Leaders of local charities expressed optimism about an uptick in giving this year but remain cautious after years of downturns.

Kricket Nicholson, executive director of the United Way of Umatilla and Morrow Counties, has wrapped up her annual pitches for contributions. She said a few more people were present than in the past couple of years. She also said she noticed folks who usually gave $10 bumped that up to $20 or even $50.

“This year seems a little up, a little more positive feeling,” she said.

The United Way of Umatilla and Morrow Counties reported total revenue of $200,821 in 2013 but a net loss of $26,370, according to its tax filings, which are public records because it is a nonprofit organization. The most recent filing available from Guidestar.org, which specializes in gathering and providing data on nonprofits, shows the local United Way had total revenue in 2015 of $241,270 and cleared $23,333.

Nicholson said donations are returning to better levels, but the days of United Way of Umatilla and Morrow Counties seeing $500,000 in revenue are done.

“There’s just too much competition, so many causes,” she said.

The Salvation Army in Pendleton is feeling that pinch. Capt. Ricky Scruggs said revenue is down $60,000 from last year. But the dinner kicking off the Red Kettle Campaign doubled in attendance from 2017 and sold out. Scruggs attributed that to the board stepping up to fight the decline in revenue with a better push for the big fundraiser.

While that is good, he said, the charity has plenty of rungs to climb to get back to better funding totals.

To help that, The Salvation Army got a jump on the giving season. Scruggs said the bell ringers and kettles usually go out following Thanksgiving and conclude Dec. 24, Christmas Eve. The end date remains the same, he said, but the campaign began Friday. The Salvation Army will have up to five kettles in Pendleton and five in Hermiston. He said the funds they bring in cover about 25 percent of organization’s cost.

Nicholson said nonprofits are the same as other organizations and must adapt and seek new ways to gain revenue to keep providing services. That’s why the United Way of Umatilla and Morrow Counties followed the United Way of Walla Walla County and joined the “100 Docs Campaign,” she said, in which a handful of local doctors ask 100 or more of their colleagues to give $1,000.

“If you can get 100 docs to give $1,000 each, you just made $100,000,” she said. “I haven’t gotten any $1,000 checks yet, but I’m hopeful. And even if we got one, that would $1,000 more than we had before.”

Her organization also is encouraging banks and other professional establishments to allow employees to wear jeans for a day if they give $5 to the United Way. That move resulted in $265 last year with nary any publicity, she said, so maybe this year that could jump to $1,000.

“That’s a lot of hot meals,” Nicholson said.

She also made a pitch for Giving Tuesday, which refers to the Tuesday after Thanksgiving Thursday, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. She said the savings from those events could help local nonprofits.

“If you’re a person who doesn’t need a food bank or a domestic violence shelter,” she said, “it’s easy to just say we have these wonderful services and forget they won’t be here if we don’t support them.”

But money is not the only way locals can give.

Scruggs said The Salvation Army needs volunteers, even on the kettles. The volunteers bring in more donations, he said. And while volunteers proliferate for The Salvation Army’s Thanksgiving dinner, the charity can use volunteers all year.

Combating homelessness and helping people meet basic needs, he said, does not go away with the holidays.