Challenge Southern Highlands and the St Vincent de Paul Society said these new trends combined with rising price of necessities such as insurance and energy mean they are too under-resourced to meet the needs of the community.

Challenge, which supports employment, education and community services for people with disabilities, experienced a 25 per cent downturn in sales at the Welby Garden Centre since 2007.

General manager Tony McElhinney said the charity employed 42 people with disabilities and was almost wholly dependent on income from donations and the garden centre.

Mr McElhinney said Challenge also experienced an $88,000 drop in annual revenue from public donations since 2007 and fundraising income halved in the last six months.

He said the charity faced large costs just to meet their statutory requirements.

“The compliance cost is significantly higher than for any other business,” he said.

To respond to the decrease in income, Challenge has reduced staff hours.

Mr McElhinney said reducing hours had a flow-on effect in other parts of the community because people who cared for his staff had to take more time to be carers.

Glen Bailey, the area manager of St Vincent de Paul, said he had definitely noticed a downturn in donations at the recent winter appeal.

A corresponding decrease in available transport volunteers was also hurting the charity.

Mr Bailey said he also noticed an increase in people visiting the store seeking assistance for necessities such as fuel, electricity and rent.

St Vincent’s Mittagong warehouse had experienced a small spike in donations when the government’s stimulus package was released but most of the goods were unusable and had to be thrown out.

Mr McElhinney said support from the community would allow Challenge to continue its work.

“You can help someone achieve a goal or have the opportunities that you have,” he said.