Bearing Down on non-profits

I have a friend who works for Bear Stearns. He doesn't know if he'll have a job on Monday and gave me tales of many employees who are personally over-leveraged. With my non-profit hat on, I can't help but think how important the banking industry is to all of us. These are our donors.

My friend actually participates in an activity for another non-profit (in addition to supporting my walk) and last year he had raised over $30,000 just from his colleagues at Bear. He isn't getting that this year. He anticipates receiving next to nothing from co-workers, if in fact, any of them are even there to ask.

So how is a non-profit supposed to cover the bases to protect from industry collapses - or a recession for that matter? Are people still going to pay for "red"phones? Show up for walks?

We are faulted for keeping "reserves" at too high a rate, but what are we to do in times of crisis?