Issue link: https://blog.providence.org/i/1367422
Orange County Community Resilience Fund Evaluation Report 16 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Graph 4: Expense Cuts (n=197) Reduced Staff Furloughed Laid Off Closed Hours Staff Staff Locations Increased Costs Beyond replacing lost revenue, organizations needed this infusion of money because many faced increased costs – 60% of organizations reported incurring unexpected emergency costs. Due to increased community need, many organizations faced an increase in demand, which required more staffing and supplies to address. Organizations that relied on donated items such as food, diapers, or other critical items saw declines in donations as people kept the items for their own use or were unwilling to deliver them. Organizations that used volunteer labor saw volunteers staying away out of concern for their own safety; this was most acute for health care clinics that used retired health care professionals. As a result, organizations needed to buy items or pay staff to fill these gaps. Social distancing requirements also could increase costs in space and staffing. Other unanticipated costs included the purchase Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for staff and technology and training costs to allow for more remote work and service delivery. Graph 3 captures the survey responses on how relief dollars were used to address increased costs. 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Graph 3: Use of relief funds (n=210) Salaries Program Supplies Program PPE Essential Needs Rent or Utility Technology Support (for clients) Budget Cuts Even with relief dollars, 62% of organizations were forced to make substantial expense cuts. Some were forced to reduce staffing or locations; Graph 4 shows the percentages of respondents who had done so as of June. As PPP loan money is expended and the pandemic continues, staff layoffs will likely increase. As of June, 38 organizations laid off staff, 45 furloughed staff, and 59 reduced staff hours; 95 (49%) were forced to cut staff- ing – that is, do at least one of these steps. Larger organizations were more likely to cut staffing than smaller organizations. This may be because organizations that are larger