A Charity Finds Itself in Dire Need
Western Fairfax Christian Ministries' Efforts to Get Help From County Misfire

By Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 26, 2007

One year ago, Western Fairfax Christian Ministries, a nonprofit group that helps the poor in a broad swath of the western end of the county, seemed to be on solid footing.

With a budget of more than $700,000, it was helping thousands of needy families get out of financial crises, get back on their feet and avoid homelessness.

But now, the organization is facing the same dire uncertainties as those it assists. Since May, it has laid off three-quarters of its staff, more than halved its budget and terminated programs that provided almost $200,000 in assistance to families in financial straits. WFCM barely avoided homelessness itself when its landlord threatened to evict the group from its Chantilly offices for nonpayment of rent.

"We've had a few very bad months here," said Dorothy Fonow, the group's executive director.

How did a 20-year-old organization fall so fast?

WFCM leaders say they should have moved more quickly to deal with escalating financial problems last year. But, they say, their problems were compounded by the county's failure to help, as it has aided other struggling nonprofits. In June, the county turned down its appeal for funding to help with its bills.

They blame Gerald E. Connolly (D), chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, and county staff members, who, they say, were embarrassed that the organization made public its fiscal plight just as county leaders were touting their success in funding community organizations.

"Yes, we made some mistakes. But I'd like to see other organizations that don't make mistakes," Fonow said. "But obviously the biggest mistake we made was ticking off Gerry Connolly."

"This is a Christian organization saying that?" Connolly responded last week. He said the organization blindsided the county with its financial crisis and then demanded immediate assistance. Since then, officials have been trying to work with the group, Connolly said.

"But they . . . have not been willing to commit to reforms that would provide transparency and accountability," he said. "We can't be using taxpayer dollars to bail out an organization" that the county does not consider competent.

Whatever the reasons for the organization's downfall, it has been quite a comedown.

Launched in 1987 by a coalition of a dozen churches when sleek housing developments were taking over farmland in Centreville, Chantilly and Clifton, WFCM had volunteers distributing donated food and clothing to the working poor, disabled, elderly and those facing unexpected financial trouble. It also offered transportation to medical appointments and job interviews.

As growth in western Fairfax escalated and the need increased, the organization added paid staff, expanded services and opened a thrift store.

By 2003, it was thriving. Full-time social workers were administering a county-funded program that gave out more than $100,000 in emergency assistance to people facing eviction or a cutoff of utilities. WFCM had hired managers for its food pantry and a Spanish-speaking receptionist to work with the area's increasing number of Hispanics.

That year, almost 3,000 families received bags of food. The group gave coats to elementary schools, cellphones to battered women's programs and almost 1,000 fully stocked back-to-school backpacks to needy kids.

Encouraged by success, the group sought to expand its mission to troubled families. It almost tripled its space by moving into 4,800 square feet of office and retail space in Chantilly. A major initiative was the Residential Assistance Program, a three-year program that offered struggling families thousands of dollars in housing assistance as well as classes in budget counseling, debt reduction, language skills and even marriage.

But hints of financial trouble began to appear. Some grant money dried up, United Way funding fell, and the organization's revenue growth ground to a halt. At the same time, overhead costs escalated: The organization's new offices pushed its rent from $1,000 to $10,000 a month, and expenses rose almost $100,000 from 2004 to 2005.

To cover the deficits, the organization dipped into its cash reserves. Last year, the WFCM board decided to boost income by hiring a full-time director of development to raise private money. But her efforts failed, WFCM leaders said, and within eight months the group faced a deficit of almost $100,000 and a full-blown financial crisis.

Broke, by March of this year, WFCM was behind on rent; its landlord was threatening to begin court proceedings in May.

The organization turned to the county. In a March meeting with Deputy County Executive Verdia L. Haywood, who oversees social services programs, and Supervisor Michael R. Frey (R-Sully), the nonprofit group's leaders laid out their situation and asked for help in paying some overhead costs.

"We felt they were a big stakeholder in our operation," said board member Karen Dolan.

The leaders said they told Frey and Haywood that they were in a crisis and faced imminent closure. Frey assured them, they said, that he would bring the matter before the Board of Supervisors as quickly as possible.

Frey and Haywood said they had a different understanding.

"They did not explain clearly enough, we did not listen carefully enough -- I don't know," Frey said. Whatever the miscommunication, he said, "we were on two different levels."

Frey said that he did not realize how dire the situation was and that he and Haywood explained to the group's leaders that it was too late in the budget cycle for immediate help. He said the organization was told the county could probably help in September, once it had seen whether there was any unspent money in the budget.

Haywood said he promised to follow up regarding "how and if we could consider any kind of funding. We did not make any commitment on the timing at all."

In late April, as its bank balance dwindled to zero and its landlord threatened eviction, the ministries group gathered its staff and supporters and, carrying banners emblazoned with WFCM's name, walked into a county board meeting as the board prepared to vote on its fiscal 2008 budget.

Supervisors reacted angrily when presented with documents showing the predicament and the group's earlier warnings that it would close imminently if it didn't get financial assistance.

WFCM's leaders assumed that Frey had already shared their plight with board members.

"We didn't know that they didn't know, and they didn't know that we didn't know. It was horrible," said the Rev. Patricia B. Deavers, president of the group's board.

The supervisors laid into the group. Supervisor Gerald W. Hyland (D-Mount Vernon) wanted to know why the rent had soared.

Connolly expressed annoyance that the information was coming so late.

"Unfortunately, we are faced with having to have eleventh-hour meetings and discussion the day of the adoption of the budget," Connolly said at the time, upset with county staff and the group. "And I don't think that's an acceptable way of proceeding."

Penelope A. Gross (D-Mason) criticized the group's board. "If you are a board of directors, you have a fiduciary responsibility not to let a nonprofit get in this situation," she said.

Frey said other supervisors' responses angered him. "Their reaction was on a very personal level," he said in an interview. "It was all personalities and personal pique."

Since that disastrous board meeting, WFCM leaders said, the county has done little to help it, despite the group's efforts to get its fiscal house in order.

It has laid off 12 staff members and terminated its contract with the county for its emergency and residential assistance programs, for which it was to receive $190,000 in the current fiscal year. The organization said it could not afford to pay the overhead to run the program.

The nonprofit slashed this year's budget from a projected $790,000 to $304,000 and negotiated a 50 percent rent reduction with its landlord, which dropped the eviction threat. With the staff down to four people, volunteers are filling jobs they once performed. The pantry, the clothes closet and the transportation service continue to operate.

But county officials said the group has not gone far enough in reforming its finances and has resisted the county's efforts to effect further changes.

"If they're not willing to work with the county -- it's a free country," Connolly said in an interview. "They can get assistance from someone else."

Frey, on the other hand, while acknowledging problems between the county and the organization, backs Western Fairfax Christian Ministries' request for a cash infusion.

Although the organization "needs to tighten up," he said, it will cost the county more because its clients will end up on the doors of other area nonprofit groups or in the hands of county social workers.

County officials said they plan to reassign the two contracts for residential and emergency assistance to other nonprofit groups. In the meantime, families needing assistance are being referred to other organizations.