UPDATED: Judge Hears Requests for Funding During Shutdown; Nonprofits Brace Themselves for Long Haul

Special Master Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Blatz has begun hearing from various organizations and nonprofits requesting shutdown funding.

The Arc of Minnesota was seen at 9:20 a.m. Friday, according to the court's master calendar.

The Arc of Minnesota's mission is to protect the human rights of people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, while also keeping them active in their communities.

*Many may be familiar with Richfield's Arc's Value Village and assume it is part of The Arc of Minnesota, but it is important to note that The Arc of Minnesota and the Richfield store are not directly affiliated.

Richfield's store is owned and operated by The Arc Greater Twin Cities, which is the metro chapter of The Arc of Minnesota, and doesn't receive any state funding, according to Ann Jensen of Richfield Arc's.

While Richfield's thrift store may not directly be impacted by the shutdown, other Richfield and Minnesota nonprofits are already reeling from the Great Recession and a challenging fundraising climate. And now with the shutdown in effect, nonprofit leaders are bracing for another blow should Minnesota’s government remain shut down for an extended period of time and, subsequently, stop payments.

Many nonprofits receive government funding, whether from the local, state or federal level. In some cases, federal dollars are dispersed through state agencies and if there’s no one at the state level to receive receipts and allocate money, nonprofits are left without that funding.

It could spell trouble for many nonprofits, forcing them to discontinue programming, cut staffing or shutter altogether, either temporarily or permanently.

Minnesota’s 3,750 nonprofits employ one of every nine workers in the state, according to the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN) earning wages of $13.2 billion in 2009. Slightly more than half of those workers—about 153,000—are in the Twin Cities metro area.

“If [the shutdown] lasts more than three or four weeks, I think it’s at that point that you’re going to start seeing nonprofits getting into the next phase of their contingency planning,” said Frank Forsberg, senior vice president of community impact for the Greater Twin Cities United Way, which has nearly 200 agency partners and helps fund more than 400 programs.

Forsberg said United Way officials work with partners on an ongoing basis to create multiple contingency plans and put cash-flow resources in places to bridge any unforeseen or significant losses of funding, state or otherwise.

With the writing on the wall, he said planning elevated a month ago when a shutdown seemed inevitable.

“We are hearing from a lot of our members that they are making a lot of tough decisions,” stated Christine Durand, spokesperson for MCN.

Among the kinds of nonprofit work not included in state funding during the shutdown: childcare, domestic-violence prevention and assistance, food assistance, arts and environment and weatherization.

MCN briefings to help nonprofit groups grapple with the effects of a shutdown began three weeks ago and will continue, Durand said. Among the topics: how to lay off and furlough workers.

Their work “touches every Minnesotan in some way, shape or form,” Durand said, but “they can’t run on air.”

Editor's Note: An error in the original publication of this article stated The Arc of Minnesota and Richfield's Value Village as being under the same umbrella. While the two organizations are related, a clarification as to how close the relationship is has been amended in the article.