Bridges & Balm Q1 2025 Status & Outlook

Hello Bridges & Balm community! Thank you for your incredible care for the vulnerable through your support. Spring is in the air (for us in the northern hemisphere at least) which means there's new growth and color all around. Bridges & Balm has lots of new growth and color too! In this post, we will review our current status and outline our new initiatives, campaigns and challenges.

Assistance and Support Progress Update

As expected, assistance requests from survivors increased dramatically in the first quarter of 2025. We are currently assisting 24 survivors and 16 resting/transitioning workers and disbursing over $23,000 per month in assistance (not including individual outreaches). We are pleased to report that the survivor for whom we did a special inpatient therapy funding outreach for in late 2024 is now receiving therapy in an inpatient therapy facility. Thank you for your wonderful response to that special funding request!

Longer term, we anticipate assistance needs growing to double that of our current expenditures. While we are planning our outreach and funding strategy to meet this increased level of need, we are carefully monitoring and managing our funding approvals. Note that this is due to an overabundance of caution; we want to be confident that we can honor our existing commitments 3-4 months out and that we have increased funding programs in place before we significantly increase commitments. As always, the Funding and Activity page on our website displays our very latest donations and assistance funding status.

Special Message to Bridges & Balm Donors

First of all, thanks to all for your donations!  Your compassion and support is heartwarming and is deeply appreciated by all of us at Bridges & Balm and our assistance community.

Because the number of funding requests have increased, you will likely notice a corresponding increase of the frequency of Bridges & Balm donation requests. Our Q1 2025 monthly assistance outlays have more than doubled from Q4 2024 levels and are likely to triple in the near future, so we also must increase our donation intake in order to match this increased need. 

However, please note that it is NOT our intent to repeatedly go back to you, our wonderful and loyal donor base, for more and more funds. Rather, the onus is on us to increase the size and breadth of our donor pool. This is one of our top initiatives for 2025. The "Extending Our Donor Base" section below outlines the series of steps we are taking to increase and diversify our donor pool and donation sources.

As we become more active in our outreach activities, the unintended consequence is that you may see multiple donation requests from multiple sources and different outreach campaigns. This can also occur when we do “blind” email campaigns using other groups’ mailing lists or post messages through other worker and survivor communities. If this occurs, please bear with us and accept our apologies while we work to increase our donor pool so we can meet the needs of our assistance community without pressuring or over-extending you, our precious donors.

Considering a Donation?

If you are considering a donation to Bridges & Balm, below are considerations and suggestions that would extend your donation dollar and help us with our planning.

1. Recurring (monthly) donations are extremely helpful as they enable us to plan more accurately. If it fits into your budget and you pay by credit card, please consider spreading your donations out on a recurring monthly basis.

2. We love and appreciate our smaller donors!  We know that you are sacrificing something else when you donate, and we want you to know that those of us at Bridges & Balm and our assistance community greatly appreciate your heartfelt contributions.

3. Larger donations can go further if they are paid via Zelle, ACH, Bill.com or paper check. Credit card fees can total hundreds of dollars on larger donations. Click here for more information on how to donate using one of these methods.

4. For larger donors who use the “donate one time” option but intend to donate periodically, we would appreciate knowing your intended donation frequency if possible (via email or the “Contact Us” link). This is in no way a commitment but it helps with our planning. 

5. Corporate matches are a great way to extend your donations. Bridges & Balm is a 501c(3) tax exempt charity and qualifies for corporate matches. Note that we typically only send our donation receipts once a year so please request an immediate receipt if you need it for your corporate match program.

6. If you’re planning a larger donation, please consider joining our donation matching program. Bridges & Balm donors love donation matching incentives!  You can tailor your commitment to meet your specific financial limits and donation criteria.

7. Help us spread the word! If you receive an email from us, please consider forwarding it to five of your friends. 

8. Finally, please remember that you can donate your time rather than money! Helping resting and transitioning workers and survivors through the process of developing sustainable living conditions and a fresh start is intensely rewarding and greatly appreciated by the recipients. It can also be emotionally draining to witness the difficult experiences that some have to endure. If you feel you could help, please email us with your contact info at BridgesandBalm@gmail.com.

Once again, please know that we greatly appreciate any donation you can make, but don’t feel pressured if you receive multiple requests. It’s definitely not our intention to overwhelm you with appeals. As mentioned earlier, our focus is on expanding our donor base to meet the growing need. Please donate whatever you are comfortable with and don't feel pressured to overextend your finances. 

Fundraising Campaigns & Extending Our Donor Base

We are increasing the ways we fundraise and engage with you, our Bridges & Balm community. We are embarking on a series of initiatives to extend our donor pool and increase donations from other sources to meet our projected assistance needs. We are still working on some of the details of some of these initiatives, but we are planning the following kinds of fundraising initiatives and donor engagement campaigns in 2025: 

1. Two fundraising campaigns per year - one in May/June, and one in November / December; 

2. A Bridges & Balm donor information and feedback session in the mid-year timeframe;

3. Targeted webinars featuring experts in their field;

4. Occasional ad-hoc campaigns for specific resting/transition worker and survivor needs.

5. Identifying and applying for government and corporate grants.

Other Key 2025 Initiatives

• Transitioning Planning and Resources Information: For workers in transition, figuring out where to start, how to create a transition plan, and knowing where to go for assistance are all significant challenges. We have published a Practical Resources Guide and are publishing a series of blog posts focused at helping to overcome the “transitioning to a new lifestyle” barrier. 

• Sustainable Housing Options: Affordable and safe housing is often the largest challenge for anyone in transition. We have created a dedicated Housing Exchange section on our website to help workers and survivors understand how to navigate government housing programs and assist former workers and survivors secure interim or permanent private or fellowship community housing. 

  You can help!  If you have or know of fellowship community housing that may be available to transitioning workers or survivors, or you are willing to consider co-signing for someone applying for private rental housing, please click here.

As you can see, we have a full slate of exciting activities and initiatives planned for the rest of 2025. Our biggest challenge for the rest of this year will be delivering on our plans. If you would like to be part of our team and have skills in event planning and coordination, writing or social networking, please contact us via the “Contact Us” link at the bottom of every web page or send us an email at bridgesandbalm@gmail.com. We can promise you a rewarding experience and your skills will have a huge impact on bettering the lives of many. 

We are grateful for you and to be a part of Bridges & Balm and we thank you for your love and care for the most vulnerable amongst us.