Nonprofits count on Giving Tuesday to balance out a tough year

Hot on the tail of Cyber Monday, nonprofits across the region are looking for a hand on Giving Tuesday.

The event, a celebration of giving observed the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, typically is a high-profile opportunity for charities and nonprofits to make a case for year-end donations. It takes on special significance this time as charities and nonprofit arts organizations struggle to make ends meet in a year strained by the coronavirus pandemic.

For arts organizations, forced to shutter concert halls and theaters, it has meant finding a way to stay afloat with a dwindling stream of revenue. For human services organizations, it has meant facing increasing demands for assistance with food, rent and utilities even as fundraisers have been forced to go virtual.

In the beginning, donors large and small stepped up to the plate.

A Chronicle of Philanthropy report found charitable giving in the first half of 2020 exceeded the same period in 2019 by 7.5%.

Experts said much of that was driven by a 19.2% increase in the number of contributions of $250 or less.

Doug Root, vice president of communications for the Pittsburgh Foundation, said officials there saw an outpouring of generosity. Several large foundations came together quickly to seed a $4 million emergency fund and corporate donors and individuals likewise stepped forward to help.

“We saw corporate donations on the order of a $500,000 grant from Duquesne Light and then individuals like Stephanie Carleton of Wilkinsburg, who sent in $1,200 from her stimulus check and told us to use it for a good purpose,” Root said.

There have been countless requests for assistance from the agencies that provide help.

Jennifer Miller, executive director of the Westmoreland County Food Bank, said her organization has gone from providing food to 7,500 households to 9,500.

“We are seeing a lot of new people, people who have lost their jobs, had their hours decreased or suffered an illness. At this point we are doing OK, we are able to provide food. But we don’t know how long the pandemic will continue,” Miller said.

She hopes Giving Tuesday will help provide a cushion to take the agency through to the New Year.

Bobbi Watt Geer, CEO and president of the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, said she worries that what started out as a sprint to provide immediate aid to those affected by the shutdown last spring has turned into a marathon not likely to end soon as covid-19 cases to surge to record levels.

“Giving Tuesday is a good way to remind us that the need is still there,” she said.

Some nonprofits have taken a different approach to Giving Tuesday this year. The Women and Girls Foundation enlisted a line of local social influencers to promote its cause online. And Pittsburgh Magazine is hosting Give Big Pittsburgh, a 24-hour online platform to allow donors to go to one place and chose from an array of causes ranging from public libraries to children’s organizations, arts and environmental groups and human services agencies.

But Geer said she’s a little concerned that she hasn’t seen as many solicitations in her email as she normally receives for Giving Tuesday.

“That tells me that maybe some of these agencies have had to cut back and haven’t been able to focus on fundraising,” she said.

Phil Koch, executive director of the Community Foundation of Westmoreland County, said a survey of Pennsylvania nonprofits conducted late last summer found serious cutbacks. Nonprofits in Westmore­land that responded to the survey said they were forced to furlough 1,225 employees out of a workforce of 8,007, while another 933 workers took pay cuts. In Allegheny County, nonprofits furloughed 1,500 employees out of a workforce of 10,769, while 202 employees took pay cuts.

“When I think about some of our smaller nonprofits in Westmoreland County, and wonder how they kept their doors open when they had to cancel a gala or a bowling fundraiser, I know it was because smaller donors stepped up to the plate. Now a lot of our nonprofits are in dire need again,” Koch said.