In Saturday’s front page, top of the fold article in The New York Times (Providing a Pandemic Safety Net, Nonprofits Need Their Own), the significant challenges faced by the Y and other not-for-profits are laid bare.
My colleague and friend Dick Malone, the CEO of the Y in Metropolitan Chicago, puts it clearly and bluntly: “Our twin priorities are service and survival. It is the nonprofit sector that needs help, but it’s the people who we serve that bear the brunt.” Like our Y and other large Ys around the country, Metropolitan Chicago’s Y was ineligible for the federal PPP program that provided forgivable loans to smaller businesses and not-for-profits. Unlike the airline or hotel industries, which are clearly essential to the functioning of our economy and country, there was no special funding made available to the Y or other large not-for-profits, despite the fact that we also provide some of the most essential services to communities across the country. Ironically, we’ve been left to fend for ourselves by the federal and state governments while being encouraged to continue to do our work. Go figure.
As such, we must make our way forward with the knowledge that there is no bailout coming and with an extraordinary focus on doing only the most essential and financially prudent activities that best serve our mission. There’s no point in sugarcoating it; the road ahead is uncertain and going to be hard.
Our community has been very generous to the Y during this time, with both long-time and new donors stepping up in incredible ways to help us. However, it is impossible to fill the potentially $25+ million gap in our revenues this year with philanthropy dollars. It will take significant cost control and reduction, a focus on the most essential work, and a capacity to avoid being distracted by activity that doesn’t contribute to our survival.
As I’ve said many times, I know that we will find our way forward, but it will take us being a different kind of Y to arrive there safely.
All the best,
John
John K. Hoey
President & CEO
The Y in Central Maryland