Charities Seek Bankruptcy Protection

“We’ve gone through all the emotions here — shock, numbness, devastation, anger and tears,” Mr. Miller said. “Not only did everyone have to be laid off, they had to pack up their offices, give me their keys, and I had to change the locks on the doors the day before Thanksgiving.”

Brockton Family and Community Services, a nonprofit group in Brockton, Mass., that deals with domestic violence, filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2007, after the Internal Revenue Service threatened to seize a building it owned because it had not paid payroll taxes.