. (The group’s Connie Co. children’s theater group also got a $10,500 grant.) But with corporate and individual donations down as well, any cut will be painful, Ms. Rice said.

Among social service agencies that rely on the Charlotte-based United Way of Central Carolinas, similar worries prevail.

United Way pledges were down sharply last year (to $30 million, from $45 million the year before) amid a financial scandal that has included a court battle between the organization and its former director. The United Way board of directors meets next week to consider 2009-10 funding, and it is warning partner agencies to be ready for significant cuts.

ADA JENKINS AFFECTED

A bit of pain here in Davidson is inevitable.

Georgia Krueger

“We are a United Way agency and we’ve been told to expect up to a 40 percent decrease this year. We’re hoping it won’t be that much,” said Georgia Krueger, executive director at Davidson’s Ada Jenkins Center, a regional community services center. Last year, the center received $212,250 from the United Way, or about 25 percent of its budget of about $927,000.

Any cuts now would come on top of a big previous cut. Citing a decline in donations, the United Way late last year eliminated a program called Project JOBS that was to have brought the center $100,000 a year over three years. “We got to the end of the year (2008) and it was gone,” Ms. Krueger said.

The project was a collaboration between Ada Jenkins, the Mooresville Christian Mission, the Davidson Housing Coalition and the Urban League of Central Carolinas. It was aimed at helping people who are unemployed or underemployed. The partners are trying it keep it going, though without a budget.

The Ada Jenkins Center has long been a center of community programs and activity on Davidson’s West Side. Its current organization has been around since 1998, and since then it has become an important regional social services center. It houses programs such as Head Start, the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club, Crisis Assistance, KinderMourn, Latino Services and the Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry.

Ada Jenkins hopes to shore up its year-end finances with a fund-raising 5k road race and barbecue festival on its grounds this Saturday. “I’m the eternal optimist,” Ms. Krueger said. “We hope to raise between $20,000 and $30,000 at this event. Even if we do that, we’re going to still end the year with a deficit. But it will be smaller.”

PUBLIC RADIO DRIVES

Public radio stations WDAV-FM, in Davidson, and WFAE-FM in Charlotte, are conducting short on-air pledge drives this week as they try to erase looming budget deficits by the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

WFAE has a $100,000 goal for its campaign. Program director Paul Stribling said corporate underwriting is down this year. “The goal of this drive is to help the station end the fiscal year strong,” he said.

Benjamin K. Roe

WDAV is hoping to raise $50,000 so it “can end the year in good financial standing,” General Manager Benjamin K. Roe said in an email appeal to supporters. A spokeswoman said the on-air campaign would run Tuesday through Thursday, and Friday if needed.

ARTS CUTS

Amid the weak economy, donations and corporate support for the Arts & Science Council are also down.

The ASC announced in March that its 2009 fund drive brought in $7 million, or 37 percent less than the $11.2 million it raised last year. The organization has cut its own budget and informed cultural groups it won’t be able to provide as much this year.

The ASC already has told the ailing Charlotte Symphony it will slash about $1 million from its funding this year. And the remaining $900,000 comes with strings – continued funding will depend on an ASC review of the symphony’s operations and plans. Other arts organizations will find out over the next week or so whether their budgets are cut as well.

The ASC plans to release a public list of grants later this month. But it’s likely to make cuts nearly everywhere. “We just have less resources to distribute,”  spokeswoman Krista Terrell said Tuesday.

Local groups that have gotten ASC money in the past range from Davidson Community Players and Downtown Davidson’s April is for Arts festival to the Creative Art Exchange/Children’s Arts Project in Cornelius and a concert series at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church.

Henry Lebedinsky

The Music at St. Alban’s series got $7,800 from ASC last year to help produce its popular six-concert season. Director Henry Lebedinsky, who is also music director at St. Alban’s Church, has applied for another $7,500 this year. But he’s not counting on it.

“Whatever we get we’ll be grateful for, but we’ve tried to make some cuts so we won’t be in a deficit.” As he plans the 2009-10 season, he’s trimming his budget – from $53,000 last year to $40,000 this year. (The music series is staged at St. Alban’s but is financially independent.)

“I’m no longer getting paid for my work – I’ve stopped taking a salary,” he said. “But we’re going to be putting on a great season. The quality won’t be affected.”

HOUSING COALITION STEADY

Davidson Housing Coalition, which provides affordable housing, home repairs, homeowner counseling and other housing programs, stands out among local non-profits right now: It’s comfortably in the black for the fiscal year that ends June 30,  Executive Director Marcia Webster said.

Marcia Webster

The organization expects things to tighten in the coming year, but unlike other social services groups, there won’t be any bad news from the United Way next week. The DHC gets no operating funding from the United Way.

“We’re like so many other non-profits: We’ve got our fingers out begging everywhere,” Ms.Webster said. “We’ve certainly gotten a lot of support from our local churches. And the Davidson community, individuals, have been a tremendous support to DHC over the years.” And the coalition also applies to many companies and foundations for project-specific grants.

Ms. Webster said, “We’ve had some good things come our way this year.” The group’s Ride for Hope and Housing fund-raiser last October brought in more than budgeted, and its expenses have remained steady. Also, the DHC last month announced a $10,000 operating grant from Bank of America Charitable Foundation – the first such grant the group has ever gotten from the big Charlotte bank.

Nonetheless, Ms. Webster is cautious about 2009-10. She said the picture could be very different a year from now.

THEATER GROUP ADJUSTS

Davidson Community Players is plotting how to adjust to likely ASC cuts, and how to cope with continued weakness in corporate giving, particularly among banks that are its primary sponsors. The organization won’t begin its 2010 fund-raising until fall, but Ms. Rice said, “We anticipate that difficulties with the economy could potentially negatively affect obtaining sponsorships with banks for 2010.”

A big shortfall in grants and donations could mean the loss of an adult theater production in 2010. This year, the company will produce a total of six shows for adults, three for children through its Connie Co. unit, and 1 exhibition show.

Davidson Community Players is writing more grant applications and looking for new potential sponsors. In the end, Ms. Rice said, the group may have to turn to theater goers and individual supporters. “We’re hoping that we’ll make it up (a revenue shortfall) with individual contributions – a greater number of small contributions,” Ms. Rice said.

“Non-profits have to build their individual donor bases,” she said. “Over the long haul, it’s the loyalty of individuals to an organization, and people who love that organization, who are able to keep it going.”

With that in mind, she hopes supporters with the means to do so will step up and help out Davidson Community Players – or any cause they believe in.

“If you are in a position where you have the capacity to consider charitable gifts, because the economy hasn’t affected you in the same way as others, I want to say please be generous. Please be as generous as you can be to the organizations that you support,” Ms. Rice said.

RELATED COVERAGE

May 28, 2009, “Bank grant helps Davidson Housing Coalition.”

April 20, 2009, “Saturday’s Art for Life fund-raiser to be rescheduled.”

April 2, 2009, “4-min. interview: Tom Ross on the economy, education.”

March 4, 2009, “Ada Jenkins perseveres despite funding problems.”

Dec. 11, 2008, “WDAV announces job cuts, adds corporate fund-raisers.”

Oct. 8, 2008, “WDAV halts on-air campaign, cites economic worry.”

See also DavidsonNews.net’s other reporting on how the economy is affecting everything from business to education in category “The Economy”