Nkosi Anthony and his mother, Frances, on the wrestling mat at Moses Brown, can smile, five years after Big Brothers started working with Nkosi. Today, he is a student who wrestles, plays the violin and wants to be an engineer — and it’s Big Brothers’ turn for help.

The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

Six years ago, Big Brothers of Rhode Island found two mentors for Nkosi Anthony, a lonely boy raised by a single mother from Liberia.

“They helped him with his homework, his well being, and offered him advice,” says his mother, Frances.

Nkosi, who plays the violin, wrestles and wants to be an engineer, graduates from Moses Brown School next year.

But Big Brothers is struggling. Four years ago, it lost its United Way funding when the agency switched to a competitive way of awarding grants. With donations and financing down by $75,000, Big Brothers recently laid off two social workers and cut back hours for other employees.

Says executive director Val Sinesi, “We’re living from payroll to payroll.”

Across the state, social service agencies are cutting staff, pooling resources and shrinking services in the wake of a sour economy that has hit nonprofits especially hard. Many rely on private donations and government financing for help. But in Rhode Island, where the unemployment rate is among the worst in the nation, more than 73,000 people are out of work. State officials say this year’s budget deficit could reach $219 million.

For clients — battered women, teen runaways, seniors and the poor — the cutbacks mean less help and longer waits.

“Things are getting harder,” Rhode Island Housing head Richard Godfrey told a crowd at a conference for nonprofits recently. “The needs are growing and the money is shrinking.”

According to a March report by United Way of Rhode Island, a third of the state’s nonprofits expect to end the year in the red. Income is down, say most.

Some, like the John Hope Settlement House in Providence, started cutting programs and staff last year. The agency closed two emergency shelters for troubled teens and laid off nearly 30 people after state financing failed to keep pace with the costs, says president and CEO Peter D. Lee. The organization now hopes to work with troubled teenagers before they leave home.

In Warwick, the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence is spending less on an advocacy program for battered women in court. The reason? Financing for programs in the last two years has fallen by 60 percent, says Deborah DeBare, executive director. “It’s not like everything has been obliterated,” she says, “but everything has been cut.”

THE COALITION represents six member agencies, all facing similar challenges.

Three weeks ago, the Domestic Violence Resource Center of South County closed its safe home to new clients and laid off seven employees, after the agency lost more than $150,000 in federal aid. “It’s a big hit,” says spokeswoman Garrie Borden.

In Warwick, the Elizabeth Buffum Chace Center eliminated two school programs on bullying and teen-dating violence. Meanwhile, the agency can’t expand a program for the elderly, despite a surge in demand, says executive director Judy Earle. “Our ability to do preventative work and grow programs is severely limited.”

Even the Salvation Army — the face of charity during the holidays — is facing a $40,000 shortfall this year. Officials say they won’t make it up by Christmas. “I’m not sure we’re surviving,” says state coordinator Maj. David Dunham. “We’re turning off lights and cutting back staff. I’ve laid off five people in the last three months,” including a development director and a child-care director. Says Dunham, “It’s not good.”

Nationwide, the story is the same.

“It’s extremely turbulent,” says Ruth McCambridge, editor in chief of the Boston-based The Nonprofit Quarterly. “There are already casualties.”

Organizations are struggling in California and Michigan, other places where unemployment is high and the states are broke, McCambridge says.

Job losses hurt in two ways, she says. The unemployed don’t write checks to charities. But they do turn to cash-strapped organizations for help. “These are people who are new to the system. They need more handholding,” which puts more pressure on downsized organizations, says McCambridge.

Many agencies ran into trouble several years ago, when the economy softened. But few knew how bad it would get, says Anthony Maione, president and CEO of United Way of Rhode Island.

“It all happened so quickly there was no way to prepare for it.”

MANY OF the state’s philanthropic foundations took a hit when the stock market crashed. United Way’s endowment — money invested in stocks and bonds — fell by 30 percent, says Maione. The organization, which gives money to 50 local agencies and charities, cut six positions in June. “We had to become a lighter organization. It was very painful.”

Most years, the United Way raises the bar on its fundraising goals. This year, it hopes to raise $15 million — $1 million less than last year’s announced goal.

Already, agencies are looking for more ways to save money.

“We’re zeroing in on every line item,” says Peter M. DiBari, president and CEO of Child & Family in Middletown. Unlike many agencies, the organization is growing. It charges fees, which helps.

But Child & Family is also struggling with increased costs, says DiBari. “I think the worst is yet to come, so we’ve got to be solid in our finances and in our management.”

Some nonprofits may have to merge or find partners to survive.

In June, United Way of Rhode Island awarded $135,000 in grants to 17 nonprofits planning to merge or consolidate operations and services.

In October, five affordable housing and homeless advocacy organizations moved into the same mill building in Pawtucket, a move financed, in part, by United Way.

“We’re not sure where this will go, but we’re saving on our backdoor services,” says Karen Jeffreys, associate director at the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless. “Because we’re all together, we only need one water bubbler. Instead of five copiers, we only need two.” The coalition is sharing a bookkeeper with another agency in the building.

Family Service of Rhode Island is also “looking for possible partners, either through affiliations or mergers,” says CEO Margaret Holland McDuff.

The Providence organization, which provides social, medical and educational services to low-income residents, cut its staff 18 months ago and continues to shrink through attrition, McDuff says.

“The staff here is working harder than they ever have. They have more on their plate, all at a time when the demand for services is going through the roof.”

BUT MERGERS aren’t always the answer, say directors. They’re complicated and take time. And many smaller agencies, which rely on donated goods to operate, “are very good at stretching their dollars,” says DeBare.

A new round of federal stimulus money will give some organizations “a shot in the arm,” says Deborah Linnell, director of programs for Third Sector New England, a Boston-based organization that provides management and other services to nonprofits.

But the money will be spent quickly. If states don’t step in afterward, some groups could still fail. And because foundation and other financing often lags behind economic recoveries, many agencies will struggle in the next few years, she says. “The ones that survive will be weakened.”

Few directors see better times ahead.

“We’re on the edge,” says Linda Barden, executive director of Welcome House, a South Kingstown homeless shelter. Last winter, Barden asked drivers to throw their change in a garbage can in the shelter’s driveway. The money helps buy shoes for the homeless.

“We’re all running on empty or close to it,” says Deborah Nigrelli, executive director of the Charlestown-based Rhode Island Center Assisting Those in Need.

Nigrelli, who operates out of an old church building, had hoped to move the food pantry and other offices to a bigger building. Instead, she moved her office into a closet.

The agency in October served more than 25,000 people, a 40-percent increase from a year ago, says Nigrelli. She worried the numbers will continue to rise.

“What keeps us going? We save lives. That’s what gets you through. That and I still buy a lottery ticket every week.”

BY THE NUMBERS

Revenues down

pdavis@projo.com