Nonprofit Management in the Face of the Coronavirus Crisis

We know that, as a volunteer, you move mountains. And now you’re probably looking at moving mountain ranges. The rapid outbreak and spread of the novel Coronavirus is likely changing the way you manage your organization. Following are some ideas for making adjustments while still keeping things running:

Managing Your Nonprofit During Coronavirus

• Send a Message | Communicate with your members and constituents about how your organization will be handling the crisis. For most, that means social distancing and completing work from home. Ensure that you’ll do what you can to protect the safety of everyone involved.
• Virtual Meetings | Depending on where you live, you may have already figured out that all kinds of work, including the volunteer kind, will be moving online. To the extent that we can, we will be conducting business virtually for the time being. A few tools you may want to check out include Zoom, BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, Keybase.io, Google Meet, and Join.me.
• Analyze the Financial Impact | The Budget Analysis Report from MoneyMinder shows you the outcome for a variety of scenarios. For example, if your Spring Fundraiser cannot move forward due to unforeseen circumstances, you can “defer” it using this tool and it will reveal the changes to your financial outcome. Pretty nifty! Learn more about the Budget Analysis Report or feel free to reach out with questions.
• Online Fundraisers | Of course, at some point, the show must go on. Americans want to help keep the country moving in the right direction in any way they can. So, in lieu of your planned fundraiser, why not try an online fundraiser this year? Kickstarter and Razoo are just a few of the options available.

Or, maybe it’s not the time. Be sure that your fundraising appeal is tactful in this moment of national crisis. Would your personal time or even that of your organization be better spent doing something good for someone in need? Reach out to your community to see if there is a high-risk person who needs help buying groceries or a local food bank that could use some support. Nothing brings people together like doing good. Your time to raise funds will most assuredly come back around. Time will tell whether that means days, weeks or months.

Thank you, volunteers, for doing what you do.