The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

If You Go

What
A briefing set for Wednesday by the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. Its staff will provide an up-to-the-minute update on the status of budget negotiations and departmental preparations, handling emergency decisions and communications about service reductions and layoffs, and managing nonprofit finances during a shutdown.
Presenters include MCN Deputy Public Policy Director Jeannie Fox and Nonprofit loan officer Phil Hatlie from the Nonprofits Assistance Fund.
When
2-4 p.m. Wednesday
Where
Eide Bailly in Mankato
Cost
The briefing is free.

June 20, 2011

Nonprofits fret over shutdown

By Robb Murray Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — Leaders of area nonprofits are holding their breath these days and hoping the government doesn’t shut down and throw their lives, and budgets, into chaos.

Many nonprofits, such as the Harry Meyering Center, SMILES, and Life-Work Planning Center, receive state funding to provide services to some of the most vulnerable people in Minnesota communities.

If a shutdown occurs and the state stops paying for those services, the nonprofits will be forced to either stop providing services, or continue providing services in hopes that the state, when it starts operating again, will reimburse them. Even then, it’s not clear whether it will be full or partial reimbursement. It’s also not clear which providers will continue to be funded as so-called “essential services.”

At Harry Meyering, Judy Arzdorf said they’re still trying to figure out what services they’ll continue to provide. Some Harry Meyering Center clients receive funding from the federal government, which first goes to the state before getting forwarded on to them. And some get money only from the state. Clients go through a screening process in which the county determines which types of funding they are eligible for.

In addition to housing, Harry Meyering Center offers education to people with cognitive disabilites. They teach checkbook-balancing, putting together menus and other general living skill help.

“We don’t know which of our individuals we’ll be able to serve or not serve because of the funding source,” Arzdorf said.

As for housing, that service will continue regardless.

“We can’t shut down,” Arzdorf said. “We work with individuals who totally rely on us. In that way, this is just total confusion.”

AmyJo Lennartson, regional coordinator for the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, said the council’s approach to the pending shutdown has been twofold: First, there is the management side of what a shutdown would mean for nonprofits in terms of cash flow and delivery of services. Second, there is the policy side.

“We are tracking decisions and advocating for the sector on a state level with the ultimate goal to keeping services being delivered to those who need them most,” Lennartson said. “What’s really at stake here is the delivery of basic services. In most cases, the state is mandated to deliver the services they contract with many of our area nonprofits to deliver. By all means, that is essential.”

Life-Work Planning Center has a budget of just under $300,000. About two-thirds of it comes from the state.

Life-Work provides help to women who may be entering the work force for the first time or are transitioning from welfare to work. They provide counseling, computer training and other workshops. The group served 726 women in fiscal year 2010.

Executive Director Jean Willaert said that for the current fiscal year, the state’s bills to her are pretty much paid up. But she’s worried about whether or not she’ll get paid for next year’s work, and she’s heard differing stories on the subject.

“The level of ambiguity and uncertainty is unprecedented,” Willaert said.

She’s wondering if they’re are any other ideas that she hasn’t already thought of to get through the uncertainty of a shutdown.

“Fiscally, we’re in a good position. We have, as Minnesota Council of Nonprofits recommends, six months in reserves,” Willaert said. “If we didn’t have that, we’d be running into cash flow problems.

“My hope is that, at some point they’ll be able to reach a compromise,” Willaert said. “And I favor a balanced approach: increased revenue, decreased spending.”

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