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On behalf of the nonprofit and
philanthropic sector, Donors Forum
has asked the Illinois General Assembly to enact a fair
and balanced budget (see
letter).
SUGGESTIONS
ON HOW YOUR ORGANIZATION CAN COMMUNICATE WITH LAWMAKERS
TO AVOID FURTHER DEVASTATION TO THE SECTOR AND ITS CONSTITUENTS
INCLUDE:
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Illinois Partners for Human Service, of which
Donors Forum is a member, is asking nonprofits to
send this "Who Will You Cut" image to
legislators along with messages such as these.
Lost in the media spotlight
are the real consequences for families if human
services are cut. We need you to shine a light
on this issue by sending the provocative “Who
will you cut?” image to the Governor and
your legislators along with your own message asking
them to restore funding.
Here is one way to frame it:
- If the Governor and
the Legislature doesn’t restore funding
to human services, then they are choosing to
cut services to individuals in need.
What will you, as a member of
the State Legislature, say to the:
- Adult children of senior citizens
who no longer get the help with self care and
housekeeping which keeps them out of nursing
homes?
- Working parents who have nowhere
to send their young children because the local
daycare center has closed?
- Foster care parents
who care for their charges with love but whose
income is so low that they can’t afford
extra children unless the state helps?
You might close by saying something
about what your own agency has already done or
is planning to do in anticipation of these cuts
and ask the legislator to call. As always, thank
them for all that they do. We suggest that you
fax this image along with your message.
Feel free to post the image on
your website, and forward it to others to drive
home the point that we are talking about real
people, not just budgets and politics.
You
can also download a full-size poster (PDF) of
the image here.
Thanks go to the United Way
of Metropolitan Chicago, a member of IPHS, for
contributing creative resources to develop the
image.
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Copy and paste the
image above into an email, or download
a full-size poster (PDF) here.
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2. Contact
your state official. Click
here for advice from the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago
on communicating with your legislator on the budget.
3. Search
for your district or officials by type, name, address,
or zip at the Illinois
State Board of Elections: http://www.elections.il.gov/DistrictLocator/SELECTSEARCHTYPE.ASPX
4. Progress Illinois has created
a tool to track and map impact of the cuts. They
are using reports from various news articles, but are
also requesting that impacted organizations share their
information. Please add your agency's information
as a way to begin to demonstrate the significant ramifications
of the state budget: http://progressillinois.com/2009/7/5/features/tracking-state-budget-fallout.
5. Read media
coverage about the proposed budget cuts:
5. Learn
what other leading organizations are doing:
BACKGROUND
ON DONORS FORUM'S INVOLVEMENT:
- Donors Forum participated in
a press conference on the State Budget and Human Services.
As part of its membership in the
group, Illinois Partners for Human Service, Donors
Forum participated in a
press conference on Tuesday, June 16 about the
effects of the proposed Illinois budget on human
services in Illinois. In a press release about the
cuts, Donors Forum CEO Valerie Lies said, “Private
philanthropy complements but does not, cannot, and
was never intended to supplant state funds in the
delivery of the broad range of human and community
services.” Find
Ms. Lies’ full statement and that of other
nonprofit leaders here and find a
handout from Governor Quinn's office about the effect
of the General Assembly's proposed budget here.
- Text
from a letter that Donors Forum's President and CEO,
Valerie S. Lies, sent in June to all Illinois legislators:
On behalf of nonprofits and philanthropies
in Illinois – and the millions of vulnerable
residents they serve – Donors Forum is writing
to request that you and all legislators work together
to enact a fair and balanced budget by July 1.
Illinois communities will soon
be faced with dire consequences as a result of the
proposed 50% cuts to human service agency budgets.
There are more than 29,000 Illinois nonprofit organizations
already struggling to provide much needed mental
health, food, childcare, and shelter services to
communities. According to research by Lutheran Social
Services, 100,000 children may lose their preschool
and 300,000 low-income families will be without
childcare if there is no resolution to this
disastrous budget.
Though Donors Forum has been working
with the Governor’s office to bring philanthropy
and the State together to leverage stimulus dollars
to benefit Illinois, the current budget gap is beyond
any that philanthropy can begin to address if the
State is unable to fulfill its constitutional obligation.
And cuts alone are in no way sufficient to address
the State’s shortfall. We encourage you
and your fellow legislators to explore all revenue
enhancing options, especially long-term solutions,
to address the shortfall and ongoing structural
deficit.
As a membership association, Donors
Forum promotes philanthropy and a strong nonprofit
sector in Illinois. We support the donor community
(foundations, corporations, individuals, and advisors)
as well as the fundraising community (nonprofits,
schools, places of worship, and consultants) in
practicing effective philanthropy and fundraising
(respectively) as well as effective management,
governance, and advocacy. To highlight the critical
work of nonprofits, we are including a copy of the
second in a three- part series on the nonprofit
sector. It is sponsored by Donors Forum, but developed
independently by Illinois Issues. Please call
upon us anytime as a resource for educating and
informing your staff, constituents, and colleagues
on nonprofit and philanthropic sector.
Thank you for your attention to
the consequences of the budget crisis to the nonprofits
and people of Illinois.
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