Share
Two of Charlotte's best-known charities have forged a deal that offers a blueprint for nonprofits fighting to survive the economic downturn.
The Charlotte Rescue Mission and United Family Services have announced that each intends to save money by building separate facilities on a shared lot - a new treatment center for homeless women with addictions and a vastly larger battered women's shelter.
Organizers say the agreement has already saved $1 million on land costs and site-preparation work, and more savings are expected as the two charities study ways they can collaborate on operations. It's an approach that philanthropic experts are lauding, in view of a dramatic drop in donations nonprofits have suffered in the recession. Foundation for the Carolinas is among those calling for charities to consider partnerships, collaborations and mergers, and it has created a special pool of money that pays charities to study the possibilities.
Major donors are already showing their approval of the collaboration involved with the two new women's facilities. Last week, the Wachovia-Wells Fargo Foundation gave $700,000 to each charity, in part because their projects save money through collaboration.
The donation came at an opportune time, since the two charities are just now launching the "public phase" of their campaigns. Each needs $10 million for construction and the first few years of operation. However, both have a head start, thanks to a behind-the-scenes campaign that lobbied major donors, such as the Bank of America Foundation, which contributed a combined $400,000 to the efforts in November.
To date, the Charlotte Rescue Mission has raised $6 million; United Family Services, just under $4 million.
The public phase will be aimed at corporate and individual donors. Among the selling points, say organizers, is that an expanded addiction treatment facility would save the city $1.9 million annually in jail and hospital costs.
"Somebody told us we should shut down the campaign, because of how the economy is," says Tony Marciano, director of the Charlotte Rescue Mission. "I said: 'No, women are dying on the street and I will not put this campaign on hold.' I don't know how we'll do it, but we'll do it."
The agencies' intent is to start construction on the two projects in 2010, with a summer 2011 completion date.
The Charlotte Rescue Mission's current Dove's Nest facility gets hundreds of referrals annually from jails, shelters and probation officials. But it has only 12 beds for long-term care of addicted homeless women. It serves 45 women annually and has a three-month waiting list, Marciano says.
By contrast, the new Dove's Nest will have 90 beds, along with a food services area, classrooms and medical clinics.
United Family Services' new shelter for battered women will expand from 29 beds to 80, with a community center, laundry, library and child-care facilities.
The existing battered women's shelter - the only one in the county - has been averaging 600 women and children annually, so many that it has been using homeless shelters and hotel rooms in emergency situations. Still, it turned away 2,000 women last year, the highest number in its history, says Mark Pierman, CEO of United Family Services.
The recession is blamed in part for the surge, he says, because families that couldn't find stable jobs and housing have cycled back into the shelter.
Pierman credits the Charlotte Rescue Mission with starting the collaboration, when it offered 18 months ago to sell a portion of its 11-acre tract to United Family Services at cost.
The two nonprofits could not be more different, with Charlotte Rescue Mission a Christian charity that gets no United Way or government money, and United Family Services being a secular agency that relies heavily on both.
"Despite these differences," says Marciano, "the two agencies are finding ways to collaborate without threatening or compromising the integrity of their respective missions.
"Economic conditions are forcing nonprofits to seriously explore opportunities for cooperation and merger. (This) is an example of how it can be done."
