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Giving Tuesday: Northeast Ohio non-profits ask for support amid pandemic challenges

With fundraising challenges during the pandemic, many non-profits are hoping Giving Tuesday gives them the financial boost they need.

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CLEVELAND — Non-profits in Cleveland are looking for support after suffering financial blows during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Giving Tuesday, they are hoping the community comes together to lend their support, so they can continue providing services for those who need them.

“It’s a scary year for us this year, we’re kind of looking to see how we can make ends meet,” said Betsie Norris, executive director and founder of Adoption Network Cleveland.

Adoption Network Cleveland aims to support families and provide services and resources pertaining to all things adoption-related. Norris said they pick up where traditional adoption agencies leave off, both before and after the adoption itself.

“We support, educate, and advocate for people touched by adoption, kinship care, and foster care,” Norris said.

The pandemic hit the non-profit hard as streams of support changed and waivered.

“Corporate support is down because of course, people are all waiting to see what happens. It’s been a challenging time for our local businesses,” Norris said. “A lot of foundations have stayed the course with us, but other foundations have changed their sights, at least temporarily, to pandemic relief. So we’ve taken a hit there."

Canceling large fundraising events that would typically happen in-person has negatively impacted Adoption Network Cleveland as well.

“Our fundraisers have not been able to be in person,” she said. “We’ve pivoted and done some things online, but it doesn’t raise the same kind of money that we typically would in a normal year. It’s been a struggle.”

Norris said, especially now, having the resources available to help these families is crucial. When she checked on Tuesday morning, she said they were already around halfway to their fundraising goal of $10,000.00

“These are kids that have already lost one family, at least, and so making sure that the family that they land in is strong and successful and resilient is really important to us and we’re really committed to that,” she said.

In the Hough neighborhood in Cleveland, Eliza Bryant Village has been serving vulnerable seniors for 125 years. According to the non-profit’s website, the Village is "the oldest continually operating African American-founded long-term care facility in the country.”

“We primarily focus on elderly folks that are economically deprived,” said board chair Cecil Lipscomb.

Eliza Bryant Village provides housing, a nursing home, elder justice center, and adult day program services. However, Lipscomb said that all of those services need support.

“We are a non-profit institution,” he said. “The nursing home, it takes about $296 a day to take care of someone in our nursing home. Medicaid comes up about $75 short.”

Lipscomb also said there are cost discrepancies in their adult day program as well as their elder justice center. He said the pandemic has only exacerbated those gaps.

“We have to do extra, we have to do consistent testing,” he said. “Just the PPE and all the things that are necessary to keep our seniors safe has increased our cost of providing care.”

According to their website, a donation of $9 can provide meals for one day for a nursing home resident, while $1,500 is the cost of care for an elder justice center guest for a month.

“When you think about what you can do for someone, think about our seniors, think about those most at risk, most vulnerable during this time of year,” Lipscomb said. “We ask that you just donate.”

Non-profits are hoping that they receive support on Giving Tuesday, so they can continue giving back to those in our communities who need it most.

“These are kids that have already lost one family, at least, and so making sure that family that they land in is strong and successful and resilient is really important to us and we’re really committed to that,” Norris said.

What follows is a list of nonprofits in Northeast Ohio seeking support on this Giving Tuesday, courtesy of https://givingtuesdaycle.com/nonprofits/