Include Emergencies in Your Giving Plan

A few weeks ago, I attended a Women’s Fund event honoring OPTIONS Alumnae at Linda Mauer’s lovely home. First of all, I was honored to be a part of an organization that is comprised of such fantastic, diverse, and lively women. There were about eighty women present, from all OPTIONS classes, discussing everything from babies, to careers, to charitable giving. It was exciting watching the connections being made everywhere.

Once Jennifer got us all corralled for the program, we heard a story that I think may be particularly relevant for lots of us who may be reviewing our giving plans for this year and making decisions for the upcoming year. Two employees from The Julian Center came and spoke to us about the important work that they are doing. Of course, it is always compelling to hear the real stories of the families that The Julian Center is helping, from the battered women who have finally gotten up the courage to leave their terrible situation to the partnership with the prosecutors to ensure that batterers are held accountable. But what was really eye opening was a story that Jennifer shared about how The Julian Center lost a large government grant this year and faced a major budget crisis. The funding situation was so dire, and so unexpected, that The Julian Center faced immediate downsizing of its already lean staff. Jennifer mobilized her Women’s Fund network and helped arrange emergency dollars to allow The Julian Center to maintain the status quo while it worked to find replacement money to ensure that it could continue to maintain its critical staff.

If you contribute to any non-profit organization on a regular basis, you may receive frequent communication regarding financial crises that arise. Sometimes I know that I feel like charities may be crying wolf too often. And sometimes I wonder to myself why these organizations haven’t planned for the unexpected, and that maybe they are just preying on my human reaction to want to help fix an emergent problem. And perhaps they are. But I think the story of The Julian Center demonstrates that it shouldn’t really matter. There was no way for them to know that they would lose that critical piece of funding. The non-profit world can be a fluid, unexpected place, with changes occurring all the time that give rise to critical situations that require immediate funds. From changes in laws, cold winters, economic shifts, and other unexpected events, non-profits have to be incredibly dynamic to meet the needs of its constituents.

This is why I urge you to consider planning to allocate some dollars next year to emergencies of the organizations to which you regularly donate. For me, I always give annually to Planned Parenthood, but I also will set aside some funds to ensure that when I get one of those letters explaining that a local clinic is facing closure, I will be able to help address that immediate need, just as Women’s Fund was able to help rescue The Julian Center this year.