Generosity and Change

In 2018 four York County Non-Profit Executive Directors shared their thoughts on Legacy Giving during interviews conducted by the fine folks at YRK Magazine. Here's the link

Bob Woods, the then President of United Way York County, Bobbi Anne DeLeo, from the Literacy Council and Dawne Kramer, from Margaret E. Moul Home, and Me, from York Habitat for Humanity at that time. We had so much fun on that rooftop. But any of us would admit it was really-cold!

All of us like our peers in charitable work are doing hard and good work to improve the lives of others who suffer from a variety of issues, most stemming from poverty or the effects of poverty.

Generosity is the cornerstone of effective and sustainable charitable works, but those who plan to give while they are no longer present on earth, send a deeper and lasting message to those of us doing the work here and now. Its a precious and inspiring message. Sometimes it also makes the difference in meeting the operating budget for that month or year.

Many times charitable organizations don't advance the way they should, want to, or could, for lack of predictable and recurring financial resources.

To some degree, NPO's dance the same painful dance of limited resources that the poor among us have to contend with, except we don't end up homeless, or unable to feed our children, as quickly as our clients do. Nonetheless, it's a hand-to-mouth dilemma. Even government funding is flimsy these days. One minute you have three or thirty million dollars towards your critical employment and training program and the next year it's gone because the (whoever) Administration's priorities have changed.

Sure we make progress, and we have some amazing wins along the way that we hang on to for dear life, but in general there is always more demand than supply and the competition for dwindling resources is intense.

The reality is the time leaders exert trying to cope with the drama that comes with limited resources leads to staffing burnout and turnover, legal issues, inadequate marketing, inefficient operations, meeting overdose, and even compassion fatigue. So our progress is measurable but painfully slow. This irritates me. I don't want to create solutions for just today. I want to create solutions that will last for generations after me.

If we as organizations truly had the time and resources, to really think forward and make the legacy changes and improvements, that will last for generations, maybe we as leaders can leave more than a pile of grant and foundation applications that need to be written or bills that need to be paid.

Maybe we wouldn't have to see Angela come back to us 3 times a year for rental assistance, or Anthony being forced to go to the food bank every two weeks to fill the gap in his insufficient pay cannot, even after working 2 jobs and 80 hours a week. How about the client you have that is super-motivated, but even with promotions and hard work, sacrifice and dedication is still unable to pay their utilities on time and in full. Ms. Sarah keeps ending up at the emergency room because she forgets to eat or take her insulin and so she experiences diabetic crises, all because her dementia is progressing and no one to look after her. Her deceased husband's retirement fund is almost depleted but because it isn't she doesn't yet qualify for assistance that would help stabilize her diabetes.

There are dozens-hundreds-thousands of initiatives that seek to address the issues I mentioned and hundreds I did not. They are good, solid really. But done in isolation, don't really last for those most affected. In my thirty years of service to the community of SouthCentral Pennsylvania, I can honestly say the true and lasting change in NPO's financial infrastructure that leads to organizational stability for the benefit of those we seek to serve is nominal.

We can do better but we'll keep doing what we can until then, even if it's only a step at a time. Forward is still forward. In all my years, I've never regretted serving, I just wish I can do more, before my time comes to go home to glory.

Blessings,

Tammi