Ups, Downs and In-betweens

                                            Is Philanthropy A Dying Concept?

Hello, all.  I am largely invisible, standing in the shadow of a larger than life character (and best dog in the world) named Rex The TV Terrier.  But I'm stepping out into the light for just a moment, even if that is a little uncomfortable for me,  to talk about some things that I find truly concerning.

 As you may know, we have a small charitable organization called Rex The TV Terrier, Inc.  We founded this charity during the worst part of the pandemic, when people found themselves suddenly unemployed, with little or no savings and weeks to wait before collecting unemployment (if they were even eligible).

It was a scary time for many.  One of the things that ripped out our heartstrings were the people who were more concerned with how to pay for their pets food or medicine than how they were going to feed themselves.  Some were struggling with the impossible choice of "Do I surrender my pet to a shelter, so that I know they can still eat?"  

So we stepped up.  At first, we just started sending people food.  From our own savings.  The gratitude expressed by the people we helped brought us to tears more than once.  More and more people were asking for help.  And others stepped up.  We developed a network of volunteers, willing to send food to people we matched them up with.  We called them our "Rexiteers" and they were some of the most generous people I have ever had the pleasure to know.  Some had very little, but were willing to go without the luxuries they enjoyed just to make sure that someone's cat or dog had a full belly that night.  It gave me faith in humanity and the spirit of giving.

Quickly, two things became apparent.  That there were too many people needing help and not enough resources, and that there were people who were struggling before the pandemic and would continue to struggle once things normalized.  

One evening, after a holiday meal, I sat with my son's partner, a young man who has worked in government and non-profit sectors alike, has a brilliant mind and a problem-solving attitude and we decided that we needed to do what the situation demanded.  Become a true non-profit animal welfare charity.  It was the only way to continue the work and be able to accept monetary donations (something that I had refused to do personally, because I was uncomfortable with the idea of accepting money from people as an individual), as well as expand our reach and help more people.

It took months of hard work, research, paperwork (Oh, the paperwork!) waiting, putting together a board of directors (with some lessons learned along the way) , building a website (more lessons learned) and finally becoming a real charity.  

We were elated.  Requests for help poured in, we fulfilled them.  Money came in and quickly went back out.  But that's what we had wanted.  We never wanted to be sitting on a pile of money.  Not if we were doing this right.  I should make clear that no one in our organization gets paid.  Not me, the President and Executive Director, not my Vice President and Clerk, or any of our Executive Board members.  There are expenses we can do absolutely nothing about.  They have to be paid in order to do what we do.  Things like Credit Card processing fees, Web Hosting, Web Design, a Walmart Business Plus subscription, State and Federal Filing Fees.  But beyond the things we can't control, every single penny goes to the animals.

We formed the charity in November of 2021.  Since then, I have spent countless hours applying for and mostly being denied for grant funding.  We have received a couple of small grants.  One for $500 from our local Walmart store a few more for $100 or less through other sources, like Benevity, etc.  We were lucky enough to get a grant from Bourbon With Heart, due to the generosity and talent of someone we had helped with pet food who won an art contest and named us as her partner charity.  

But here's the problem.  We don't fit into any of the boxes.  Petsmart charities, The Bissell Foundation, The Petfinder Foundation, all of the larger foundations that give out grants to animal-based charities only consider animal rescue organizations or shelters.  We aren't either of those things.  In fact, our goal is to keep animals out of those places.  While we know that animal rescues and shelters are doing the hard work of taking in unwanted pets and pets that are in desperate situations, and we truly appreciate them and support them in any way we can, being (often) the only thing that stands between an animal staying in their home with the people who love them and being surrendered, we should be eligible for these grants.  But we aren't.  And we never will be.

Almost all of the donations we receive are from individuals.  Mostly Rex's social media followers, who have been so generous and supportive that I sometimes can't believe how wonderful they are.  When we ask, they answer the call.  But we have to ask too often.  These are average, working people.  Or retired people, or people living on a fixed income.  But they want to help others, because they have a generous heart and a love of animals.  

Here's the big question, though.  What happened to everyone else?

Where are the billionaires?  The Corporations?  The Foundations that used to accept grant applications from organizations like ours?

Where?

Well, we know the billionaires aren't going to help.  They have their very visible, very large charities that they donate to.  You know the ones.  They have multi-million dollar budgets, highly paid executives, pay for television commercials,  everyone knows their names.  Do they help people?  I'm sure they must.  But probably in the area of 30% of all the money they take in.  Billionaires don't really care about philanthropy.  They want to appear to, have a tax write-off and go about the task of deciding which way to spend their money on some luxury item or home that they already have a dozen of.  (I'm cynical, I know)

How about the corporations?  Well, the corporations have been gradually and steadily killing their philanthropy.  Amazon Smile?  Gone.  Open grant applications for others?  Gone.  Invitation Only grants are the new thing.  And what does that mean?  It means unless they seek you out, or you're on a secret list, then you can't apply for a grant.  I've asked for clarification from some as to how a charity gets on these lists and was basically told it was none of my business.  Take Walmart, for example.

Walmart has what they call "Community Grants".  Each store comes up with the funding (I was told the budget was $5000 annually) and decides, based on the application, how to allocate those funds.  As a charity that operates nationwide, I applied for grants from every Walmart store that operates in every state we have had the most requests from.  I was denied by every one.  As I mentioned earlier, we did receive a $500 grant from Walmart in 2022 from our local store.  But was turned down in 2023.

Walmart corporate grants are by "invitation only".  When I reached out to Walmart corporate, I was given a form email response that advised me to sign up for their "Spark Good" program.  We have been signed up for that program since we started.  But the thing about that is, the donations don't come from Walmart.  They come from the consumer.  You can "round up" your purchase to support us when you make a purchase online.  You can purchase Walmart gift cards to support us, or purchase Wishlist items.  They offer you the "opportunity" to set up a booth outside the store to try to collect money from consumers as they head in or out of the store.  But none of that money comes from Walmart.  It comes from you.  So I asked them.  How do we get on the exclusive "invitation only" list?  And I was told (can you guess?) it was by invitation only.

How about Foundations?  Well, here is where it gets really concerning.  Small charities have been very dependent on private foundations for grant opportunities.  Even shelters and rescues.  As I go through the list of foundations that have grant applications there is a troubling trend.  They're gone.

Out of business.  Only accepting applications by invitation.  Only accepting applications for a 3 month period of time once per year.  Adding requirements such as a minimum of 5 or 10 years of operation with financial statements and IRS filing for every year.  Requiring a certified financial statement.

When we first organized, I had a nice email exchange with a friendly representative of The Doris Day Foundation.  She told me we weren't eligible yet, because we had just started out.  But after we had been operating for 2 years, we could send a letter of introduction and be considered.  I waited patiently.  When we hit that milestone, I went to their website and found that they are no longer accepting letters of introduction.  They are now only funding charities by invitation only.

So what happened to philanthropy?  I wish I knew.  Every charitable organization I know is struggling.  Donations by individuals are down.  That's understandable, since the cost of living has risen sharply.

But we know that corporations are still doing well.  They just don't want to share any of that.  Not with their workers, and not with charities.  At least not with the charities who truly need it. The small, grassroots charities, that are making a major impact in their communities, working without pay, sometimes at the expense of their own emotional health, putting in hours and hours of time and energy to help people, animals, the environment.  

I greatly admire Chef Jose Andres and the work he does with World Central Kitchen.  The man is incredible.  Boots on the ground, serving meals where they are most needed within hours.  Impressive and truly charitable.  He gets donations from community members, restaurateurs and celebrities.  Yes, celebrities.  Another source of funding, but only if you can get just one on board.  The non-profit unicorn.  Find one big name, big income celebrity to champion your cause and the rest will follow.  

I'm still looking for our unicorn.  If you know any, send them our way.  Until then, the troubling trend of shrinking grant opportunities, I believe, will only get worse and the competition for them more daunting.

In my opinion, this says a lot about our society.  The "I've got mine, you get yours" attitude is spreading.  It's very sad.  And many will suffer for it.  We, as a society, need to think more along the lines of "I've got mine.  But I don't need all of this.  Let me help someone who has nothing"