Sunday, September 28, 2008

NYT - Wall St. crisis makes fundraising harder for everyone

The New York Times reports the impact of the Wall St. crisis will have to have an
impact on charitable giving for charities large and small.
For example, many in the Wall Street crowd have historically been generous with their wealth. The charities they have supported now worry about what is going to happen to the executives’ pledges they’ve come to depend on.

It is not just the executives who have supported worthy causes. Many major financial institutions have charitable wings that have, historically, subsidized numerous cultural and social nonprofits. In Washington, for example, the troubled mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the area’s biggest corporate donors, according to The Washington Post.

The article points to an April piece that cited the impact of the collapse of Bear Stearns. The partners in the firm had made significant contributions to a wide variety of major charities.
Closer to home problems for Gateway Bank and Wachovia may limit contributions from two major players in the local nonprofit scene. Weak real estate sales and new home construction has made it harder for another pillar of the local charitable economy to provide support.
The third strike is the loss of occupancy tax revenues that has made the tough job of soliciting local government support even harder.

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