Shawn Debaar.
Some Iowa organizations say “donor fatigue” is setting in as everyone gets overwhelmed by donation requests.
Salvation Army Captain Shawn Debaar in Cedar Rapids says they’ve already through November a massive decrease in the number of donations from last year. He tells KCRG TV donors stepped up during the pandemic, and more locally the August 2020 derecho.
“The challenge of course for us and other non-profits in the area is that while we’ve been abundantly blessed by donors the last couple of years –the need is continuing,” Debaar says. Debaar says they’ve had to come up with some new ideas for donors who have been giving about their normal levels.
“Some of the need for some of our givers to go back to their normal giving patterns means we’re having to come up with some creative ways to still meet that increased need,” DeBaar says.
Debaar tells KCRG TV one issue they are seeing is increased operating costs for the organization. For example, the cost of the hams the organization donates at Christmas has more than doubled. That means the money donated doesn’t go as far as it did before.