Coronavirus impacting nonprofits, donation-dependent organizations
BATON ROUGE- The fears and precautions surrounding COVID-19 are taking a toll on non-profit organizations across the Capital Area.
Not so long ago at the Y-M-C-A in Mid-City Baton Rouge, hundreds of members and volunteers would walk through the doors to use the facility.
Tuesday, only full-time employees showed up for their shift.
"In essence, when we were shut down we had to let all of our part-time people go which was not an easy decision, but one that was essentially made for us. We have been able to keep our full-time people engaged," YMCA CEO, Christian Engle said.
Engle says the YMCA has kept employees working by turning some of their facilities into day camps where parents with essential jobs can drop off their children before they head to work.
"We immediately partnered with the hospitals and began doing daycare and child care for them, so that was something that allowed us to keep a number of our staff busy," he said.
The YMCA has been able to stay afloat through donations, memberships, and also the Paycheck Protection Program.
"It's going to allow us to keep our utility bills up to date, any leases that we have up to date, it's going to help us with the employees we currently have working," Engle said.
Trending News
While the coronavirus may be affecting the volunteer workforce at the YMCA, other nonprofits are experiencing a different problem from the pandemic; fundraising.
City Year, which provides additional educational opportunities for students, had to cancel their 'School House Rock Gala' this year because the gathering would exceed the city's threshold of more than 10 people in one place.
The Gala would have raised about $100,000.
"At the beginning of COVID-19, our School House Rock Gala we had to cancel the day of. So, that's a huge 6 figure event for us for fundraising," Jada Lewis said.
Donation-dependent nonprofits worry about how long they can hold out financially.
Another way the coronavirus is dictating the course of events.