San Diego City Wire

Greater San Diego's thousands of nonprofit organizations are reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic but are using the time to reflect upon the past and give hard consideration to the future, according to a university report issued in October.

"The year 2020 has become one of reckoning – as a time for reflection and hindsight about how we got to this point of crisis, as well as one for envisioning a new path forward," said the report presented by The Nonprofit Institute and the University of San Diego. "As the pandemic shows no sign of abating, the disruption wrought by COVID-19 is broad and deep for nonprofits, their leaders and constituents."

San Diego nonprofits are "at the epicenter of colliding crises" as residents "confront systemic inequities which have been laid bare in this pandemic," the report said.

"Low-wage communities and communities of color have felt the disproportionate impacts of the unfolding public health and economic crises, exacerbated by poor air quality, which has worsened with extreme weather-induced wildfires," the report continued. "Protests for racial justice and an increasingly polarized electorate are challenging us to find new ways for fostering meaningful dialogue where San Diegans can come together to find common ground with local data, information and analysis from trusted sources."

 "2020 Annual Report: State of Nonprofits and Philanthropy in San Diego" is 28 pages long.

San Diego has been recognized as one of the most charitable regions in the nation with more than 11,000 nonprofits. These organizations support education, the environment, health and human services and other activities.

However, and as with organizations everywhere, San Diego's local nonprofits have been hit hard by the ongoing pandemic. Yet those organizations are "vital to the recovery of San Diego’s economy," the report said.

Those organizations provide vital services and support to working families and are vital to effective government and healthy communities, according to the report.

"Nonprofits are an integral partner to government delivering so many frontline essential services on behalf of government," the report said. "The interdependence of government and nonprofits has grown to the point where we must wonder, 'Are nonprofits too big to fail?' or the interdependence of government and nonprofits has grown to the point where our investment in economic recovery must include investments that support and strengthen the nonprofit sector."