By Dan Linehan
MANKATO — Three pallets a week full of free construction materials from Home Depot should be a boon to Mankato’s Habitat for Humanity chapter.
And it still might be, but the nonprofit doesn’t have the resources to accept it — the inventory and administration would take at least 10 hours a week, not to mention the muscle needed to move the stuff.
So executive director Julie Schmillen put out a call Friday to about a dozen other nonprofits, asking for help and offering some of the materials in return.
Tentative support was offered, including from Civil Air Patrol Captain Nash Pherson, who volunteered “strong backs.”
“Partnerships, if done right, are a huge key to making this better for everyone,” he told the group.
Cooperation is one way nonprofits are adapting to the new realities of lower government funding and, in many cases, reduced philanthropy.
Getting together
The meeting itself, of the south-central chapter of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, is an example of how nonprofits are reacting to lean times by getting together.
The local chapter, launched about a year ago, has proven popular, regional coordinator AmyJo Lennartson said, with more than 100 people having attended meetings.
She said nonprofits are telling her about “the same continuing struggle” of dealing with state budget cuts from four or five years ago while being asked to do more.
“Nonprofits in our area are kind of holding steady,” she said, and focusing on what they do well.
According to state data compiled by the MCN, there were 10,250 nonprofit workers in the nine-county region last year, barely up from 10,158 in 2005. Those numbers include post-secondary education and health care workers.
Schmillen called the Home Depot donations a “wonderful opportunity,” but one for which Habitat doesn’t have all the resources to accept.
She’s still looking for help to make it work, and the materials wouldn’t begin arriving until February.
Funding crunch
Of the dozen or so nonprofits who attended the meeting, there was some optimism about giving during the holiday season, but also cash worries.
“You all want fundraising workshops,” Lennartson said, during discussions about next year’s meetings. “Fundraising, fundraising, fundraising.”
Schmillen, with Habitat for Humanity, said the cost of building homes has increased from $55,000 in 1996 to $105,000 today.
Another problem: Housing subdivisions are requiring new homes to feature expensive extras that make the neighborhood look nicer but are beyond the needs for a Habitat home.
Rachel Schott, executive director of the Mankato Area Foundation, said requests for grants are sharply up this year, but charity giving — at least to local causes — isn’t.
She said people have been very generous to national and international causes, from the Sept. 11 attacks to the tsunami to hurricanes.
“When those dollars flow outside of our communities, it leaves nonprofits with a problem,” she said.
The foundation recently hired its first staff person since it began in 1974. Volunteers have brought the foundation far, she said, but they can only do so much.
Legal challenge
On top of the perennial funding problems, a new legal challenge has recently arisen.
On Dec. 6, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that a Goodhue County day care isn’t a nonprofit and shouldn’t receive a property tax exemption.
The court ruled that organizations must provide goods or services at free or reduced rates to be considered a charity.
It had local nonprofits asking where they can turn for advice about whether the law will affect them.
And, according to the MCN, the state Department of Revenue uses the same definition of charity to determine sales tax exemptions. It’s that exemption that worries local nonprofits, many of which don’t own property.
“From a nonprofit perspective, Twin Rivers would be concerned that this would bled over to the sales tax,” said Shannon Robinson, executive director of the arts umbrella group Twin Rivers Center for the Arts.
