Help didn't come in time to keep Ten Thousand Villages' doors open.

The Fort Collins nonprofit that has been selling work created by artisans in developing countries will close its doors by the end of June after 23 years.

In February, the Ten Thousand Villages board sent a letter to its supporters hoping to raise $50,000 by June to get it to the holidays, when leaders thought they could make up for lagging sales through the COVID-19 pandemic. Donations increased but fell far short of the $50,000 mark.

"We did the best we could with projecting (our finances), and there was no easy way out," said store manager Ana Guzman. "We could have gambled ... but we would have left ourselves in a more vulnerable place financially."

Based on the donations it was getting, Guzman said "we no longer felt comfortable reaching out," knowing there was no sustainable financial model going forward.

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"Now we can wrap things up with a nice bow and can pay our artisans in full and pay our bills in full and have no residual debt," she said.

Everything in the store is on sale, and starting Friday all items will be discounted by 40%. Discounts will increase by 10% every week until the store closes.

"It is so terribly sad," Guzman said. "We all are so passionate about this store. We all love it so much."

Sales had started to decline before March 2020, when everything shut down amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Guzman said. In addition to being closed during the pandemic, the store also ran on limited hours in December when its former store manager got sick and volunteers, many of whom were older, were uncomfortable being in public spaces.

Today, Guzman and volunteers staff the store Monday through Friday. Its board has chipped in, taking shifts at the store, increasing their contributions and managing what they call off-sites — pop-up markets at churches and "any place that will host us" throughout Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska.

Any inventory that doesn't sell, including food, gloves, hats, Christmas items, technology and fixtures, will be donated to local shelters or nonprofits.

"We want to support the community until the end," Guzman said.

"We want to thank the local community," she said. "The board and I are so grateful for the time we have had here. We couldn’t have done this for as long as we did without this community. Our last hope is that that fair trade will continue in Fort Collins."

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Ten Thousand Villages store in Fort Collins to close in June