Local nonprofits struggle with donation collection

From left, Dale Denby and Raymond Headrick, of the Salvation Army, collect items from Marilyn Brenes, of Pasadena, as she makes a donation to the Salvation Army Thrift Store’s donation site in Pasadena Friday, October 22, 2010 as she prepares to move to a home in Altadena. Charitable organizations say they are suffering from a decrease in donations this year due to the economic downturn and increased competition. (SGVN/Staff Photo By Sarah Reingewirtz/SXCITY)

PASADENA – As far as Major Mark Nelson is concerned, the Salvation Army is in need of some salvation itself these days.

The administrator of the Salvation Army’s Pasadena Adult Rehabilitation Center says not only are donated goods to its local family thrift shops down about 5 percent over last year, but the quality of donations has also dropped sharply.

Photo Gallery: Salvation Army donations

“People are holding on to furniture and household items longer,” Nelson said. “What we do receive, the greater percentage is basically used up, more worn, more dirty. Like furniture, (it’s) to the point that someone can’t live with it anymore.”

The Salvation Army’s donation pick-ups are down about 10 percent this quarter in their Western U.S. region compared to the same quarter last year, officials say.

While the decreases likely reflect the economic slowdown, nonprofit organizations like the Salvation Army say they are also increasingly competing with groups that collect donated items, such as clothes and shoes, and then resell them for profit.

“Someone is recycling these items, yes, but it’s not going back into the community,” said Dawn Marks, marketing consultant for the Salvation Army Western Territory Adult Rehabilitation Center Command.

“It’s a business venture. It doesn’t go to support any local community programs or go to the needy.”

The new reality is not helping the charitable organization’s local thrift shop sales, which are about the same or slightly lower than last year while expenses such as employee health insurance continue to rise, Nelson said.

There are six area Salvation Army family thrift shops from Diamond Bar to Santa Clarita, and all of their proceeds go toward the organization’s adult rehabilitation centers serving people with addiction and other major social problems.

“The next quarter needs to be good,” Nelson said. “Otherwise, we’ll start making some cuts of some kind” to services or employees.

Goodwill officials say they haven’t noticed a drop in quantity of donations to their shops, but they have noticed a slight drop in quality.

In addition, they find themselves doing some “extraordinary things” now to get donations, including forging partnerships with local schools and churches.

“We have to work harder to get donations and we come up with different approaches and better service,” said Peter Duda, vice president of Goodwill Southern California.

Local organizations are also reporting a decrease in monetary donations, which is reflective of a larger national trend.

Total charitable giving in the country fell 3.6 percent in 2009 to an estimated $303.75 billion, according to Giving USA. No statistics are available for 2010.

That was the steepest decline in dollar terms since the Giving USA began conducting its annual reports in 1956.

The Monrovia-based Foothill Unity Center, for example, has seen a decrease of about 5 percent overall in donations from the last ten months compared to last year, said Executive Director Joan Whitenack.

The amount of bequests and endowments is down about 13.5 percent over last year, while foundation grants are down nearly 7 percent, she said. Donations from the group’s fundraising activities and businesses were up.

But the overall decrease is particularly significant due to an increasing need in the community, she said.

“The numbers of families needing assistance has grown at an unprecedented rate,” Whitenack said. “We are now serving double the number that we served just two years ago.”

Randy Jurado Ertll, executive director of El Centro de Accion Social, said his organization’s annual fundraiser raised more than $100,000 in 2006 and 2007 but only about $70,000 last year.

This year the organization has set a $50,000 goal for its annual fundraiser that funds programs for youth and senior citizens. The dinner will be held Thursday evening at the Westin Pasadena Hotel.

“We can’t deny that the economy is still tough,” Ertll said. “It’s tough for people who have donated in the past to donate now.”

Similarly, foundations that play an important role in funding nonprofit organizations have also lost money in the stock market, he said.

The overall result is that organizations are forced to become more creative in their fundraising efforts and more efficient as an organization.

“It’s creating an atmosphere of the survival of the fittest,” he said. “You have to be pretty lean, and pretty effective because now foundations, corporations are looking at that.”

brenda.gazzar@sgvn.com

626-578-6300, ext. 4496