Why We Don’t Want Your Money … and What We're Asking For Instead

Like many non-profits right now, we are having to get creative about bringing in funds. Some contracts haven’t renewed or have been put on pause, and our team has been focused on how to sustain our work. One of our strategies was to launch our first-ever donation campaign – which we did about 2 weeks ago when we released our Cypress 2025 Annual Report.

But it just feels wrong.

Since we launched our campaign, the Federal government has decided not to fund SNAP benefits for our nation’s most vulnerable folks. 42 million people could be directly impacted. 39% of them are children while others are veterans, people living with disabilities – even active armed service members and their families. I don’t have words for how this feels to know so folks may go hungry. People are worried about losing health coverage, or stable housing – small business owners are closing shop and folks are losing the family farm. Things feel very uncertain for too many right now.

Sometimes in life, when circumstances change – you respond by changing your course. And Cypress is going to do that. Today we are pausing our donation campaign. Will we still take your money? Of course! If you have it to give, we would be incredibly grateful. 

But if you are making decisions about where to give limited funds – please consider making a donation to your local food bank instead. Or the organization working with families impacted by housing insecurity. Or the organization helping seniors and veterans or those living with disabilities. It’s time to help those who are struggling the most.

We believe in the work of Cypress – we do. But we don’t want to ask for financial assistance from you when children are missing meals. It just doesn’t feel right.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t help us. Could you do us a favor and help us grow our social media presence instead? That will help us tremendously. Growing followers will help us get the word out about our trainings, provide resources to folks about mental health and grieving – and when the time is right, ask for financial support. If each of you reading this would get 5 other people to follow us on Instagram or LinkedIn we would be grateful. 

Instead of raising funds, can you help us raise friends?

Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn, and invite 5 friends to do the same!