The Tennessean reports on how nonprofits in Middle TN are facing the challenges brought on by the recession:

Another challenged nonprofit is Junior Achievement of Middle Tennessee, which teaches children business skills designed to help them develop careers, said Beth Torres, vice president for events and funding development.

“We’re still feeling the effects of the recession,” Torres said. “We don’t have a large base of individual donors, and our corporate giving is down enough that it makes a difference.”

Still, she said the number of volunteers working directly with kids is up, and that helps. “Now, if we could get our funding up, we could supply all of the demands,” Torres said.

Arts groups fare better

Some arts organizations appear to be weathering the recession better than social services groups, perhaps through skillful marketing.

At the Nashville Symphony, for instance, season ticket sales are up somewhat from last year, said Chief Executive Alan Valentine.

“Things have certainly eased up a bit from the crunch we experienced when this first happened,” Valentine said. “But we’re not anywhere close to things being back to where they were. Nor do we expect them to be anytime soon; that’s just the new fact of life. Contributions are still off, and are maybe worse this year than last.”

As with other local arts nonprofits, the symphony made significant budget cuts this year, while “trying to keep the quality of our programs high,” Valentine said.

“We can’t retreat from our core missions,” he added. “And we have to remember that even the Great Depression ended.”

CNM has been working with area nonprofits to help them implement the necessary strategies to get through the recession. We are thrilled that our partner, GivingMatters.com has created a survey to assess how this community is doing at facing these challenges. We ask that Middle TN nonprofits take the time to complete it so we can better assess the needs of the community. Here is additional info:

As GivingMatters seeks to assist donors with their charitable investments, it is important for them to know how the nonprofit sector is fairing. Please participate in our survey about the effect of the economic recession on your organization and its impact on the people you serve. We ask you to be as open, honest and realistic as you possibly can be. All the responses we receive will remain anonymous and reported only in the aggregate. We believe your information will be immensely useful in helping the donors know what is going on in our sector. Click here to complete the survey.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
Amy McDaniel, MSW
Director GivingMatters.com