When I read about non profit charities, I often wonder how they are able to make ends meet. I know that they get some subsidies and regular donors, but I have never been able to figure out how they help as many people as they do, pay all of their employees and keep their facilities open.
I actually worked for a non profit charity for a number of years. It was affiliated with a church and provided financial and spiritual assistance to people in need. We were very fortunate in the sense that ours was a volunteer organization and we were housed in our church’s parish hall, so we really didn’t have any expenses.
We did have to raise funds, however, and that took some real effort. We held bake sales and dances with raffles. I wrote to some of the local businesses in our area asking for assistance, and we had some associate members who were very wealthy and always willing to help.
I have a very good friend who worked for an organization called Catholic Charities, and she was not only charged with raising money to help provide for clients that needed assistance, but also writing grant proposals and contacting corporations to try to provide for the business expenses as well.
Non profit charities are not selling anything, so they rely on the goodness of other people and organizations, along with the government, to help provide for their needs. The amazing thing to me is that they almost always find a way to make it work.
In my career as a writer, I have covered a number of non profit charities and asked how they were able to survive. The first things that most of them tell me is by the grace of God, but they also say that they have to work very hard to keep afloat and continue to provide at the level they do.
I had another friend who worked for a non profit called Women’s Haven, where her organization provided safe living conditions for battered and abused women. Even for a charity as noble as this was, she told me that it was a constant battle to get the funding they needed to continue to offer the services they did, and added that that her employees were not getting paid that much.
Non profit charities do so much good in the world and fill in so many niches that other organizations can’t, and it is a shame that so many of them are struggling to keep things going. They almost always find a way, however, and that is probably the thing that I admire about them the most. It is a constant struggle, and they do not make that much money, but they never quit trying to help people.
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