Six Strategic Tips for Nonprofits during the Coronavirus Crisis

Facing the acute rise in social needs and financial insecurities, while being quarantined themselves, nonprofits should adjust quickly to the new reality.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Coronavirus is here, and nonprofits must address its dire consequences. Whether it is cutting down fundraising, minimizing essential volunteering, or the difficulty of operating remotely, nonprofits are facing a plethora of serious challenges and problems caused by the Coronavirus outbreak.

Nonprofits, and philanthropy in general, play a vital role during civil catastrophes, especially during natural disasters. Philanthropic actors and nonprofit organizations employ vast infrastructures to rapidly recruit volunteers and mobilize resources needed to meet pressing public needs. Especially now, the blurring boundaries between the state, the free-market, and the philanthropic sector have reinforced the role of philanthropy as a key instrument for dealing with social problems governments often have difficulty solving.

During the Coronavirus pandemic, nonprofits have critical roles in delivering immediate aid to people in need, advocating for emergency workers’ conditions, advocating for financial aid plans, supporting and operating central systems to maintain civic life during the crisis, etc.

To better serve their civic role, nonprofits should take into consideration a few simple but critical aspects of their work during an emergency.

Strategy and communications are bound together even more than usual

In times when the public, donors, board members, volunteers, and constituents are worried and need comfort, communicating your activity is even more meaningful and helpful. Since the public is quarantined and is receiving most of its information and support from the news media and social networks, communication strategies are an even more crucial component in executing nonprofits’ goals and missions.

It is important to remember that the audience is reading many of your messages through lenses of sadness, anxiety, and worry. Nonprofits’ messages should include meaningful content to inform, support, offer advice, and console the audience.

It should not become a means to get your nonprofit’s name out there just for the sake of publicity. Instead, it should be a part of the nonprofit’s service and mission. Don’t stop communicating.

What nonprofits should do:

1. Be empathic: listen and react — show your community that you see them and identify the immediate problems they face

Nonprofits that aid specific groups should address them directly and show that they care. They need to demonstrate that they understand the quarantine and the medical danger as experienced by their constituents.
The quarantine has aggravated many existing acute problems, making people’s lives and daily challenges even worse (for example, people with health problems, people dealing with domestic violence, people with autism, people who suffer from loneliness, and so on). The most effective message will give voice to their legitimate worry and anxiety, show that your organization understands their challenge, and offer comfort.

2. Identify and explain your goals during the crisis

Emergencies are a critical time for nonprofits to demonstrate their relevance and strengthen their relationship with donors and supporters. Every audience nonprofits communicate with is looking to learn about their activities and to be inspired by their leadership.

Nonprofits should investigate the best and most effective ways they can translate their expertise to help communities and individuals in need. Adjusting organizations’ activity and strategy requires answering this question:

How can my organization, within the scope of its mission, make a difference during this ongoing crisis?

Let’s look at one aspect of this pandemic to understand the many problems and niches nonprofits can tackle. For example, more than 1.5 billion children around the globe are affected by school closure. This grave situation affects many financial, geographical, moral, psychological, cultural, pedagogical, and medical aspects.

Here are some ideas for how nonprofits can aid and offer a response to school closure:

- Providing meals for children who relied on the school system for nutrition;
- Extending educational initiatives;
- Promoting children’s socialization to avoid loneliness and isolation;
- Offering teachers professional resources;
- Addressing children’s, parents’, teachers’ and staff’s mental health needs;
- Aiding families in financial distress with support or financial advice;
- Overcoming the digital divide;
- Reporting and preventing domestic violence and abuse;
- Offering care for children of local medical staff;
- Providing coherent, responsible, and accurate information about the situation;
- Advocating for parents, teachers, students, etc.;
- Offer legal advice when necessary;
- Educating about safety at home, and last but not least,
- Offer fun, entertainment, and escapism.

These adaptations are examples of the strategic and innovative solutions nonprofits can extend to their communities during emergencies. Every nonprofit should make a similar list in their field of work.

3. Do not communicate empty and hollow messages

When nonprofits communicate their unique answers and focus on activities, they should answer the imaginative question each reader asks themselves: what’s in it for me?

Simply put, nonprofits’ audiences are asking themselves, how can my trustworthy nonprofit’s activity be useful in supporting me during this crisis? Answer this question directly. Do not communicate purely out of marketing obligations or empty fundraising appeals. Address real people from the community that needs comfort. Design the message to be compelling and useful. Emphasize the value your nonprofit brings during this crisis. Do not be a burden on the audience’s inbox or attention.

4. Approach donors and send your regards out of kindness and not for fundraising

Donors (like all people) will forget what you said in your email, but will never forget how you made them feel, to paraphrase the marvelous poet Maya Angelou. This is the time to show kindness and empathy. This is the time to connect and build a relationship of support. Remind the donors that they are a part of your community. Contact them and send your regards.

5. Document your organizational process

The Coronavirus pandemic is an unfathomable global crisis, and its medical, financial, cultural, and psychological aftermath will last for the foreseeable future. Very few nonprofits are prepared for this kind of crisis, and most, as are governments and non-governmental organizations, are learning how to cope as they go.

Nonprofits’ learning processes are valuable assets. This is why they must chronicle their actions, lessons, insights, and technological experiences. The organization itself needs to debrief and learn the insights gathered while adjusting to the new reality. It is also essential for future knowledge growth to share their ideas with the nonprofit community to support their field of expertise. Also, the organizational lessons will be a meaningful insight to share with donors, board members, volunteers, and constituents to encourage internal improvement and cooperation.

6. Challenge and monitor your reactions constantly

This crisis is challenging because nonprofits need to delve into ongoing activity quickly, fulfill the urgent needs of their beneficiaries, fundraise, and plan at the same time, all while quarantined at home. As in during any crisis, it is best to dedicate time for challenging your organization’s strategy and rules of thumb. This is the time to assess the donations your organization is soliciting, the immediate value they will bring, and the relationships your nonprofit is cultivating.

Nonprofits should try to monitor their decision making and investigate their effectivity, both in terms of the organizations and the communities they are serving. If necessary and useful, they can also communicate their insights and awareness to the relevant audiences.

Above all, it is important to remember that during emergencies, the public looks up to nonprofits as important social actors that can support them. This is the culmination of the third sector concept: nonprofits are not the state or the business sector. They exist to serve civil society. This distinction is an essential source of trust, authority, and expectations for nonprofits. The public expects them to be on their side even more than usual. Whatever their mission is, nonprofits’ role during the Coronavirus pandemic is elevated into an even more significant source of comfort, relief, and encouragement.

Be the source of good news and comfort for your community. Make your dedication and passion the center of your messages, not the virus.