Nonprofit groups hope public remains in giving mood

Steve Metzler calls them a "litany of angels" -- the people and companies donate money each year to cultural and service organizations across the Kansas City area.

Now, even as stock markets plunge and money flows out of America's heartland to victims of terrorist attacks on the East Coast, Metzler is convinced those "angels" will come through again for causes close to home.

"I think people are so motivated to give right now," said Metzler, president of the AIDS Council of Greater Kansas City. "I see them giving to their normal causes and then stretching to give to something extra."

Metzler isn't alone in his optimism.

Across Kansas and Missouri, officials of nonprofit groups -- ranging from a southwest Kansas community college's endowment association to the cash-strapped St. Louis Symphony Orchestra -- said they believe donors will dig deep to support their favorite causes.

"I think people understand that the nonprofit services they rely on need to be supported, and that our generosity for the direct victims of national tragedy needs to come from extraordinary sources," said Richard Hicks, manager of Bunker Hill, Kan.-based Smoky Hills Public Television.

'A little bit of fear'

Still, concerns remain.

"There is a little bit of fear that in the next several months, we'll start going to our corporate funders and they'll tell us that they're nervous about the decline in the economy or that they've shot their charitable budget on New York and Washington disaster relief," said Brad Harris, executive director of Literacy Kansas City. "But we've got a fund raiser coming up next week, and so far we've had a good response."

The literacy group, which provides individual reading instruction, has 300 clients this year and plans to expand to 500 next year.

"We don't have a lot of fat to trim out of our budget," Harris said. "The only way to do that would be to put a halt to everything we've been working toward."

Smoky Hills Public Television has no choice but to upgrade. It's under a federal mandate to go to a digital signal by May 2003 -- at a minimum cost of $6 million.

But Hicks, whose network of transmitters and translators serves a 52-county area covering 35,000 square miles, remains optimistic.

A reawakened spirit

Still, some agencies have had to postpone or temporarily slow their fund-raising activities, though.

The Heart of America United Way, based in Kansas City, Mo., was to start its annual fund drive on Sept. 12 -- a day after four hijacked jets crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. Instead, the group decided to announce its 2001 goals on Sunday.

"It would be foolish and coldhearted if we turned our back on the people in New York," Heart of America spokesman Ron Howard said. "We've already collected $154,000 through our Heart of America Response Fund for victims of the attack.

"I believe this has reawakened a spirit of caring and giving in people," Howard said, "and I hope this will carry over into caring and giving for the local community as well as for the victims of disaster in New York."