Because of the coronavirus pandemic, we had to cancel the Action Conference. We had to cancel the Benefit Breakfast and Luncheon. We hope to be able to hold it in September but we can’t know for sure – will it be responsible to bring together 400 people in September? We can’t hold the fundraising party in Seattle we had hoped to do. We don’t know whether we can hold the rooftop party at the end of the summer. We can’t meet in person with donors.
Our annual budget is just under $270,000, and our monthly budget is $22,500. As of April, we have full funding through July.
But, because of all the cancellations necessitated by the pandemic, we are projected to be approximately $40,000 below our fundraising goals by the end of May, at least. The longer we can’t raise funds in the ways that we’re best at, the bigger that gap can be.
The great news is we have been awarded a $20,000 grant from Arch Community Fund and $4000 grant from the Community Building Foundation. In the late fall, we will receive $100,000 from the Satterberg Fund.
Calculating for all this, right now, our projections are showing a gap in September. If we don’t close it with fundraising, we will need to interrupt our work.
In a normal year, member donations are half to two-thirds of our budget. We know some members are being terribly impacted by job losses, business closures, or stock market losses, and many members will need to help support loved ones who are experiencing these kinds of impacts. So we don’t yet know how to predict what member donations will look like this year.
Our goal for the year was to build our reserve, increase our sustainability, and increase our investment in communications capacity. We still want to be able to achieve these goals and not only have funding for our bare minimum.
We will be launching a spring donation drive this week, via email because we don’t want to be sending letters in the mail right now. Our goal is to raise at least $40,000 by the end of May to sustain our work and stay on course.
We would ask you to consider keeping constant or increasing your donation level, if it’s in your means. The most sustainable source of funding in our 45 years is always our community, which means people like you!
If you’re looking towards the future and want to ensure this work is around for generations to come, now may be the time to consider creating a legacy by including Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane in your will. I know some of you have already done that and if you have, we’d love to know who you are. If you haven’t, and you want to, please reach out to us if you need help doing that.