FUNDRAISING IN THE TIME OF COVID-19
SO NOW WE HAVE SOME TIME – WHAT DO WE DO WITH IT?

Andrea McManus, ViTreo Group Inc
March 31st 2020

We’ve been talking to our nonprofit clients and writing about fundraising during the time of COVID-19, up until now we’ve been focusing on what to do in the short term. Now, from a strategic perspective, it’s time to also look forward to the next few weeks and months.

THE GIFT OF TIME

Look for the opportunities to work on spending time on activities you typically don’t get to: updating your fundraising and donor software, assessing or expanding programs, professional development and other tasks you don’t typically have the hours for during ‘normal’ times.

WHAT TO DO IN THE MEDIUM TERM?

In the midst of all the chaos, it can be easy to lose sight of the big picture and focus only on the immediate. What’s in front of you is critical, but each step you take now will have an impact on the future of your organization. Although having said that, this situation is constantly shifting and we’ve all had to pivot, sometimes a few times each day.

I’ve come across this saying many times “Focus on the important, not the urgent.” It’s a piece of advice many coaches give their business clients. Right now, there’s a tremendous amount of urgency in the nonprofit world with vulnerable populations even more at risk. Decisions have to be made to help them now. Decisions will also need to be made to ensure the sustainability of your organization to continue to help them in the future. In this unprecedented situation, we need to take care of the important AND the urgent.

Medium-term actions to take:

Activate your board. More than ever, they should be your advocates.

Ramp up your government relations. If you are going to have a shortfall, now is the time to ask. They may say No, but it never hurts to ask.

Fight for the nonprofit sector. Join the Imagine Canada Initiative and look for other ways to advocate on behalf of nonprofits.

“Nonprofit organizations across Canada and around the world are rapidly adapting to the coronavirus. The situation is evolving by the hour with a dramatically increasing impact on individuals, organizations, governments and the economy. During this time it is important that we work together as a sector, sharing resources and advice, and keeping spirits up during this time of  isolation. As the situation evolves we will share new resources and updates on our social media channels and on this page.”

- Imagine Canada, COVID-19 and The Canadian Nonprofit Sector, as of March 30 2020

Upgrade your digital fundraising. Canada Helps has recently released peer-to-peer platform upgrades to make donating easier, as well as published a blog providing resources for charities in these uncertain times. ViTreo will be publishing a blog post soon expanding on the use of digital fundraising during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Assess your stewardship efforts. Take our stewardship audit.

Most importantly, update your Fund Development Plan. If you don’t have one, now is the time to create it and begin working with it. This is the time to assess your various fundraising activities.

Assess your fundraising risk for each of the next four quarters (one full year), to better understand the implications of a low contact environment. Prepare revenue and expense scenarios for:

• Prolonged periods of isolation or containment measures

• Economic uncertainty for an even longer period (what might this mean for giving?). Remember, historically recessions result in decreased giving (but not “no giving”)

• Staff working from home

Review each of your fundraising programs using this matrix. Download the fundraising matrix as a word document.

Fundraisers, it’s time to step up! Prepare a report for your Executive Director and provide scenarios for organizational planning.

Here is what doesn’t work based on previous experience:

• Eliminating fundraising staff – may be a short-term budget scenario, but it can result in a longer start-up after the crisis, thereby reducing long term revenue potential

• Entirely putting a stop to fundraising – will be catastrophic

• Stopping donor communications

• No longer asking

WHAT DOES WORK BASED ON PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:

Use this opportunity to make strategic decisions about your programs. For situations where events or other initiatives are no longer occurring, and there may be time that has been made available; this time can present an opportunity to focus on organizational items that are difficult to get to in the day-to-day or it can be a time to reassess. These items might include:

• Using increased communications to build social networks, email lists, and collect mobile phone numbers (this will be more important in the future)

• Overhauling a fundraising program or initiative that has needed to be either cancelled or repurposed for some time

• Build a connection with donors using your board members or top volunteers; their connection is more important than ever

• Find ways to encourage giving online; helping donors give online who have not done this in the past to start doing so now

It’s critical to communicate, communicate, communicate with your donors. We have a duty to let them know what we are doing, how we are helping our clients and more importantly, to ask how they are doing.

These are extraordinary times and what we are doing is not easy. At ViTreo, we are here to help and we will continue to offer support and advice. We hope that we all emerge from this very difficult time with more resilience and with an even greater focus on our message and what we are doing to make our communities better.

Our hope is that you emerge from this very difficult time more resilient, with an even greater focus on your message and what you are doing to make our communities better.

Again, we are here to help.You can book a 30 minute complimentary chat with a member of our team to discuss your unique situation and program goals. To schedule this complimentary chat, please email info@vitreogroup.ca or call us at 403-210-3157. We would be happy to discuss solutions for your near term needs or how we can help in the long term.

Leaders in our sector have pulled together and developed some amazing resources. You can find links to these resources on our website at this link: Fundraising in the time of COVID-19: Advice from leaders in the sector.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrea McManus, Chair, Board of Directors, Partner
ViTreo Group Inc

Andrea McManus is a Partner with ViTreo with over 30 years’ experience in fund development, marketing, sponsorship and nonprofit management. A highly strategic thinker and change maker, Andrea has worked with organizations that span the nonprofit sector with particular focus on building long-term and sustainable capacity.