Denver charities struggle with rising costs, fewer donations

It’s the season of giving, but for many Denver nonprofits, there’s a tinge of worry.

Some local non-profits are seeing a shift in donations as income inequality grows and costs rise with inflation. Both nonprofit organizations and the people they serve are feeling the squeeze.

“We’re doing everything we can to serve just as many people, if not more,” said Erin Pulling, CEO of Food Bank of The Rockies.

The food bank serves people directly as well as hundreds of partner organizations that distribute food, but Pulling said the need keeps growing.

“At our biggest Thanksgiving distribution (ever) we had a thousand households in line to pick up a couple boxes of food,” she said.

Those in line told food bank volunteers how their struggles have affected them.

“Just story after story of hard-working people making really tough choices,” said Pulling.

Florence Crittenton Services, or FloCrit, is one of the oldest charities in Denver, dating back to the 1890s. Its mission is to educate, prepare, and empower teen mothers and their children. FloCrit Director of Development Theresa Garcia said nonprofits like theirs are in a period of change.

“I think that there is just kind of a shift in the way that people are engaging with non-profits and are engaging with kind of the work in their community,” said Garcia.     

FloCrit received donations from many of its large donors on Colorado Gives Day this year, but there were fewer small and entry-level donors.

“Fewer donors are being asked to fill greater needs,” said Garcia.

She said the costs for young mothers are often out of reach. Housing costs have remained high and the price of necessities has continued to grow.

 “We buy lots of diapers, lots of wipes, lots of formula. All of the things that we know that everybody struggles with,” said Garcia.

Garcia said the needs of the teenage mothers they serve have also continued to grow, including more mental health care, baby items, supplies, educational needs, and employment help. Many don’t have enough to cover these things.

“There’s a lot of things that our families are dealing with that just make it harder to climb out,” Garcia added.

Organizational costs are a major hurdle. Although 70% of the food at the food bank is donated, Pulling said they purchase about 30% themselves.

Each year the food bank ships out about 17 truckloads of cabbage. Now the pricetag has them searching for ways to keep supporting the community as more people struggle financially.

“For that cabbage, we now spending $31,000 more for the cabbage than we were a year ago,” Pulling said. “Like how do we meet this high need? Higher need than we’ve ever seen before with fewer resources.”