Tuesday is Arizona Gives Day, a 24-hour fundraising sprint for nonprofits of every size and cause. So far for 2025, those groups have raised more than $1 million combined; since 2013, the day has brought in more than $47 million.

For some of those nonprofits, donations may take on more importance, as federal funding is cut or in doubt. There are also questions about whether the country is headed for a recession, which could impact philanthropy.

Marcia Mintz, CEO of Boys and Girls Club of the Valley, which is one of the organizations to whom donors can contribute today, joined The Show to discuss.

Full conversation

MARCIA MINTZ: You know, it's, it's a really important day for our organization and all nonprofits. As you know, we rely more heavily on individual giving right now, and it's a perfect opportunity for donors at any level to contribute and support the nonprofits they care about.

BRODIE: When you say you rely more on individual donors, is that as opposed to more corporate donors?

MINTZ: Correct. I think that right now the landscape is showing, you know, in Arizona, particularly youth serving organizations, we saw the steepest decline in individual giving in the last year. It's over 13.8% decline, and that's significant for us because of our heavy reliance on individual donors.

BRODIE: Why do you think that happened?

MINTZ: You know, I think there's a lot of reasons that happen. I think there's a lot of uncertainty right now, you know, given the landscape about shifting federal priorities, and I think the impact on what's happening is causing a little bit of a delay for individual donors as well as corporate donors from, from giving when they normally give at this time. Hoping that changes and people will feel more comfortable in the future, but there's definitely been a shift and a decline.

BRODIE: How much do you find the donors are paying attention to the economy? I mean, we've heard so much about tariffs and prices going up and, you know, just recently over the last few days, more predictions of there being a recession later this year. How much does that impact you?

MINTZ: It impacts us significantly because I think donors are very aware of what's happening. And you know they have to monitor their finances and resources just the same way businesses do.

So it's not that donors are saying no, they may be saying, let me wait a little bit, but those dollars that we receive on an ongoing basis really could and will stop services if the funds don't flow through.

BRODIE: I'm also curious about the impact of federal funding. So many causes and organizations around the country have seen their funding either reduced or cut altogether. What's the situation for Boys and Girls Clubs?

MINTZ: You know, I think that we are monitoring the situation. I can say on a daily basis, we are definitely concerned about the uncertainty that's going to happen. You know, we're halfway into our fiscal year, so we're monitoring it very carefully and causing us to have, you know, different, different plans and contingency plans.

The worst case scenario being that we would actually have to eliminate certain services. You know, we provide 800,000 meals a year, that relies on our federal food program. So there are programs like that we will monitor very closely, as well as our after school or out of school time programming, our 21st century funding. If that does go away, it would lead to an elimination of services.

BRODIE: How does all of this affect the messaging that you put out into the community and to prospective donors?

MINTZ: I think that it's really important, certainly for us as well as other nonprofits, to be communicating more than ever with individual and corporate donors, sharing with them what's happening, the potential impact and really asking them to step up, especially today on Arizona Gives Day.

But also there's the tax credit program, and everybody still has until April 15. Make that tax credit and get that money right back, but those dollars go directly to organizations like ours who really rely on those funds.

BRODIE: Is there a balance that you have to strike between maybe raising awareness of some of the programs as you referenced that might have to go away if funding doesn't come through while at the same time not sort of being seen as crying wolf?

MINTZ: Absolutely, and we're very careful with our messaging and letting our donors know. The truth is if that funding continues, the more money we raise, the more youth we get to serve. So it's a win-win for us in terms of, yes, we have to diversify our revenue and so does every nonprofit, you know, as much as we, you know, as much as we can get from individual donors.

Corporate donors, foundations, as well as federal funding, just helps us serve more kids. We're just limited in our capacity by the dollars we can raise. So if we raise additional dollars, we serve more kids and if we can't, then we serve less kids.

BRODIE: How is what you're seeing now and maybe what you're looking at into the near future, how does that compare with what you saw during the COVID-19 era?

MINTZ: You know, COVID was very different. COVID, I felt, was the community really came together and stepped up because it affected everybody. There was no, it was kind of the equalizer. It didn't matter what your situation was. Everybody was dealing with the same thing.

Our organization was very lucky. We had donors really step up. We were the first youth serving organizations to stay open and primarily supported essential workers and health care workers, frontline workers, so donors came out in droves.

And I think both from an individual, a corporate, a foundation standpoint, and even, you know, federal support, we actually did not receive a tremendous amount of support because we had, we had incredible support from the local community because we were staying open, we were not closed and we were serving families and kids every single day.

So I think what's different now is everybody's in a situation of wait and see and that sense of uncertainty, absolutely, you know, this is not a crisis. This is a change in policy. And, and that's OK. It's just a long term change and people need more information so they can make informed decisions, even nonprofits.

You know, we can't change our business plan, you know, every day. We're waiting to understand what the impacts of the policies are, and I think individual donors and families, corporations and foundations are doing the same.