This summer could be a trying one for leaders of many area non-profit organizations  as they struggle to deal with funding cuts, revenue shortfalls, and shrinking budgets.  Just how big is the problem and what can we do to help? This week, DavidsonNews.net joins a consortium of Charlotte-area media outlets in an unusual joint reporting project that addresses those questions, called Charlotte Mission Possible.

Collaboration by news outlets is not unheard of. The Charlotte Observer has long had a TV partner, for example. But it’s unusual for such a large group to band together in a community project like this one.

Besides DavidsonNews.net, the Charlotte Mission Possible consortium includes The Observer, WCNC-TV (Channel 36), the Spanish-language newspaper La Noticia, public radio station WFAE-FM, and the news websites CLTBlog and Qcitymetro.com.

We hope to engage our separate and intersecting readerships in a regional conversation about the situation, with news and information coupled with commentary and ideas.  We’ll have a website, www.missionpossible.org, and we’re on Facebook and Twitter (follow @cltmission).

Our goal in the coming weeks is to help outline the challenges facing local non-profits, to seek solutions and to help identify needs demanding responses. This project also will have a unique online component: An online survey seeking readers’ ideas on innovations and practices that could help. More about that to come.

THE ISSUE

What we already know is that many agencies are getting bad news this month from funding agencies such as the United Way and the Arts & Science Council about how much they’ll get in the 2009-10 fiscal year. Nearly all non-profits, from churches to cultural organizations to social service providers, are also facing a reduction in gifts from corporate and individual donors. (See our Wednesday, June 17, story, “Non-profits scout for funds, brace for cuts.”)

In recent months we’ve also tried to help by providing a regular column called “Fund-Raisers” that lists needs, events and volunteer opportunities. Other news outlets have similar features.

In the coming days, you’ll begin to see other signs of the Charlotte Mission Possible project. WCNC-TV (Carolinas Newschannel 36) plans to air an interview tonight (Friday) at 11 p.m. with the director of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg senior center. And on Sunday morning, they’ll have an interview with Charlotte Observer Editor Rick Thames talking about both the project and The Observer‘s Sunday morning coverage.

On Sunday, The Observer plans a package of stories and graphics, led by an article that describes how many of the region’s non-profit organizations are at the edge of a cliff. Funding cuts are coming from the county government, the United Way, perhaps the state and other sources. Meanwhile, Mr. Thames will have an editor’s column (much like this one) explaining the Mission Possible project.

DavidsonNews.net will also continue its coverage, reporting on where cuts are coming and how that might translate into programming cuts. And we’ll continue to bring you news about fund-raisers and needs.

What can you do?  Stay informed about the issues by following this project. And look for opportunities to help. As one arts group leader we talked to said: Now is the time for those with the means to help to make an extra effort to support the causes they believe in.

Thoughts about the project, the economic climate or other related issues? Have a fund-raiser or a charitable need to publicize? Leave a comment below or email me at editor@davidsonnews.net

PREVIOUS COVERAGE

Read past “Letter From the Editor” columns, CLICK HERE>

See past coverage on DavidsonNews.net in the Mission Possible project at tag “Mission Possible.” (Also, RSS feed here.)

See our Wedneday, June 17, 2009, report, “Non-profits scout for funds, brace for cuts.”