DETROIT – On Oct. 13, The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, in partnership with the Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation, announced the creation and launch of a year-long program designed to help provide increased operating funds to emergency food and shelter organizations and help build the capacity of those organizations to secure gifts from individuals.
"Many emergency food and shelter organizations in our community are struggling to meet the increased demand for their services caused by high unemployment and the continuing foreclosure crisis in our region," said Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan President Mariam C. Noland. "The demand for emergency food and shelter has increased in southeast Michigan, but the funds available to meet essential needs are not keeping pace with the increased demand. The Community Foundation Challenge – Emergency Food & Shelter is a yearlong program, but funds are needed now to help meet these needs."
As part of the program, more than $1.1 million in matching funds have been made available to 21 organizations serving the hungry and homeless in the seven-county region of southeast Michigan.
One of those organizations is the Ruth Ellis Center, which services homeless and at-risk LGBT youth.
"It costs approximately $1,700 per day to run our Drop-in Center, so if our donors help us reach the maximum goal, the homeless youth we serve can rely on 24 more days of a safe space where young people can access services and take the necessary steps to move toward independence," said Laura Hughes, Ruth Ellis Center executive director. "Those 24 days have an immeasurable effect on our youth, who have been rejected by families and are searching for their next meal. It is 24 more days that we are saving lives."
The Community Foundation will match new donations from individuals for current operations at a match of one dollar for every two dollars raised by the participating food and shelter organizations. Participating match organizations will be awarded matching grants ranging from $20,000 to $125,000 per organization. When gifts and matching funds are combined, the program will result in more than $3.3 million of support to the participating organizations.
"My father used to say, 'If you have the opportunity and the material means, you should give back to the community'," said Phillip Wm. Fisher, a member of the Fisher Foundation board of trustees.
The Community Foundation Challenge – Emergency Food & Shelter will also raise much-needed public awareness of the historic high demand for emergency food and shelter in the region and the need for charitable giving from individual donors to help address that need.
Raising awareness, skills
An important component of the program is to provide training opportunities to help strengthen the fundraising capacity of a broader group of emergency food and shelter providers across southeast Michigan. Organizations will be invited to participate in education and training programs that will focus on topics such as individual fundraising, planned giving, endowment gifts and volunteer engagement.
"For more than 25 years, the Community Foundation has supported emergency food and shelter organizations in southeast Michigan as part of our mission to improve the quality of life in the region," said Noland. "The organizations providing food and shelter in this area have an urgent need for support. Through this program, we hope to raise awareness of the needs that their services meet in our community."
"While 21 organizations have been awarded matching funds under the Community Foundation Challenge, we trust that the residents of southeast Michigan will support not only those organizations, but the many worthy nonprofits providing food and shelter and other human needs within our community," Phillip Fisher explained. "We hope that many emergency food and shelter organizations will take advantage of the training programs in order to strengthen their ability to serve those in need."
Details of the training program will be announced in the coming weeks.
Participating Organizations
Cass Community Social Services
Coalition on Temporary Shelter (
Common Ground
Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries
Focus:
Food Gatherers
Forgotten Harvest
Gleaners Community Food Bank
Grace Centers of Hope
HAVEN
Lighthouse of Oakland County
Livingston Area Council Against Spouse Abuse (LACASA)
Monroe County Opportunity Program
Neighborhood Service Organization
Ozone House Inc.
Capuchin Soup Kitchen
Ruth Ellis Center
Salvation Army Eastern Michigan
SOS Community Services
South Oakland Shelter
Starfish Family Services
Note: Contributions eligible for matching funds through the Community Foundation Challenge should be made directly to the participating organizations, which will then receive matching funds from the program.
