If you are a creature of habit, 2020 has been one very difficult year. Many things we once regarded as routine have been upended: gathering with friends and relatives, hand-shaking and hugging, collaborating face-to-face at work. These and more have been altered because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s also likely that your typical support of Eden Prairie neighbors-in-need is different as well. Local nonprofits have canceled large fundraising events and eliminated large volunteer work groups from their daily work. These staples of the nonprofit world are currently considered too risky at a time when we’re trying to keep coronavirus transmission in check.

We know this well at the Foundation, where we have canceled or postponed our biggest annual fundraisers, Prairie Brewfest and EP Gives, which in recent years have provided the majority of the organization’s operating revenue.

In fact, it’s not an overstatement to say that a number of our nonprofits are truly at risk – unable to raise money in usual ways and with only small operating reserves on which to draw. This has been documented in Star Tribune articles on declining nonprofit revenue and staffing cutbacks. And, we hear it firsthand in our monthly meetings with Eden Prairie’s nonprofit leaders.

Struggling nonprofits will only lead to one outcome in Eden Prairie: less help to people who need it.

So, if you can’t support your nonprofit by attending their fundraising event or volunteering your help, what can you do? That’s easy: Make a donation they can use where it’s needed most.

If you don’t know whom to support, consider a donation to the Foundation’s COVID-19 Response Fund, which continues to turn these gifts into grants that local nonprofits are using to help provide food, counseling, and more.

By making a donation now, you’re helping sustain much-needed organizations that are experiencing their darkest days.