A national study released Thursday showing nonprofit leaders are more concerned now about their organizations’ finances and staffing than one year ago is reverberating in Colorado Springs.

Despite coronavirus infections, deaths and restrictions easing, workforce and revenue shortfalls are hampering nonprofits’ efforts to provide programs, according to the 2022 State of the Nonprofit Sector report by BKD CPAs & Advisors.

Nearly 60% of respondents from 878 nonprofits of various sizes and types across the country said their organizations were experiencing a budget shortfall, and 65% said they had experienced an increase in demand for programs or services.

Also, 71% said they were being constrained by staffing shortages, yet 77% plan to add new programs and services.

Locally, this is the most challenging time in the 40-year history of StableStrides, said executive director Jason Frazier.

The Elbert-based therapeutic horseback-riding organization only raised half its goal during a year-end appeal in November and December, he said, and is still hurting from losing more than $100,000 from canceling its largest yearly fundraising event in 2020, due to the pandemic.

Now, StableStrides is facing an $80,000 budget deficit, Frazier said, calling it a “critical gap” in an annual budget that’s nearing $1 million.

As a result, the organization laid off three employees last month and  reduced staff by two more through attrition, to cut expenses and be able to continue services, he said.

However, demand is high for its equine therapy for adults struggling with mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder and thoughts of suicide, and adaptive riding, including for children ages 2-18 with disabilities that require physical, occupational and speech rehabilitation.

Eight-year-old Susie, who has cerebral palsy, has graduated from having to use a pillow to brace herself on a horse to sitting upright by herself while riding, and 32-year-old Marine vet John uses horses to escape the terrors of PTSD.

The organization serves about 700 clients a year — the majority from Colorado Springs — and each program is running a waiting list of about 50 people, Frazier said.

With continued effects of the pandemic, climbing inflation and the Russian war on Ukraine, people are not being as generous as usual because they are afraid and uncertain of what will happen, he said.

“Many people are struggling, and donors are protecting themselves,” Frazier said. “This is such a vital agency, so many people rely on our programs for making their lives better and easier. This is the toughest obstacle we’ve faced.”

The BKD study examined nonprofits’ operations and governance, with staffing and capacity the biggest challenges cited.

Early Connections Learning Centers in Colorado Springs, marking its 125th anniversary this year, also is projecting a budget deficit of $500,000 for 2023, said Liz Denson, vice president of community engagement.

Pandemic-relief money this year is buoying raises given to retain employees amid a shortage of qualified teachers that led to classroom closures last year, she said.

A new program, “Earn to Learn,” in which new employees start working as teacher assistants while they’re enrolled in a teacher-qualified credential program and earn incremental raises over the nine-month training period, is helping fill some of the positions that “have been open for a long time,” Denson said.

The nonprofit, which provides child care for infants from ages 6 weeks old and toddlers, preschool education and programs for children up to 14 years old, also is continuing a $9.5 million fundraising campaign that began in 2018.

At a celebration Wednesday, Early Connections announced it has raised 41%, or just under $4 million, toward building a new facility to replace its outdated center at 108 Antlers Place, and rehabilitating stained-glass windows and doors at its flagship, the Historic Day Nursery at 104 E. Rio Grande St.

“I feel like the community is ready to come to events again and support the organizations they care about,” Denson said. “We haven’t experienced any hesitancy, especially relating to large grants.”

Named after Early Connections’ benefactress Alice Bemis Taylor, at the request of El Pomar Foundation, which donated $1 million, the new building will break ground later this year and include a regional professional development center, offering continuing education classes and an avenue to recruit, train and increase the number of qualified teachers in southern Colorado.