Shortfall in Charity Funds Felt : Service: $12-million shortage in United Way campaign is cited by Salvation Army in decision to reduce activities by up to 20%. Other groups face similar financial troubles.

Citing a $12-million shortfall in the United Way 1990-91 campaign, the Salvation Army announced on Friday that it is planning to cut its services by up to 20% and eliminate a morning feeding program for 300 people at a downtown Los Angeles shelter.

Other Southern California organizations that depend on funds from the giant charitable agency are tightening their belts and developing contingency plans.

“Any kind of decrease is going to be devastating,” said Randy Lewis, general director of the Burbank YMCA. He said he hoped to make up an anticipated deficit of about $14,000 in United Way allocations from projects such as selling pumpkins at Halloween and trees at Christmas. The Crescenta-Canada YMCA is hoping to get out of the hole through a charity golf tournament in October.

The 1990-91 fund-raising goal for the Greater Los Angeles chapter of United Way was $102 million, set 18 months ago. But only $90 million had been raised by the time the campaign ended in the spring, according to Eleanor Hawkins, United Way vice president for allocations. Only about $85 million of that will be available for distribution to United Way agencies.

That means a reduction in the anticipated level of support for nearly all of the 350 community agencies the United Way supports, including 14 chapters of the American Red Cross and 13 health organizations.

Final decisions on the extent of cuts that will begin Aug. 1 have not yet been made, according to Hawkins.

“What we have available is 17.1% less dollars” than the 1990-91 goal, she said. “Allocations are made on a case-by-case basis in our seven regions. The regions are just now making their decisions and then the board will approve them on July 17.”

In the 1989-90 campaign, United Way raised a record $93-million and distributed more than $77.2 million to local groups.

Lt. Col. David P. Riley, the Salvation Army’s Southern California divisional commander, said Friday that an anticipated $350,000 cut in its United Way funding would mean eliminating an early-morning feeding program at the Salvation Army Harbor Light facility on 5th Street. Counseling, social services and day care programs provided by the Salvation Army also will be dropped or reduced throughout the county, he said. By housing 50 fewer transients a night at its shelter in Bell, the Salvation Army says it will save $146,000 of the $350,000.

The Salvation Army is asking for contributions to offset the financial crisis.

“It’s tough for everybody right now,” said spokeswoman Beverly Ventriss. “People are holding the purse strings a little closer. But when they know services are actually going to be cut they will dig down a little deeper.”

United Way attributed the shortfall to the recession, rising unemployment, shrinking corporate profits and the Persian Gulf War.

“The United Way is a sign of our times,” said Larry Burrows, chief financial officer for Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, which receives about 15% of its $22-million annual budget through United Way. “When people are out of work, they have less to give--yet there is more demand for charitable services.”

Burrows added that the cutbacks would “have a major impact on our administration,” but that Catholic Charities had no immediate plans to lay off staff or cut programs.

The Los Angeles Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, which received about $1 million from United Way last year, is studying ways to make up the shortfall and curtail services if necessary.

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles will seek “alternate funding because we don’t want to cut back on the needs of sick children,” according to development coordinator Suzanne Beams. About $1.6 million in Los Angeles United Way allocations to the hospital are used exclusively to care for children whose parents do not qualify for government aid.

Mental health services will be cut at Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles.

“We will probably be cut by $144,000,” said Arnold Saltzman. “That’s the equivalent of letting go four trained social workers. . . . Many county mental health services have also had to be closed so it’s really going to shut the doors on a lot of people.

“It’s a traumatic hit on all the agencies. I think we’re all in a very depressed state.”