By Charles Chang

The Post Office has a famous saying that embodies their philosophy of mail delivery. I’d like to rephrase that to embody the spirit of nonprofit organizations. “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night…can keep a nonprofit organization from opening its doors to serve those who are most in need.”

These last several years have been tough on everybody. People from all walks of life lost their jobs and homes. People who never thought they would ever be applying for public assistance found themselves doing so for the first time. Nonprofit organizations were no different. Funding from the government, corporations, and foundations declined, meaning more nonprofits were competing for fewer corporate and foundation dollars. At the same time, more people are turning to nonprofits to help them through this tough time. Whether it is for help with foreclosure, debt collectors, health care, or social services, nonprofits have always stepped up when many other places were turning their backs. Corporations are sitting on large quantities of cash and not spending it because they’re skittish about going back to 2008. With a fraction of the resources that corporations have, nonprofit organizations are helping more people with less money and resources.

APADRC has lost some funding over the years, but one funder that has been steady for many years is the Asian Pacific Community Fund (APCF). They are one of the funders that has continued to support APADRC through good times and bad. APCF is a fund distribution organization. It collects donations, largely through payroll deduction and distributes it to 29 Asian/Pacific Islander nonprofit organizations. APADRC is lucky to have received a sizeable grant from APCF for many years and we are extremely grateful for their reliable support. Many of our projects would not be possible without such a generous company and its support.

If you have never heard of APCF, please check them out at apcf.org. Some of the major companies that participate in charitable giving campaigns that disburse some of the money to APCF are LA County, LA City, LAUSD, Kaiser, Wells Fargo, and Metro. Even if you don’t work for one of these companies, if your company allows payroll deduction, you can probably set it up to give something to APCF. This will ultimately help out APADRC as well as the 28 other organizations that APCF supports.

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