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When a tornado strikes or a river floods, people need no invitation to help. They see the suffering and rush in to do whatever they can.
When a recession forces charities to strip out services or shut down altogether, the devastation may be less obvious, initially. But it is no less a public emergency.
That's the point of stories you'll see today and Monday. A public emergency is at our doorstep. Unaddressed, it will invade this community in a slow and unmerciful march. No one should be caught surprised.
For months, The Observer has reported, story by story, the steep decline in funding for nonprofit organizations ranging from soup kitchens to the Charlotte Symphony.
To this point, budget cycles concealed the true depth of this crisis. Most nonprofits are funded for a fiscal year that runs from July to June. So, as you read this, they are operating largely on contributions and grants collected before the recession took hold.
Many of those budgets also include United Way funds collected before the agency was hit with a scandal involving the pay of its CEO. The controversy contributed to a 33 percent decline in donations for the coming year.
On July 1, new budgets and a new reality strike hard. Charities could see their funds dry up by 20 to 50 percent or more. Most have prepared for months, cutting staff, reducing services. But it's not enough.
What will it take? Long-term, we need new approaches to how we support nonprofit organizations that are good for our community. The old models are inadequate, if not altogether broken. Let's have an honest, open conversation about what would work better.
Short-term, and I mean now, we have souls and community assets to save. We cannot let disappointment over flawed designs in the dikes prevent us from throwing a lifeline to drowning people.
Yes, the need is astounding. But it is not as big as the spirit of this city to help. Many of you already roll up your sleeves and build houses for the poor, serve meals to the homeless or mentor a child. A government report in 2007 ranked Charlotte's rate of volunteering ninth among 50 major U.S. cities. Historically, giving here also exceeds the norm.
Agencies are doing all they can to make this easier. Today you will read about new waves of fundraisers and other opportunities to help. Turn out for them.
The Observer will make an extra effort to get the word out. We invite other media to join us in connecting the community with needs and solutions.
Today, we roll out a midyear update of our Giving Guide for Mecklenburg County. This online directory of nonprofits is searchable by cause, needs and location.
If not money, you have something else to give. Could it be a couple of hours of your time? Canned goods? An unused rake or computer in the garage? Go to www.charlotteobserver.com to match what you have with an agency that can use it.
If you have a Web site or online social network, we encourage you to link to this guide and our stories.
How would you prioritize the community's needs, and what else do you think should be done? Tell us in an online survey at www.charlotteobserver.com.
Just don't say this is someone else's job.
Take the Red Cross, for example. Its Greater Carolinas chapter is the kind of organization you'd expect to show up, regardless. But its CEO, Pamela Jefsen, has ordered three rounds of layoffs to offset funding losses, including a cut in United Way money by up to $500,000.
Jefsen is worried. Yet she knows where one answer lies.
“Most of our contributors and volunteers are just good-hearted people in the community,” Jefsen said. “This (crisis) now makes what they do that much more important.”
