Eric Allen, chief executive officer of nonprofit Clarity, speaks at Tuesday’s annual meeting at Westside Community Church in Columbus.
Clarity, the Christian-based nonprofit helping local and regional clients with pregnancy and sexually related health issues, aims to consolidate its three local offices into one single care hub headquarters location by summer and add three registered nurses as part of an expansion — one that its leaders say is badly needed to meet a growing need for its outreach.
Reflecting that growing need is a current budget that is $1.2 million more than the previous fiscal year’s income.
Eric Allen, Clarity’s chief executive officer, acknowledged that as a sizable increase.
“That’s a little scary, honestly, for me as the CEO, of trying to make sure that we’re getting it right,” Allen said. “And so that also means that we’ve got to look at how is God providing life rafts for women that are in need — women that we may be passing up. And we want to make sure that we don’t pass them up.
“And so we’re excited about the funding sources and opportunities that come our way.”
Those items surfaced in Tuesday’s annual impact meeting for Clarity. The organization serving eight counties leads a wide variety of help and programming, ranging from pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease testing to youth sexual risk avoidance education to help called Hearts Restored for those recovering from trauma such as sexual abuse.
Plus, Allen said that the agency is working to get $200,000 within a month to cover increasing ministry costs. Just one annual cost alone because of the growth in the number of clients, is in materials such as diapers, infant car seats, baby wipes and related materials for new mothers. That budget item accounts for a 55 percent increase over last year, Allen said.
“It’s not possible for those mothers to afford even child care on approximately $15 an hour,” Allen said of the new moms. “It’s not possible to afford the gasoline cost in the home and the rent and the lease and all those things. And so we provide to them a tremendous amount of material items.”
In another significant announcement, Allen told supporters gathered at Westside Community Church that the annual fundraising banquets, attended by hundreds from Columbus to Greensburg, are being discontinued because of the time and expense required to adequately plan them. The fundraising golf tournament also is being dropped for the same reasons.
Allen said that only 5% of the agency’s net annual $3.7 million budget come from the banquets. Plus, he said he wants to redirect staffers’ attention away from extensive event planning and more toward direct client needs and services.
“While our fundraising events, such as banquets and golf outings, have been a strong resource for Clarity at one time, the growth in number and quality have also come with increasing expenses and staffing required to carry them out,” Allen said.” The unfortunate result has been reduced returns.”
Instead, he wants to market and reach more directly to couples and families in need and often in crisis.
“We have to make sure that we are being the best stewards possible of our time and money,” he said.
In another nod to better and bigger outreach, Clarity recently added a bilingual staff member for Jackson and Jennings counties.
“In our Jackson and Jennings County centers, over half of our client base do not speak English,” Allen said. “And it’s pretty difficult to have a really sensitive conversation with someone that you can’t even speak their language or through a translation device. It just isn’t there.”
Joe Meek, Clarity board vice chair, emphasized that the organization has in recent years had to adjust how it deals with prospective and new clients, even though its leaders always have emphasized sensitivity especially about matters of faith. That has included asking a client for permission to broach spiritual matters because Clarity serves those of any faith or no declared faith or religion.
“The generation we serve today and what they know of Christians and the church comes from the media, social media, and the news,” Meek said. “Regardless of how accurate that picture may be, the assumption is that Christians are judgmental people who want to shame, control, and push our beliefs on them.
“That’s why those vulnerable to abortion often don’t go to the church for help. But yet, Clarity can step into that gap and provide a safe place and an opportunity to provide the help, hope, and healing of the most vulnerable need. Because a significant percentage of those we serve also have experienced trauma in their life.”
How you can help
The nonprofit Clarity is hoping to add $200,000 to its in resources in the next month to cover a range of expenses. To give: claritycares.org.
