In a slumping economy, nonprofits struggle

Business is booming at the veterinary clinic of the Virginia Beach Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It’s booked solid two and three weeks out.

That’s not altogether a good thing. Rather, it’s another sign of the impact of the economic downswing.

The Beach’s SPCA clinic is swamped because it offers subsidized services for people who can’t afford private veterinary care. In the past few months, more animals are being abandoned, fewer are being adopted, and donations are more of a struggle to get. And it costs $160 a pop to fill up the Neuter Scooter, the SPCA’s mobile veterinary clinic bus, said the organization’s executive director, Sharon Adams.

“Our donors are quite often from the middle class, and they’re feeling the squeeze,” Adams said. “Folks are not feeling good about their own futures, and adoption decisions are being impacted by that.”

Local nonprofit agencies are grappling with a troubled economy that is hitting their bottom lines in both increased need and higher costs. And volunteers, often the backbone of these organizations, still have the time to give, but not the money for gas.

It’s not just individuals. Local nonprofit leaders are reporting that big companies have tightened the reins on donations.

“As the economy has tightened, there’s increasing scrutiny,” said Cliff Bryant, director of communications for Norfolk-based Physicians for Peace, an international nonprofit. More than they used to, he said, businesses are looking for a return on their investment, such as sponsoring an event where they’ll get name recognition or donating in an area where they do business – something to justify the donation to their shareholders.

Bryant said Physicians for Peace sends about 250 volunteers a year on medical missions to such places as Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Haiti – destinations that typically don’t see bargain air fares even in the best of times.

“Certainly we’re bracing ourselves,” Bryant said. “Those are extremely expensive tickets.”

The rocky economy has so many worried about their financial health that it literally may take a disaster to overshadow it. The tornado that struck Suffolk in April was followed by an outpouring of support, said Rob Shapiro, public relations director for the American Red Cross of Southeastern Virginia. The organization quickly reached its target of $150,000 in donations for its Suffolk relief effort.

The community “stepped forward without any regard to the economy,” Shapiro said.

But day in and day out , Mike Hughes, president and chief executive officer of the United Way of South Hampton Roads, said he’s hearing from his member agencies that while it’s always a challenge to make budget, now “it’s a little harder than it was in the past.”

The Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia is seeing 24,000 new customers at a time when food donations are down by about 10 percent, said Jan Cline, spokesman for the organization.

“Some of the leanest times of our whole year are throughout the summer,” Cline said.

Meals on Wheels programs across the country are seeing increasing need at the same time they’re seeing a decrease in funding from the federal government and fewer volunteers, said Marley Sweeney, director of communications for the Meals on Wheels Association of America, which is based in Alexandria.

Four out of 10 Meals on Wheels programs have waiting lists of people needing help, she said.

“Those are seniors who are waiting to be fed,” Sweeney said. “The reality is they may go hungry and they may starve.”

Sweeney said a typical Meals on Wheels program logs about 2,700 miles a week delivering meals to senior citizens. The volunteers usually foot the bill to fill their gas tanks.

“That’s why we’re losing volunteers,” Sweeney said.

SPCA’s Adams said she could also see the effect of gas prices on volunteers such as Janet Gilbert, a Virginia Beach real estate agent.

Gilbert said she hasn’t stopped volunteering, but in the last few months she has consolidated the number of trips she makes for SPCA to the Petsmart in Virginia Beach’s Pembroke area for a cat adoption program.

“I used to run over there three or four times a week, now I’m down to one or two,” said Gilbert, a devoted cat lover. “It’s getting to where every time you go to the pump it’s like 4 cents more than it was the day before.”

Adams said she also sees the impact of the economy on the number of animals being abandoned. Through last week, 149 dogs have been turned in this year because their owners said they couldn’t afford them, were left outside the shelter during off-hours or were turned in by neighbors after being abandoned. Last year’s comparable number was 98.

More people are deciding not to adopt because of expense, Adams said. Some of the people coming to the veterinary clinic are there to relinquish their beloved pets because they can’t afford to keep up with even basic care.

“A lot of times they have two small children sitting there,” said Melissa McKendry, a veterinarian at the Virginia Beach SPCA clinic. “It’s heartbreaking.”

Adams said even though the organization relies on donations to make its $1.8 million budget, it’s getting harder to ask.

“Small businesses are being squeezed,” Adams said. “You hesitate to ask because you know they’re going through a tough time and you know they’d give if they could.”

Meanwhile, overhead costs such as fuel and utilities continue to rise. The veterinary clinic loses $300,000 a year, Adams said – and loses more the more people use it. The Neuter Scooter bus, which houses a mobile clinic that provides low-cost spaying and neutering, was projected to lose between $10,000 and $20,000 annually when launched last year. Adams estimated that because of the high cost of gas, it will have lost between $40,000 and $60,000 in the fiscal year ending in August.

The original plan was to expand the Neuter Scooter service to more than its current two days a week and to add more locations, Adams said. Those are on hold. And while there are no plans to cut back the service, Adams says at times she wonders: “How long can we sustain this?”

Nancy Young, (757) 446-2947,

nancy.young@pilotonline.com