Carrington Fox of the Nashville Scene gives the details of this upcoming event on Bites:

On April 7, Second Harvest Food Bank invites you to leave your brown bag at home, cancel your lunch date and count the money you save by skipping the midday the meal. Then, while you’re griping about the nuisance of being a little peckish, take that cash and give it to Skip Lunch Feed a Bunch. The Second Harvest fundraiser will get your money to people who are far too familiar with the feeling of being hungry.

Let’s say you cut out your regular Chicago dog and fries, the fiver you save will purchase 25 pounds of food and provide 20 meals to hungry children, seniors and families. Skip your $10 kabob platter, and you’re feeding 50. A $15 scallop salad will provide food for 75.

Second Harvest will provide a desk clock to remind you when not to eat and a sticker to wear as a badge of honor as you fast. For more information and a fasting kit, call Jenny Vazquez at Second Harvest at 627-1571 or email jenny.vazquez (at) secondharvestmidtn (dot) org.

The New York Times ran an article yesterday on a current trend that has many food banks offering fresh vs. canned food. Nashville’s own Jaynee Day of Second Harvest was quoted in the article:

The Nashville Food Bank built a federally certified manufacturing facility, where it churns out 50-gallon drums of tomato sauce, along with stews, chili and other food. Most is pumped into heat-sealed plastic bags, cooled and frozen. The food bank distributes the packages to pantries around the country.

“All an agency needs to do is pop it into boiling water, and then warm it up, cut it open and serve it to a client,” said Jaynee Day, executive director of the food bank.

From today’s City Paper:

Values under siege

You’re not likely to hear them grumble about the sad state of their stock portfolios. Most of them probably own no securities at all. And yet the market’s decline threatens to leave them more insecure than anyone else in the community.

They are the hungry, the homeless, the frail, the abused. They are the people who depend on the charity of organizations that, in turn, depend on funding from Nashville-area foundations.

With some market indices showing that U.S. stocks have lost half their value since January, few if any of Nashville’s scores of private foundations and similar organizations are likely to experience growth in their assets in 2008. The Frist Foundation, one of the largest, has outperformed the market – by losing only 20 to 25 percent of its asset value this year, according to President and CEO Peter F. Bird Jr.

“This is a nowhere-to-run, nowhere-to-hide investment environment,” Bird said.

Menacing times for large investors translate into a fearful atmosphere for agencies that receive foundation funding. Program fees and donations by the general public may account for much of their total dollars raised, but nonprofits grow accustomed to the reliable flow of funds that a long-term relationship with a foundation can normally provide.

Now that stream of money may be slowing, just when economic conditions are making it harder to raise cash elsewhere.

Continue reading ‘Second Harvest, Frist Foundation, Lewis Lavine Explain How Economic Crisis is Impacting Local Nonprofits’

Yesterday, the New York Times devoted an entire section into analysis of the challenges facing the nonprofit sector. Here is a portion of the article ”Bracing for Lean Times Ahead,” which analyzes a specific organization’s plan:

Roxanne Spillett, chief executive of Boys and Girls Clubs of America, said that each of the local clubs she had talked to – there are 4,300 around the country – was reporting higher demand for services. Additionally, clubs are grappling with rising insurance premiums and higher energy costs, she said. “If you asked me a month ago, I might have said Newark is crashing, but clubs in another city, say, Chicago, are doing pretty well,” she said. “Now, uniformly, club leaderships say they are bracing for a very tough end to ‘08 and a tough ‘09 and even beyond.”

Ms. Spillett said the national organization was increasing the number of “asks” it makes to donors, increasing its stewardship calls to top givers and increasing face-to-face meetings with contributors. It is putting together a white paper to advise clubs on potential cuts and stepped up fund-raising.

The national organization relies on corporate donations, and Ms. Spillett said she had seen some reluctance among those donors to make multiyear commitments, and some may be reducing their gifts.

Check out the full section by clicking here. There is a plethora of articles that are worth reading, including an article on innovation in fundraising, and Second Harvest Food Bank.

The good people at Second Harvest have organized a toy drive for the children that particpate in their Kids Cafe meal program:

Who: 1,700 Kids Cafe Children

What: The 13th Annual Kids Cafe Toy Drive and Holiday Parties! The children will celebrate the holidays with parties at their own center this year due to renovations at the Renaissance Hotel.

When: The holiday parties will be held in mid-December. Toy donations are needed by Friday, December 5. Please drop off toys at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel, located at 611 Commerce Street. Valets will take your donation at the curb.

How can I help? Your toy donation will make this holiday fun and memorable for the very children who need it most. Please provide toys for boys and girls ages 5-12. Please do not wrap the toys, we will take care of that!

Bag Stuffing Party: We will stuff the gift bags with toys on Thursday, December 11 at 5:30 PM at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel. Please contact us to sign up.

For more information: Contact Janet Arning or Whitney Cowles at 615-329-3491 or email us at: janet.arning@secondharvestmidtn.org whitney.cowles@secondharvestmidtn.org

The Tennessean has a story today on how the nonprofit community is preparing for a possible drop in donations. CNM’s Lewis Lavine, Meg Nugent of Nashville Adult Literacy Council, and Hal Cato of Oasis Center, among others, are cited:

Charities expect drop in donations next year

By Bob Smietana
THE TENNESSEAN

Lewis Lavine has some good news and some bad news for local charities.

The good news is that most of them will make it through the end of the year without much trouble. The bad news? Next year is going to be a bear.

“We believe 2009 will be a very difficult year,” said Lavine, director of the Center for Nonprofit Management in Nashville.

Despite the economic turmoil, local charities say they are holding their own right now. While demand for their services is up, donations have yet to drop dramatically. But some charities fear that donations may fall next year while the need for help grows.

Jaynee Day, of Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, says requests for food boxes are up almost 10 percent over last year, and most of those requests have come from people who have not needed help until now.

“It’s a tough time for families, who are having to decide between putting food on the table or paying the light bills or the health insurance,” Day said.

Second Harvest, which distributes food in 46 counties, is in the middle of its biggest fundraising campaign of the year.

Now’s the time to prepare for the gathering storm of need, experts say.

Continue reading ‘Tennessean Examines Area Nonprofit Challenges’