North Carolina Newspapers

August 1995 Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina • 13 Coalition Continued from page 4 amendment by Charles Taylor, a Tar Heel lawmaker, that would increase sales of “salvage timber” on federal lands. Salvage timber refers to downed or dying trees, and trees that are suscep tible to insect attack or fires - a defini tion that gives forest managers some latitude to sell trees of varying quality. Buzz WilUams, the executive direc tor of the Chattanooga River Watershed Coalition in Georgia and its representative on the coalition’s steer ing committee, spearheaded an effort to get a group of scientists to write President Clinton a letter urging him to veto the bill containing the salvage amendment in April. While this letter, along with other efforts throughout the U.S., success fully led to Clinton’s veto, a revised bill that limits the time period for the increased sale of salvage timber is likely to become law. Increasing public awareness of the problems caused by mismanaging forests and emphasizing alternatives that are based on science are key com ponents of the coalition’s initiative. “That’s how we’re going to turn this around - getting the right facts into the public’s hands,” Williams says. Although recent polls demonstrate that a majority of the pubUc supports increased environmental protection, the coalition needs to find ways to channel these beUefs into action. “I think one of the challenges the coalition faces is translating the sup port these forests have into effective political pressure for their protection,” says Newman of the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project. Despite these challenges, the coali tion has an advantage - the know-how and experience of the people involved. “If an aggregation like this can’t make some progress,. then nobody can,” says Bill Thomas, the forest issues coordinator for the North Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club and a founding member of the Coalition’s steering committee. The nine organizations that make up the coaUtion’s steering committee include the Sierra Club in San Francisco: The Wilderness Society in Washington, D.C.; Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville, Va.; Chattanooga Watershed Coalition in Clayton, Ga.; Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project in Asheville; Association of . Forest. Service Employees for Environmental Ethics in Eugene, Ore.; Cherokee Forest Voices in Knoxville, Tenn.; Citizens Task Force on National Forest Management in Roanoke, Va.; and Bankhead Monitor in Moulton, Ala. Support for the first year of the coahtion’s campaign included grants of $300,000 from The Pew Charitable Trusts in Philadelphia; $100,000 from the Lyndhurst Foundation in Chattanooga, Tenn.; $35,000 from the Merck Family Fund in Tacoma Park, Md.; $35,000 from the Turner Foundation in Atlanta, Ga.; $50,000 from the Surdna Foundation in New York; $15,000 from the Town Creek Foundation in Oxford, Md.; and com puter hardware from the Smithsonian Conservation Technology Support Program. Cuts Continued from page 12 year,” she says, “so it would be very hard to have a lower cut-off.” Because the LIHEAP program is administered as a block grant, some states may choose to change eligibili ty requirements rather than reduce individual checks. Fields says. In North Carolina, she says, the Division of Social Services and the General Assembly are trying to find more money, especially for the crisis program, by cutting administrative holds through these programs, says Meyers. On average, the center’s clients spend 22 percent of their total income on energy. “To think that energy is not an issue in the South is a fallacy,” she says. She expects that a 25 percent cut in LIHEAP funding, combined with reductions for other low-income assistance programs, will push many famdies into crisis. “We will see more homeless fami lies and more families trying to make hard decisions about whether to have adequate food, or a roof over their heads, or heat under that roof,” she Last year 92 percent of CP&L's employees gave to the Raleigh- based utility's Project Share program, which helps low-income customers pay their heating bills. costs. state agencies already coordinate their home-energy assistance pro grams with those run by community organizations, she says, and this cooperation will become even more important as everyone feels the pinch of federal budget cuts. With the support of utility compa nies and their affiliated foundations, many community organizations run home-heating assistance programs that supplement LIHEAP. For example, Charlotte’s Crisis Assistance Ministry, in addition to administering LIHEAP for Mecklenburg County, supplements clients’ energy bills with funds from three utility-supported programs, says Director CaroUne Meyers. Share The Warmth and Community Challenge are funded by donations from Duke Power Co. cus tomers and the Duke Power Company Foundation, and the Piedmont Natural Gas Co. supports a similar matching program. TTie utility-based programs differ from LIHEAP in that they are crisis-based rather than poverty-based; They are intended as one-time assistance for families in emergency situations. Last year, the Crisis Assistance Ministry served about 13,700 house- says. Increased demand will translate into increased need for funds from the private sector, she says. But in an age of corporate downsizing, it is not reasonable to expect utilities to do much more than they already do to help low-income consumers. In addition to worrying about fall out from federal budget cuts, Sharon Stroud of Carolina Power & Light Co. is concerned about the impact of cor porate downsizing on the Raleigh utility company’s Project Share. Last year. Project Share provided more than $600,000 to help low- income families facing energy shut offs, she says. It is administered by the state Division of Social Services and funded through donations from CP&L employees, customers and a shareholder matching fund. Stroud says the company’s employees are generous: Last year, throu^ payroll deductions, 92 per cent gave to the project. But as the workforce shrinks as a result of cor porate efficiency, contributions also be expected to decline. Stroud says customers are solicit ed through bill Inserts in December, January and February and can make one-time gifts or monthly pledges, a relatively new option. Besides mak ing it easier for customers to con tribute, the company has no plans to change the 10-year-old program. Barbara Allen, CP&Es manager of corporate community relations, voic es concern about state and federal budget cuts, but says members of CP&L’s foundation board have not yet talked about how they might address the increased need for home-eneigy assistance. “Project Share has been so suc cessful,” she says, “and the founda tion is mostly for educational purpos es.” But a broadening of the founda tion’s mission “somewhere down the road” is not inconceivable, and both the foundation and the corporation will pay close attention to the impact of federal cuts as they are implement ed. The Duke Power Company Foundation, which last year con tributed $725,000 in matching funds to its Share the Warmth and Community Challenge programs, is adopting a similar “wait-and-see” approach for at least a year. Dock Kornegay, the foundation’s vice president, says more than 18,000 households received payments from the two programs in the 1994-95 heat ing season. Though trustees consid ered increasing solicitations or com bining the two programs to respond to the anticipated increase in need, he says, they decided that “at this point, the best we can do is to wait and see the impact.” Accordingly, they have approved program contri butions for next year at the same level as last year. Most observers agree that neither foundations nor utility companies can entirely make up for cuts in fed eral programs. But there is some pressure for utility companies to pro vide more support tor heating-assis tance programs, including LIHEAP Jeff Brown, director of the state’s residential energy program, says util ity companies effectively invest in programs to make low-income homes more energy-efficient in 14 states. North Carolina is not among them, although both Duke Power and CP&L participated in a recent study demon strating the cost-effectiveness and overall benefit of cooperative govern ment-utility programs. Brown also says community- action agencies may ask the state Utilities Commission to put consider ation of utility support of LIHEAP on its agenda. Meyers of the Crisis Assistance Ministry agrees that community orga nizations, state government and utili ties need to work together to “re examine our models” of addressing the need for home-eneigy assistance, and that other states’ experience may offer good strategies. Hugh Morton, Jr. Video Productions Broadcast-Quality Fundraising Videos and PSA’s for Nonprofits 720 Lake Boone Trail Raleigh, NC 27607 (919) 834-8444 Duke University Certificate Program in Nonprofit Management Fall Catalog Available NOW For information about courses offered at 9 sites throughout North Carolina please contact the following: Course locations •Western N.C. •Fayetteville area •Greensboro, High Point, Winston-Salem •New Bern area •Rocky Mount, Wilson, Greenville area •Wilmington area • Charlotte area •Elizabeth City •Classes at Duke •Statewide Coordinator Contact John Williams, 800-621-0008 Barbara Wright, 910-678-7218 Susan Larson, 910-334-5677 Judy Cox, 919-638-7372 Chet Mottershead, 919-977-3800 Diane Brann, 910-350-3193 Dana Bradley, 704-547-3941 Earl Brown, 919-335-3316 Marilyn Hartman, 919-684-3255 Don Wells, 919-732-1648 Advent Advisors, Inc. registered investment counsel specializing in Socially Responsible Investing The Montgomery House 214 New Bern Place Raleigh, NC 27601 (919) 821-8007 Stephen G. Dibble, President Member of the Social Investment Forum Technology Special Issue The September issue of the Philanthropy Journal will look at how technology is changing the way nonprofits deliver services, raise money and communicate with their constituencies. The deadline for advertising in this special issue is Friday, August 18, 1995. For information, call 919-899-3741.