🔒Gilberto confronts tough fundraising climate

In a year of negatives for nonprofits, Paula S. Gilberto saw a lot of positives.

In April, Gilberto assumed the role of president and CEO of United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut following the retirement of Susan B. Dunn. She acknowledged it had been a challenging fundraising climate, with an increasing number of households facing financial pressures and people focused on different things like the national election.

When interviewed in mid-fall, Gilberto said her United Way, the largest of 15 in Connecticut, was in the midst of its annual campaign. “We're seeing tremendous support from so many people,” she said.

That's balanced against the difficulties nonprofits are having in the face of massive state budget cuts.

“From everything we hear, it's going to be a tougher year coming up,” Gilberto said of the 2017-18 state budget being prepared by the incoming legislature.

Recently, United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut awarded $95,000 to four nonprofit organizations to help offset the loss of public funding. That's similar to efforts last summer by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, which committed $1 million to assist nonprofits losing state aid.

The United Way funding, Gilberto said, will help these nonprofits provide basic-needs services, mainly to help individuals facing domestic violence, homelessness and to support people with intellectual disabilities. One of the grants was to 211, the state information system for those seeking assistance information.

Meantime, United Way also shined a bright light on Connecticut's economic conditions this year, releasing its biannual ALICE report survey, which found the number of households struggling to make ends meet in the state increased from 33 to 41 percent in two years. ALICEis an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. It refers to households that earn more than the U.S. poverty level, but less than the basic cost of living for the area. In her United Way's 40-town coverage area, 37 saw increases in the number of ALICE households.

Gilberto said a family of four with one infant and one pre-school child faces the highest cost of living. They need to make from $66,000 to $72,000 a year for what the study calls a survival budget, including housing, child care and food.

There's also the issue of companies in Greater Hartford not seeing a full recovery from the recession, as well as cost-of-living increases outstripping wage growth. Gilberto, who is focusing on creating the right jobs for the recovering economy, said evolving technologies have replaced more jobs held by low-wage workers like office staff, grocery checkout and food prep.

There's a trend away from full-time employment, what Gilberto calls a “gig” economy for on-demand work — think Uber drivers as an example — with fluctuating hours and benefits, when they exist.

One program Gilberto highlighted that could make an impact is a simple one: tax-preparation assistance for low-income families. Last year, 11,400 filers received help that led to $29.1 million in federal refunds and tax credits. “That money helps pay down debt, purchase necessities and gets reinvested back into the local economy,” Gilberto said.