The novel coronavirus outbreak has shuttered businesses, schools, and major events. Given the disruption in daily activities and frequent updates on the rapidly evolving situation, it’s left many people feeling nervous and uncertain.
While the coronavirus has hit some parts of the country harder than others, many are doing their due diligence and taking precautions to help avoid the spread.
Here’s how you can prevent the spread and navigate your programs and fundraising during this time.
During this time, many employers have made the health and safety of their employees, customers, and contractors a top priority. Even if the coronavirus hasn’t arrived in your workplace, it’s important to be proactive by monitoring the situation and encouraging everyone to do their part to slow the spread of any viruses.
As a result, here are some common precautions and behaviors to get your workplace ready for a potential outbreak:
Amid coronavirus concerns, it’s strongly encouraged to postpone or cancel any gatherings of 10 or more people and, of course, cancel large-scale events within the next 8 weeks.
Of course, there’s going to be times when limiting work-related meetings and events aren’t feasible.
Here’s an excerpt from Parkinson Canada’s COVID-19 strategy, about how they can navigate programs:
Delivery of Programs and Services Considerations:
a. Cancelling all in-person support groups and offering a virtual alternative for them (until further notice)
b. Canceling or postponing all in-person events (until further notice) (ie. Educational workshops, conferences) – looking at how we can offer virtually
If certain programs are necessary to be run in-person, it’s important to follow thorough procedures in line with health guidelines. For example, the Amelia Community Theatre has developed a daily protocol to manage the spread of this pandemic:
“We are a performance campus in a senior demographic market, so obviously we are on alert to follow both state, city and county health recommendations and mandatory guidances. Presently, we have only two nightly performances left in our smaller studio space that seats less than 80.
With new updates coming out every day (and seemingly every hour), things can change rapidly, and keep up to date on the latest suggestions from the CDC. Be prepared to make adjustments as necessary, even when you have a plan in place.
It’s also okay if you don’t have everything figured out right now. For Teri Miller, Director of Development at Go Beyond Hunger, their plan is “a rather large question”. However, the organization is “making some large changes programmatically so that [they] can continue to serve [their] community with groceries and services”. From a fundraising perspective, aside from canceling their large event, the org is “still in the planning phase”.
For more information on community strategies to keep yourself and those around you safe, check out official CDC guidance.
One of the biggest impacts is to events, and as a fundraiser who’s been planning an event all year, we know it’s important for you to have safe alternatives that will still help you bring in the funds needed and ensure that the show goes on.
With more and more places putting restrictions on large gatherings, we anticipate that online donations will be more important than ever. As such, ensure that you have a good donation page up and running.
If you’re worried about your fundraising plans, peer-to-peer campaigns are the way to go. Have supporters set up pages to fundraise on your nonprofit’s behalf.
During this uncertain time, it’s easy to make assumptions about what your supporters/donors will and won’t do but now is the time to ask for help. Offer ways your donors can help you fundraise – you’ll be surprised at who steps up in a major way.
In response to the pandemic, it’s likely that you will have to make the difficult decision to cancel your in-person gala. However, the months of planning poured into your event doesn’t have to go to waste. Consider transitioning your gala into an UnGala instead.
An UnGala is a departure from the traditional components of a live event. It’s essentially a fancy peer-to-peer and can help you raise more with less effort.
Whether it’s a concert, yoga class, special speaker, board meeting, or press conference, consider hosting your event online. Try using tools like Zoom video conferencing, Facebook Live, Youtube live-stream, and other electronic interfaces to bring everything online.
According to representatives from the Swedenborg Foundation, COVID-19 has forced them to “reschedule events and for the first time ever and cancel an ‘in-person’ board and annual meeting”. However, by utilizing youtube video outreach, they have “seen an explosion of views from what [they] presume are people staying home and binge watching”.
As the situation on COVID-19 develops, an expanding number of cities have issued bans on gatherings of more than a certain number of people. If you have a race or walk coming up and have to adhere to any local restrictions, try moving your in-person walk/race to virtual.
A virtual race will allow fundraisers to run their own race from any location, allowing for safe social distancing while also helping you hit your fundraising goal. To make the “run” more cohesive, build in some live-streaming and social sharing components.
Many organizations depend on in-person events, and sometimes there’s not enough time or resources to move it all online. The reality is that these last-minute changes can have a lasting impact on an organization’s budget but these effects can be softened by setting up a simple crowdfunding campaign.
In light of coronavirus concerns, NTEN followed the advice of healthcare professionals and made the difficult decision to cancel their annual nonprofit technology conference. As a result, this is a huge hit to the organization’s budget and unfortunately, their insurance does not cover the cancellations as a result of COVID-19.
In order to mitigate the impact and honor contracts made, NTEN set up a crowdfunding campaign to ask for support.
This is definitely something worth considering for your nonprofit too.
In the unpleasant and uncertain age of coronavirus, CauseVox is here to help.
If the potential impact of the virus has put your 2020 fundraising plans in limbo, our platform offers digital alternatives that support peer-to-peer, crowdfunding campaigns, events, and more.
With nonprofits making changes to address contamination risk, you can still fundraise successfully during the crisis by pivoting to virtual strategies.
Stay safe! It’s so important to do our best to prevent the spread and protect the most vulnerable. We wish you good health and safety, and peace of mind as we navigate these uncertain times together.
You’re not alone, and there is a path forward.
Best wishes from the CauseVox team!
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