For many nonprofits, fundraising is a necessity, but probably not a first love. For Mallory Garneau, the executive director of the FoCo Café, it has become the only bridge back to normal operations for the six-year-old restaurant.
The FoCo Cafe is the first nonprofit restaurant in Fort Collins and the only nonprofit restaurant in Northern Colorado. Cafe patrons set the price for their meals in a pay-what-you-can setting. Instead of a cash register, we operate with a donation box. If restaurant goers aren’t able to pay, they provide valuable volunteer hours or can trade for produce they might grow themselves. Daily menu selections are made primarily using fresh, locally grown ingredients.
That was until the national health emergency changed everything.
“The truth is, it has been really hard to pivot to meet community need and navigate the new environment while also trying to make sure we’ll be here when this crisis is over,” Garneau said. “If the situation shifted right now, we would have this money we couldn’t spend to keep the café going.”
Like all restaurants, Garneau shifted operations to curbside pick up and delivery when the pandemic closed the café to indoor dining. About 40 people each day take meals away from the café. And another 60 families receive daily deliveries of hot meals. About 350 families receive weekly food from the café. All of this is accomplished with funding that requires the meals be free.
That leaves Garneau struggling to replace funding to reopen the café to indoor dining when she is able to figure out how to restart the pay-as-you-can model for all meals served. Today, Garneau estimates that about 90 percent of the café’s operating revenue comes from grants that require food to be free. And a portion of the monthly donors who support the café have also had to forgo their donations as they have experienced their own pandemic-related financial hardships.
“Until COVID is over, I’m focused on diversifying our income as much as I possibly can. But that also means reinventing all of our fundraisers because like many nonprofits, we’ve largely relied on a few big ones each year that are typically gatherings,” Garneau said.
But Garneau is undeterred. She’s already begun plans to ramp up the café’s activities with opportunities like the King Sooper’s community rewards program. Currently, 97 families participate by simply buying groceries and a portion of their purchase is donated by King Soopers. For that program, and ones like Amazon Smiles, it’s a matter of finding a way to market their availability to people who have an interest in seeing the café succeed.
Garneau is also reimagining the café’s annual fundraisers – the ones she counts on as the big draws each year – as online events through the local virtual farmers’ market. There, she is trying to recreate a popular holiday fundraiser where people would typically build wreaths and enjoy a local craft beer. Many of the local businesses that had willingly donated in the past are struggling and can’t make the contributions they used to. Beyond this fundraising event looking much different this year, the "Party with a Purpose" on Colorado Gives Day typically paid the restaurant's rent for the year. Because it cannot be held in person this year, Garneau doesn't expect that to happen.
“If the money isn’t coming from this fundraiser, where is that coming from then? I don’t see this goal being reached through just a virtual event,” she said. “We’re just going to have to keep getting more creative and interactive. That’s how we are going to survive. That,along with finding more grant opportunities that provide general operating support so when this moment is over, and continuing to receive monthly support from donors, we can keep serving our community.”
Pivoting fundraising is the lynchpin to saving Fort Collins non-profit