Northern beaches charities struggle as COVID-19 hits funds
Northern beaches charities have lost thousands of dollars in revenue because of the pandemic – as demand for help from people in the community reaches historic highs.
Manly
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Charities on the northern beaches have lost thousands of dollars as a result of falling revenue streams due to the COVID-19 crisis, just as people are needing their help the most.
One hard hit charityLifeline Northern Beacheshas lost out on about $1m so far, due to the cancellation of major fundraising events during the lockdown.
It comes as a report released by Social Ventures Australia and the Centre for Social Impact predicts thousands of charities could shut and more than 200,000 jobs could be lost if financial support from JobKeeper and lease and loan deferrals end in October.
Chief executive officer David Thomas said the loss of funds comes as demand for Lifeline is at its highest.
He said on a bad weekend on the peninsula there are one or two attempted suicides.
Over two weekends in March – so over four days – there were 17 attempted suicides and on one day last month there were two suicides and eight serious attempts.
“Our revenues have collapsed,” Mr Thomas said.
“But calls are at an all time historic high.”
He said he feared the worst was yet to come.
“Requests for financial counselling went through the roof at the start of COVID but calmed down once JobKeeper came in,” he said.
“But I feel we are in the eye of the storm as far as that is concerned.”
He said as the days get colder, household savings run out, JobKeeper ends and domestic violence increases demand for help will exceed anything they have seen before.
He said they have increased the number of phone counsellors from eight to 10 as they ready themselves for an onslaught when JobKeeper stops.
“We are bracing ourselves and building up our resources to service future demand,” Mr Thomas said.
“At the same time our cash reserves are running down.
“These are tricky times.”
Meanwhile, other charities who rely solely on charitable gifts and do not have any government support are in an even worse situation.
The Be Centrein Warriewood which helps children with mental health issues through play therapy, will need to find $500,000 in lost funds over the next 12 months.
It has also let go the equivalent of three full-time staff.
“We have had to scale down our operations, but we have survived,” Clinical Manager Anna Charleston said.
“We have had to suspend our wait list, but mental health is going to be the second wave of this pandemic. We had 90 children in therapy when we had to stop.”
Royal Far West, which supports kids from the country with mental and physical health issues, estimates it has lost $600,000 from just one cancelled fundraising event, and has 100 employees on JobKeeper.
Overall the charity’s income is down 23 per cent since March, but it services are busier than ever, according to Business Director Jacqui Emery.
“Royal Far West’s main priorities when COVID hit was to keep our client families safe, our staff safe, continuing our telecare services and transitioning our face-to-face services to telecare, no job losses and take the opportunity to innovate, innovate, innovate.”
Avner Pancreatic Cancer Foundation, a national charity based in Manly, said its small team of four was on JobKeeper and they had lost at least $200,000 in fundraising opportunities.
Widow Caroline Kelly, who co-founded the charity with her husband Avner after he was diagnosed, has helped raise $7.6m for 28 research projects before COVID-19 hit.
She said their work was needed more than ever with pancreatic cancer projected to become Australia’s third biggest cancer killer this year.
She said the financial uncertainty has meant they have had to delay handing out grants for research projects and have given up their office.
“Only one in 10 diagnosed with pancreatic cancer survive and that’s not good enough which is why we need to continue to do the research,” Ms Kelly said.
“This year it is due to kill more people than breast cancer and prostate cancer and this really shows that it is the cancer of our generation.”
The Burdekin Associationwhich supports young people at risk of homelessness and provides accommodation for those in need under the age of 24 has lost around 80 per cent of its fundraising money. It’s services are contracted by the government, so these are additional but still essential funds.
CEO Justene Gordon said the organisation was down around $40,000.
“That money helps pay for school fees, text books, laptops, food, clothing, furniture, medical needs such as dental for our vulnerable young people,” she said.
Ms Gordon said that the worry going forward was that they could also lose $200,000 of philanthropic funds if their generous donors can no longer afford to contribute due to the economic downturn.
“What you also have to wonder is how is the Government going to claw back the deficit caused by the stimulus packages?
“Will that impact the flow of money for community-based services?”
John Kelly from the Community Northern Beaches believes his centre was one of the only frontline service to still operate on the beaches during the lockdown, helping domestic violence victims and the homeless.
“We kept our doors open when many others shut theirs,” he said.
“The intensity and increase in our workload has left us in a real burn out situation.”
Money they would normally get from the hire of their hall and rooms helped pay wages, so JobKeeper saved them.
In total he believes they are down around $65,000 in hall and room fees and fundraising events.