CFSA Working To Mitigate Damage in Southern Arizona’s Nonprofit Ecosphere

Nonprofits all over the country are struggling, alongside small business, and individuals. Events are being canceled, schools are closing, some for two weeks up to 2 months, and the impact has been felt by everyone. And at a time like this, some good news is always helpful to hear, so hearing a story where some relief is being provided for nonprofits in Southern Arizona is incredibly helpful to hear.

Community Foundation for Southern Arizona has long provided a massive amount of support to nonprofits in the area. It has inspired other donors, has worked with individuals, families, and businesses to raise funds for a diverse amount of causes. And now it’s doing, even more, to help nonprofits in the Southern Arizona area that are being impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is being called COVID-19 Emergency Relief and Support Funds, which will provide grants to local nonprofits to ensure that critical services will continue, and will begin with a gift of $10,000 that will be seeded from the CFSA. This kind of quick thinking is essential to ensure that those who depend on services from nonprofits for things like food insecurity, or housing assistance, or mental health causes will be able to continue at least for now.

Community Helping Community: How CFSA Is Stepping Up:

The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona will offer an online process where nonprofits can apply for grants, and this entire process will be finalized within a few weeks. The whole program will be funded through partnerships between individuals, businesses, and private foundations.

Part of the reasoning for an initiative like this comes from a poll conducted by the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits that was conducted recently, in which a staggering 80% of nonprofits reporting a loss in revenue to cancelations caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. This can be majorly damaging to organizations that already majorly rely on donations and grants and have very slim budgets for their entire operating year. Losing out of sources of revenue could severely impact those organization’s ability to provide critical services to the communities they serve.

Clint Mabie, the CEO of the Community Foundation for South Arizona, had this to say about the CFSA announcing these awards:

“This is fundraising season, and nonprofits have big events planned now throughout the spring until people leave in the summer. We were hearing from many who have had to cancel essential events; it will definitely have a financial impact on our local nonprofits and their ability to serve their clients and we hope to help fill the gap through the creation of this fund.”

Mabie says that the Community Foundation for South Arizona has always been committed to supporting community-nonprofits. This is not the first time that CFSA has stepped in to help organizations in times of crisis.

Keeping the Lights On For Community Nonprofits

Mabie says that this is a common practice for CFSA:

“During the financial crisis in 2008, we gave away $450,000 to help the community. We also coordinated response to the January 8 Tucson shootings in 2011 and distributed more than $1 million through that effort to victims, their families, and nonprofits that were supporting the community. It was our honor to be able to help when the community asked us.”

This initiative by the CFSA will look to majorly help to continue operations for a multitude of organizations in Arizona, some of which are projecting to lose 25% of expected revenue due to the ongoing crisis. This and initiatives like it are severely needed to ensure that life-saving and impacting services are not canceled for people and causes who are even more vulnerable right now.