Boys and Girls Clubs of Calgary sees 40% drop in donations

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Calgary are struggling to cope with a dip in donations and a spike in demand.

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Corporate giving to the children's charity group is down 40 per cent from the same period last year, says business development manager Ahmed Rammay.

"Programming has not been cut yet because, of course, we want to maintain a service level that we've had for our youth, because otherwise they won't necessarily have another place to go to," he said.

"So for now we haven't cut anything, but that's not to say what will happen in the future."

Rammay says, at the same time, there has been an increase in demand for the club's services, which include housing for homeless youth, education and employment programs, and support programs in the community.

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"We've had school principals talk to some of our youth workers and say specifically, 'We're seeing high school kids come in, hungry, asking for more help,'" said director Dylan Oosterveld.

As the organization gets ready for its Holiday Hero fundraising campaign, lots of other non-profit groups are also feeling the pinch of the economic slump.

Scott Decksheimer, a partner at the fundraising consulting firm ViTreo, says the calls they are receiving are getting more urgent.

"We're seeing them delay hiring, we're seeing some programs get shutdown so organizations are looking at what they need to do to survive," he said.

"This isn't just a blip, this is something that they're looking at how they can change their business, how they can change what they do."