Bridges & Balm Update – Reflecting on Q2 & Looking Ahead to Q3

bridgesandbalm
Aug 5
4 min read

We want to express our deepest gratitude to the Bridges & Balm donors, supporters, and volunteers for your incredible generosity and care for those in need. As we pass the midpoint of 2025, we’re excited to share updates on our progress, new initiatives, and upcoming challenges for the remainder of the year.

While it might feel repetitive to continually thank you through blog posts and emails, we genuinely want to acknowledge how vital your support is to our mission. We never want to take your contributions for granted and remain ever grateful. So, once again, thank you for believing in and supporting Bridges & Balm.

Spring Funding Initiative Summary

Our spring donation campaign was very successful, raising nearly $61,000 from 125

donations. Heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed! Importantly, 67 of these donations came from new donors, with over a third becoming monthly recurring supporters. Your ongoing commitment provides a reliable foundation for our work, and we are immensely grateful for your response to our call for recurring donations.

Assistance & Donations Progress Update

In Q2 2025, requests for assistance from transitioning workers and survivors continued to rise. We’re currently supporting 30 survivors and 19 transitioning workers, with an average monthly assistance of nearly $26,000. We also maintain a waitlist of five survivors, and our goal is to move at least one survivor from our waitlist to therapy each month.

It’s inspiring to see the fruits of our collective efforts. Our biannual reviews reveal positive changes in many workers’ financial situations, bringing them closer to their goal of self-sufficiency. Additionally, therapists report progress in survivor therapy, and the heartfelt gratitude expressed by those we serve truly touches us. These milestones are only possible due to your compassion and generosity. Thank you!

Looking ahead, we anticipate an increase in assistance requests across regions, including international support, which may challenge our funding capacity. We are actively collaborating with other charities, sharing resources, and helping establish new aid organizations in other countries. When local setup isn’t feasible, we work directly with in-country advocate groups to meet urgent needs.

To ensure transparency, we regularly update our Funds Overview and Activity page on our website, highlighting recent donations and funding activities — a snapshot of our ongoing efforts.

Financial Snapshot

In Q2 2025, donations surpassed $83,000, bolstered by the successful spring campaign which raised over $65,000. As of late July, we have 40 recurring donors, contributing nearly $6,000 per month. We are mindful of Q3’s traditionally slower fundraising pace, and we are carefully managing expenses and planning outreach to sustain our funding levels.

Operational Highlights — First Half of 2025

Donation Acknowledgments: Thank you emails for donations received in the first half of 2025 have been sent out. If you didn’t receive yours, please check your spam folder or contact us at bridgesandbalm@gmail.com.
2024 Tax Return: We published our 2024 IRS Form 990 in May, showcasing total donations of $165,809, assistance payments of $77,295, and operational expenses of $4,551 (about 3%). Our end-of-year fund balance was $86,053, with half set aside for inpatient therapy. The tax return is available on our Donate page.

New Strategic Initiatives — Transitioning Tools Website

We’ve enhanced our website to better serve our community by adding a Transitioning Tools menu, offering resources for housing, employment, education, and planning transitions for both workers and survivors. Our key programs include:

Sustainable Housing: Supporting long-term, affordable housing plans and assistance tailored to individual needs within their financial, emotional and physical capabilities.
Housing Exchange: Connecting those in need of interim and permanent housing with available properties and potential co-signers across the US and Canada — currently listing 19 properties.
Employment Center: Facilitating job connections for transitioning workers and survivors. We encourage employers and job-seekers to share opportunities and skills.
Transition Planning & Education: Offering practical guides and blog posts to overcome barriers to successful transition, continuing through Q3 and Q4.

Please explore these tools — they are operational now and we will continue to enhance them through the rest of 2025.

Other Key 2025 Initiatives

Growing Our Donor Community: Thanks to your generosity, we welcomed 67 new donors in the Spring Finding Initiative and over 70 during Q2. We will continue outreach efforts to expand our donor base.
Fundraising Campaigns: A holiday outreach campaign is planned for November/ December to complete our 2025 funding goals.
Webinars & Collaboration: We engaged in webinars with groups like Pathways to Healing Network and Bridging the Gap to foster collaboration and raise awareness.
Government and Corporate Grants - we have been very active in applying for corporate and government grants though Benevity.com. More info to come in Q3!
Ad-hoc campaigns for specific resting/transition worker and survivor needs are planned.
A Bridges & Balm donor information and feedback session is planned in the Q3/early Q4 timeframe.

We have made great progress in the first half of 2025 and have a full slate of exciting activities and initiatives planned for the rest of the year. 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.