12 Things Your Nonprofit Can Do Right Now During COVID-19

Now is the time to get creative. Are you a nimble nonprofit leader? Consider these 12 ideas for ways you can pivot right now in these crazy times.

1)    Raising money now is essential. Some people will think this is tone-deaf to ask for money in a time of crisis or to ask for money for anything that isn’t a vital need, but people with those attitudes have never had to pay their nonprofit staff, right? Do a gut check, lean in and find a way to keep raising funds. You will need these funds when the economy continues to struggle this summer and fall. I am a fan of Facebook Fundraisers because they allow you to raise fast unrestricted money from the networks of your followers, friends, board members, and activists. People want to feel connected and useful and in this crisis, they can’t exactly drive anywhere and pitch in with their bare hands. Offer people a chance to do good. 

2)    Cut costs. The current pandemic may mean reduced donations but it also may mean reduced expenses. Can your organization become a fully virtual team and forgo office space? Can you pivot away from galas and small events for the spring and instead focus on cheaper forms of fundraising, like major donor asks? Call landlords and ask if they can spread the rent for the next 90 days across the next 12 months or two years.

3)    Go digital. In most parts of the country, people are already working from home. It doesn’t mean the work has to stop. Yes, all your meetings can be held digitally. Consider doing virtual fundraisers. I just attended a happy hour for a political candidate who charged $25 and tons of people were able to join from around the country, which actually expanded his attendance. Can your organization offer virtual “office hours” to handle requests one-on-one or in small groups? What else can you do digitally? 

4)    Boost the morale of your staff: Things may seem bleak but now is a time to boost morale with your staff. As mentioned, letting workers adjust their hours or letting them fully work from home after the pandemic is over, may make people happier and less stressed. You also will need to adjust how you keep people connected, but this is a decision that can be a silver lining. No more commuting or pressure to be at work on time. No more putting your life at risk on the roads. Consider this option. I specifically told my staff “Things are crazy right now. We are all feeling COVID in different ways. Extroverts feel it one way. Parents feel it another way. Any of us with older people in our family or essential workers in harm’s way are feeling it another way. It is all jarring and weird. I don’t need you at peak productivity right now. I need you to practice self-care.” This signal alone can mean the difference between retaining a stressed-out employee or losing them.

5)    Shore up your power base: Now is the time to shore up the support of your volunteers, activists, evangelists, donors, chapter leaders, and other stakeholders. A Zoom appreciation happy hour? Hand-written notes telling them how much you appreciate all of them and that you’ll need them (and two friends) to join the organization when this is all over.

6)    Shift focus: Now is the time to consider pivoting your energy to other timely issues. The Census is vitally important for political redistricting, policy change, and the federal distribution of funds. Can your nonprofit pivot and help promote the census by linking it to your organization’s interests? Encourage folks to fill it out. How about election reform? Would it help your nonprofit if everyone could vote and register to vote more easily? Would higher voter turnout and fewer obstacles at the polls make life better? Consider working with democracy reform organizations like the ACLU and others to keep people safe from COVID by allowing them to participate in our democracy through vote-by-mail programs (absentee voting). 

7)    Do the things you have been putting off: Do you have a long to-do list? If some work is on hold, use this time to get those things done. Do all your staff have up-to-date job descriptions? Is your privacy policy on your website up to date (if you have one at all)? Have you scrubbed your bad/bouncing/unsubscribed emails? Consider a digital spring cleaning where you put the work aside for a day and just clean up your digital file structure, file names, and location, eliminating duplicate or unused files. These, and other tasks, can all be done remotely. Give yourself permission to postpone meetings (even board committee meetings) that aren’t vital in the next 30 days to get things done that really matter today.

8)    Shift all grants to general operating: Call all your funders who have given you restricted funding and ask them to release the restrictions. Your organization needs flexibility in funding, given the waves of bad financial news ahead. All foundations are under pressure to do this and many are answering the call. 

9)    Testing and evaluation: Have you been putting off evaluating your programs? How about your staff? Now is a great time to reach out to program recipients to get testimonials (qualitative research). You can also use this time to think through the way you measure your work. Are there other ways of telling your organization’s story. Can you do more testing of email subject lines? How about experimenting with Facebook ads, which are inexpensive? There are lots of ways to gather the data you will need in a few months to show that your work matters.

10) Strategy and planning: If any of your work is on hold, now might be a perfect time to focus on strategy. Ask “are we doing the right things, not just doing things right?” Are your activities and programs actually aligned to achieve your goals? Is your staffing structure correct? Now is a great time to focus on doing three things well instead of 20 things you can’t excel at.

11) Monetize your talent: Can your organization create a new funding stream by offering coaching sessions, courses, webinars, or trainings for a donation? You can do this with your existing donation page and Google Hangouts, Zoom, or other software. Think about the skills and knowledge held by your staff, board, and volunteers. Offer classes on nonprofit management. Offer classes on things immediately useful to your members. You can even sell consulting time with experts on your staff or board.

12) Solidarity: Now is the time to form and solidify coalitions. You can emerge at the end of COVID with powerful new alliances and a reputation. Do workers need your help? Labor unions representing frontline workers? Racial justice organizations serving minority populations, the AARP serving seniors? Where can your organization pitch in for 30-60 days, in a way that helps your organization emerge stronger with new relationships, connections, and friends?

Tell me how your organization is improvising during COVID at sean@mindthegapconsulting.org

*Check out this great blog post from my colleague Mandy Pearce at Funding for Good about how to communicate with foundations!