THE MODEST NEEDS 2020-2021 ANNUAL REPORT
Introduction
In keeping with our commitment to operational transparency, Modest Needs publishes an annual report which is freely accessible to the public at large both via our website or in hard-copy.
The purpose of this annual report is to update interested persons on our prior year's program service achievements and to report on other significant accomplishments by Modest Needs in 2020.
Our Mission Statement
At Modest Needs, we work to prevent otherwise self-sufficient but low-income households from entering the cycle of poverty and to strengthen the communities in which these persons live. We do this by offering two specific grant types:
The Self-Sufficiency Grant: Our Self-Sufficiency grant is our hallmark grant and helps low income workers to afford short-term emergency expenses that would otherwise pose an enormous burden to the applicant;
The Homecoming Heroes Grant: Our Homecoming Heroes grant is designed to assist persons returning home from active military service with short term expenses they may incur as they adjust to civilian life.
Modest Needs in 2020: Responding to the Coronavirus Epidemic
At Modest Needs, we had several exciting plans for 2020, including a website overhaul that would've included a number of features designed to make it more rewarding - and more fun - to help low-income families than ever before. We'd just begun work on these projects when, beginning in March 2020, millions of people across the country were furloughed in an attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19. From that point forward, 2020 at Modest Needs has been defined by our response to the COVID-19 epidemic.
Today, I'm proud to report that, looking back, our COVID-19 relief program has been among the most robust in the US for an organization of our own 'modest' size. Indeed, our activities in 2020 can best be summarized in bullet-points touching on the impact of our COVID-19 response:
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15 March 2020: Modest Needs launches its COVID-19 relief program - one of the first such programs to launch in the United States. The program offers emergency financial reports to persons who can document
that they've been furloughed from their place of employment.
- Simultaneously, thanks to a very generous grant, Modest Needs launches a COVID-19 fundraising push, with all gifts matched up to $25,000.00. Over time, other members of the Modest Needs community gradually add to the match, to the point that the match ultimately becomes worth $250,000.00. By July 2020, the Modest Needs community had claimed the whole of that matching grant.
- April 2020: Requests for help from Modest Needs reach record highs of approximately 10x our normal volume of applications. Meanwhile, NYS and City mandates force Modest Needs' employees to begin working from home.
Because, from its outset, Modest Needs has been designed to operate in a virtual environment, the lockdown has no effect on our operation, and, thanks to the tireless work of the Modest Needs team, we're able to process even this extraordinary volume of requests for help, with all applications being processed in 48 hours or less. - Memorial Day Weekend 2020: Thanks to a grant from Suave, Modest Needs expands its COVID-19 program to include essential workers whose travel, childcare, and other similar expenses have increased, thanks to the tireless hours they've been working in an effort to keep us safe.
- 30 May 2020: Modest Needs' work is featured in the New York Times, which calls Modest Needs' COVID-19 program one of the very best ways to get help to people whose lives have been turned upside-down by the Coronavirus furloughs.
- 05 June 2020: Modest Needs issues its largest ever single-day batch of grant funding: just over $150,000.00 to 243 individual families - about twice as many grants as we're able to make in an average month.
From that point forward in 2020, we worked to process our still overwhelming volume of applications in an even more timely manner (we're now down to a 48-hour max turn-around time) and to raise the funding necessary to help as many of the normally self-sufficient but low-income families who're struggling to recover from what has amount to months of un- or under-employment with minimal assistance through absolutely no fault of their own.
Modest Needs in 2021: Responding to the Fallout of a Year in Quarantine
In 2021, the focus of Modest Needs' COVID-19 relief program shifted primarily to into "recovery mode" for our applicants. Of course, by 2021, most businesses that *could* shift to remote work had done so. But a great many other kinds of businesses either couldn't shift to remote work at all or, because of ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, were forced to open under draconion restrictions.
As a result, persons working for businesses of these kinds - especially persons working in, for example, the service industry - experienced dramatic reductions in their incomes via reduced hours, unexpected layoffs, and, in some cases, lost jobs. These workers had to scramble to find new ways to earn a living with many of them turning to what we now call the "Gig" economy (e.g., people who were once servers became Uber drivers). As these workers shifted from one type of employment to another, they often went for a month or so with little to no income.
These months of un- or underemployment left these families on the verge of homelessness. And that's where Modest Needs came in.
In 2021, Modest Needs shifted its COVID-19 relief program almost exclusively to focus on homelessness prevention. And once again, Modest Needs' donors made Phase 2 of our COVID-19 relief program a *stunning* success. In fact, as the financial report below demonstrates, 2021 was Modest Needs' second-best year ever (only behind 2020) in terms of grantmaking. Through the end of 2021, together, Modest Needs donors saved SCORES of families from homeless, even as they continued to support our hallmark grant programs.
In short, thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our donors, Modest Needs' COVID-19 relief programs turned out to be a stunning success for the families who turned to us for help in 2020-2021. And all of us at Modest Needs - myself especially - are grateful to those of you who did so much, who gave so generously, even to the point of personal sacrifice, in the service of others during these extraordinarily difficult years.
We hope that, as one of Modest Needs' donors in these years, you're as proud of these achievements as we are. From the bottom of our hearts, and on behalf of the families whose lives you changed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, thank you.
--Dr. Keith P. Taylor, President, Modest Needs Foundation (30 November 2022).
2020 Financial Information at a Glance
| Income and Expense Categories | Amount |
|---|---|
| Income from Direct Public Support | $3,205,729 |
| Other Program Service Income | $0.00 |
| Other Income | $0.00 |
| Total 2020 Income | $3,205,729.00 |
| Program Service Expenses (91.90%) | $1,928,666.00 |
| Management / Administrative Expenses (4.17%) | $87,367.00 |
| Fundraising Expenses (3.93%) | $82,541.00 |
| Total 2020 Expenses | $2,098,574.00 |
| Net Assets & Fund Balances, Beginning of Year | $234,269.00 |
| Net Assets & Fund Balances, End of Year | $1,331,363.00 |
You may view a breakdown of the functional expenses listed above by accessing our FY 2020 Form 990, linked below:
Supporting Financial Documents for 2021
Please note: all documents below are in PDF format and can be viewed via the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.
- View our 2020 Form 990 (Warning: Large File - May Take Time to Download)
2021 Financial Information at a Glance
| Income and Expense Categories | Amount |
|---|---|
| Income from Direct Public Support | $2,687,896 |
| Other Program Service Income | $0.00 |
| Other Income | $0.00 |
| Total 2021 Income | $2,867,896.00 |
| Program Service Expenses (90.57%) | $2,392,805.00 |
| Management / Administrative Expenses (5.16%) | $136,307.00 |
| Fundraising Expenses (4.27%) | $112,780.00 |
| Total 2021 Expenses | $2,641,892.00 |
| Net Assets & Fund Balances, Beginning of Year | $1,331,363.00 |
| Net Assets & Fund Balances, End of Year | $1,377,367.00 |
You may view a breakdown of the functional expenses listed above by accessing our FY 2021 Form 990, linked below:
Supporting Financial Documents for 2021
Please note: all documents below are in PDF format and can be viewed via the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.
- View our 2021 Form 990 (Warning: Large File - May Take Time to Download)
Donor Privacy Policy
Modest Needs has long maintained a strict Donor Privacy Policy. However, because this policy is listed within our Terms of Use and sometimes is missed by our donors, we include it in our Annual Reports for their reference:
Modest Needs Foundation respects the privacy of our donors. To that end, Modest Needs will *never* sell, rent, loan, give away, or otherwise disclose or disseminate the personal information of our donors, including their names, mailing addresses, email addresses, contribution amounts, or any other data of any kind to any entity for any reason whatsoever. Persons who choose to contribute to Modest Needs may rest secure that their data will never be shared with any other entity under any circumstances, ever.
Modest Needs Foundation Board of Directors
Current as of 27 November 2022
Charles Cissel, Chair (Independent, Voting)
Rosa Ng, Vice-Chair & Chair of Audit Committee (Independent, Voting)
Maria Castillo, Treasurer (Independent, Voting)
Thierry Mellon, Board Member (Independent, Voting)
Rebekah Hoffman, Board Member (Independent,Voting)
Modest Needs Key Employees
Dr. Keith P. Taylor, President
Annemarie Galvin, Associate Director and Compliance Officer
Would you like a hard copy of our 2020-2021 Annual Report?
If you do not have regular internet access but would like to receive a hard copy of the Annual Report above, along with accompanying materials, please send your request to:
Modest Needs Foundation
33 Irving Place, FL 5
New York NY 10003
We will provide a hard-copy of our 2020-2021 Annual Report along with all attachments to anyone who requests them at no charge. You may request a hard copy of this report by writing to us at the address above, or by phone at (844) 667-3776, ext 2.