Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. — Mike Tyson
Let’s face it. We’ve collectively been punched in the face over the last eight weeks by this COVID-19 crisis.
Many organizations have been hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis, entire communities, families, and individual lives have been changed forever.
As fundraisers, we have an obligation to care for our supporters, for those who seek services from our organizations, and for the communities in which we serve. And as leaders, we have an obligation to lead with clarity and empathy.
These are difficult times, no doubt. The old challenges that organizations faced before COVID-19 still exist, but now they’re magnified by a crisis that demands a unique and more rapid response than most organizations are prepared to deliver upon.
A lot of people and organizations are struggling to get their footing, and to figure out how to move forward confidently and effectively in the face of the mounting pressure from this crisis.
Today, I want to share a series of resources with you that I hope will help you lead more effectively and continue moving your fundraising forward in spite of the challenges we all face right now.
The first resource I want to share with you is this recent podcast episode with Dennis Van Kampen, President/CEO of Mel Trotter Ministries in Grand Rapids, MI. Dennis and his team are on the front lines of responding to this crisis in Grand Rapids, and he’s got some great insights for leaders during these challenging times.
Karen Erren is Executive Director of Palm Beach County Food Bank. She and her team are living and leading at the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis in Florida, and have had to dramatically scale up efforts to meet the growing demand for food that has resulted from the country’s economic shut down.
Seth Perlman is Senior Partner at Perlman & Perlman, the nation’s leading law firm serving the nonprofit and philanthropic sector.
In this podcast, Seth talks us through the CARES Act, which nonprofits qualify for federal support and which might not. He also shares key insights from across the sector.
During this COVID-19 crisis we’re all experiencing some level of disruption. We’re disrupted at home, at work, and across the board. To be successful in your role as a leader and/or a fundraiser, you need to understand how to harness that disruption and use it to fuel positive change and momentum.
Beth Fisher is Chief Advancement Officer at Mel Trotter Ministries. She describes herself as someone who doesn’t like to follow the rules. And that makes her the perfect voice to talk with us about the concept of positive disruption. In this conversation she talks about how to keep yourself and your team motivated through change, and how to use disruption to improve your current state.
So many of us have had our fundraising and donor engagement events canceled or significantly delayed. For some organizations, this means a majority of their annual revenues are at risk — if not decimated already.
That’s why we wanted to talk to Duncan Schieb. Duncan is an expert international fundraiser, charity auctioneer, and video and film producer. In this conversation, Duncan talks with us about how organizations can pivot from live to virtual events, and what it takes to be successful in that pivot.
During times of crisis, you can’t afford to stay silent. Your donors need to know that they matter to you. You care about them as human beings first, and supporters second. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be fundraising. You absolutely should.
In this conversation, Roy Jones, Chief Development Officer at Eckerd Connects, and Co-Host of The Rainmaker Fundraising Podcast and I talk all things crisis fundraising, including engaging major donors, deploying direct mail and digital tactics, donor stewardship, and how to approach your event plans.
As a bonus, here’s a disaster fundraising template that might be helpful to you in preparing to respond to this and future disasters.
A crisis requires a permanent change in the way an organization operates and threatens its very existence, while a problem does not.
That’s an interesting perspective, and I agree with you. It’s much easier to assume that a problem will go away tomorrow and everything will return to “normal”, whereas with a crisis, you begin to realize that “normal” may no longer be a thing at all.