CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Since its creation, Carolina Waterfowl Rescue has had the mission of offering sanctuary and rehabilitation to animals in need. Now, Jennifer Gordon, the nonprofit's executive director, said it is the rescue that needs saving.
"It's just kind of overwhelming," Gordon said. "I've been in this business long enough to know what happens when a rescue goes under."
Gordon said an ongoing "perfect storm" of outside factors has brought the organization and many others like it to a precarious position, and she fears losing the rescue that has saved so many lives.
"I have like 600 animals living in the sanctuary," Gordon said. "Some of my original geese, I still have them from when I started the rescue, and they're in their late 20s, early 30s."
Gordon said the financial troubles started with the coronavirus pandemic, which scared volunteers off and forced a dip into savings to hire more staff. Then came the avian flu, which Gordon said prompted more costly protective measures.
Finally, earlier this year, the donation program Amazon Smile shut down.
"That brought us about $30,000 a year," Gordon said. "That was a really huge chunk of our money that just dried up and went away."
Now, she said, inflation is draining dollars faster with animal care and supplies, evictions are rising, leading to more animals needing sanctuary, and overall donations are not matching what they used to be.
Melissa Hovey, Managing Director with SHARE Charlotte, which hosts Charlotte's Giving Tuesday event and serves as a one-stop spot for Charlotte-area charitable causes, said the struggles with donations are across the board and have been underway for two years.
"You're seeing every class, whether it be the major givers, whether it be the... micro givers, that's people that give $50 or less, everyone's feeling the pinch and the uncertainty that the economy has got going on right now," Hovey said.
Meantime, demand for the services nonprofits provide has not declined, and in some cases, it has risen.
An August report from the Association of Fundraising Professionals shows larger donors, or those giving more than $5,000, cut their contributions nearly 10% in the first quarter of the year, while donor retention fell 20% in the same period.
The report also shows that Q1 saw new donor counts down by nearly 20% and new donors' gifts slashed by more than a third.
Hovey suggests that those wanting to help their favorite causes, but also feeling the pocketbook pinch, try other options like volunteering, shopping on groups' Amazon wish lists, and advocating for groups by amplifying their messages.
In fact, SHARE Charlotte just released a holiday giving guide, showcasing Charlotte-area nonprofits, with their needs and bite-sized ways to help them.
"Do what you can," Hovey said. "We want everyone to feel like a philanthropist and do whatever makes sense for them."
WCNC Charlotte is always asking "where's the money?" If you need help, reach out to WCNC Charlotte by emailing money@wcnc.com.
Since putting out the SOS for donations, Gordon said gifts of all sizes have poured in. But there's still more money to raise and fears over losing the sanctuary still weigh heavy.
"That's the part that kept me awake at night," Gordon said, "Where are they going to go? Because there's no place that does what we do and there's nobody that could take the volume of animals that we have."
"Most likely, those animals get euthanized," Gordon said. "The thought of that just made me sick to my stomach."
Contact Vanessa Ruffes at vruffes@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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