Pivoting & preparing for an uncertain future
Last week, Aperio and the NYUSPS George H. Heyman, Jr. Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising convened a conversation among nonprofit leaders to discuss: How should nonprofits be pivoting and preparing for an uncertain future?
As we’ve been exploring, the COVID-19 crisis has far-reaching consequences for nonprofits. Some have been thrust onto the frontlines of response. Others are feeling sidelined. Most are concerned about their financial future as they face an economic landscape we could hardly have imagined mere months ago.
Nonprofit leaders are recognizing that this crisis is not a ‘blip’—or a pause from reality that will resume as normal shortly.
It is a fundamental shift in the landscape that affects how we deliver and fund our work.
Our panel discussed the impact of the crisis on nonprofits and fundraising and provided recommendations on two pressing topics:
What can we learn from past crises, such as 9/11, the great recession, and Superstorm Sandy—while recognizing that no crisis is alike?
What can we do to pivot and prepare for the next 12-18 months?
Panelists included:
Amy Beros, Managing Director, Strategic Capacity Development, Feeding America
Channon Lucas, Chief Administrative Officer, Mother Cabrini Health Foundation
Alice Rodd O'Rourke, Chief Revenue Officer and Senior Vice President, Make-A-Wish America
Mark Roithmayr, Chief Executive Officer, Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation
The challenge—and the opportunity
For organizations on the frontlines, the impact has been astonishing. Amy Beros shared that the Feeding America network has been through disasters, but nothing like this crisis. Food banks have had to change their business model overnight. Normally, volunteers comprise half of the "staff" power at food banks—and retailers supply most of the food donations. Now, volunteers are scarce (if allowed at all) and supply chain issues have dried up food donations. At the same time as food banks pivot their model, the need is skyrocketing due to unemployment and closure of businesses. For the first time, hunger is not hidden. Food banks are the frontlines of the response and have the opportunity to share that story.
Channon Lucas shared that grantmaking organizations have faced similar pressure to respond quickly and creatively—sometimes throwing out previous plans. The COVID crisis, she says, has demonstrated just how vital the social safety net provided by nonprofits has become. The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, for example, only came into existence in 2018 and started making grants in 2019. But as the COVID-19 crisis unfolded, the board recognized that it was imperative for the organization to respond. They ultimately allocated $50 million to the response in New York State, focusing on health and the social components of health.
For most organizations, the COVID-19 crisis has presented a combination of challenges and opportunities. Alice Rodd O’Rourke shared that for Make-A-Wish, which serves critically ill children, COVID-19 has raised questions that are both “existential and exciting.” Most wishes that children make involve travel, and yet it’s hardly imaginable that critically ill children will be able to safely travel anytime soon. The organization has gotten creative about alternative ways to deliver wishes—and learned that in some cases, the substitute is better than the original. This realization is fueling innovation, along with the organization’s drive to keep granting wishes because hope is essential.
Both Make-A-Wish and the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Fund are re-evaluating the role of special events in their fundraising programs. Mark Roithmayr shared that COVID is bringing renewed focus on the fact that events are vehicles for giving, but they are not a substitute for relationships. With or without events, the relationships with donors should be there and continually invested in. With events now virtual, we have a real opportunity to focus on the net revenue of those events—and the increased efficiency of getting to those dollars without having to feed people in a ballroom—while diving deeper into the relationships that make the events succeed.
Learning from the past
Since the COVID crisis began, nonprofit leaders and fundraisers have been asking: What can we learn from the past?
Our panelists agreed that, even though this crisis is unlike other crises—such as 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Great Recession, Superstorm Sandy, and others—there are lessons we can draw from the past to strengthen our approach to fundraising now:
Maniacally focus on the immediate steps in front of you. There’s a lot that’s distracting right now—especially concerns about our own health and safety and a tanking economy. But the only way forward is one step at a time.
Pull those closest to you even closer. When you’re facing a big decision, opportunity, or challenge, involve a volunteer. Get the perspective of someone you trust. You’ll be surprised by the ideas that emerge—and by the way your volunteers keep you rooted in your mission.
Check in on donors soon and often—and listen to them. People will remember for life the ways you care about them now. Spend your days in conversation with donors so that you can deepen relationships, build loyalty, and gain valuable insight into what your donors need right now.
Stay relevant: If you’re not relevant now, you won’t be later. Focus on what your mission brings to the response. What was important enough to drive your organization before the crisis is important enough during and after the crisis. If you pull back on telling your story and inviting people to support you during the crisis, you’re going to struggle to generate interest in your work for a long time. Crises have a longer tail than we expect.
Strip your message down to who you are. There’s a lot of noise in a crisis—and limited bandwidth. Stick to the essentials of why you exist and why that matters.
If you’re inundated with gifts, focus on ‘stewdivation’. Most organizations that receive an influx of donations miss the opportunity to convert new donors into loyal supporters. The key is investing heavily in stewardship and cultivation all in one, or ‘stewdivation’, as the Feeding America team has begun calling it. As you steward the gifts you’ve received, begin building the case for support for ongoing giving. (See our checklist and tips for more ideas.)
Create new ways to give. Stay open to the fact that donors want to give and make it easy for them to do so.
Say no sometimes. As fundraisers, we want to say yes to everything, but sometimes gifts and opportunities are not worth the time and effort. We have to say no occasionally in order to prioritize our highest ROI activities.
Bring your fundraisers together. Host regular ‘town hall’ conversations with your team to share stories, exchange resources, and provide each other with moral support.
Bring your donors together. Host regular ‘town hall’ conversations with donors too to give them a snapshot of how your organization is responding. Make it interactive, leaving plenty of time for Q&A and conversation.
Perhaps the biggest lesson: No crisis lasts forever. Our country and our communities will move through this. Maybe not as quickly as we want or as smoothly as we want, but things will get better. In the meantime, it’s time to move out of the fear zone and start embracing the way we can propel ourselves forward.
Planning ahead
Planning ahead is a daunting challenge right now. It’s hard to commit to anything two weeks from now, much less map out a fundraising strategy and budget for the next 12-18 months.
Our panelists shared how they are thinking about the future:
Focus on your why. We all got into this business to change lives. That’s our guiding force.
Acknowledge the change in the landscape—and your organization. “We are not who we were in January,” says Amy, “and we’re not going to be those people again. So, who are we now and how are we going to move forward with the knowledge we have now and the experience we’ve had now to be able to best serve our communities?”
Really rethink your possibilities. How can you use this moment to become the organization you want to be? To fix the fundamentals?
Focus on your assets. Alice shared: “Every organization I’ve ever been a part of has a ‘why we can’t’ but also has a ‘why we can and should’.” Before we can rethink our future, we must convince our team that we have everything we need to raise every dollar we need to advance our mission.
Get rid of ‘us’ and ‘them’. If you’re in a national organization, recognize that you’re all in this together—all affiliates, all levels of the organization. Erase that distinction between ‘national’ and ‘affiliate’. You’re all one organization now—and so much more powerful for it. Embrace your new friends!
Repurpose events. Our panelists pointed out: Even if events are technically allowed soon, who is going to want to be in a room with hundreds of people? Instead of pouring your energy into thinking about ways to make your events proceed (virtually or in-person), pour your energy into working on: How can we become one of our donors’ top three charities? How can you simplify events and repurpose those expense budgets to invest in other revenue channels?
Find workarounds. For example, Amy shared that some food banks have shifted to rolling 3-month budgets instead of annual budgets. Fluctuations in revenues and expenses are so large, a shorter-term approach makes the business easier to manage.
Recognize that your donors are experiencing a crisis. All individual donors, foundations, companies, etc. are facing the same questions you are. Everyone is trying to pivot and prepare for an uncertain future.
Most importantly, remember: Nobody has a playbook. There is no expert who can tell us exactly what to do because nobody has lived through this. It’s okay to be stressed that your plans got thrown out of the window. It’s okay to feel like you can’t plan ahead. Keep doing what you do every day and make progress one step at a time. Take a little pressure off yourself. You don’t have it all figured out—and neither does anyone else.
Staying inspired
It’s a tough environment for fundraising right now, but our panelists had words of inspiration for us.
Channon urges: “Keep on doing the work you’re doing. I know it’s a tough environment right now. I know there’s a lot of things working against you. But you do have people at home who want to help, and I think there’s always a way to translate your mission into what’s happening at the moment. So, keep on doing the great work.”
Amy agrees: “Ditto. Do not be shy. You are valuable, and this is not a time to go silent to your supporters and your community.”
Mark’s mantra is simple: “Pivot, repurpose, and—unfortunately—think through the next 18 months.”
Alice hopes you remember: “We’re all fundraising professionals, and we know what to do. If you don’t personally know, you have a network to access…You may have boards second-guessing you, CEOs second-guessing you…but have the confidence that this is a profession and that there is an approach that works, rain or shine.”
And finally: “Never underestimate the generosity of the American people. It is just so unbelievably endless if you will make yourself relevant.”