Nonprofit organizations (NGOs) are usually the force behind community empowerment activities. The organizations are mainly driven by passion and dedication to community projects.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic that has affected millions of individuals and organizations has also impacted NGOs more than ever. The pressure of the economic crisis brought in by Covid continues to weigh nonprofits down.
Most of these organizations have been forced to make tough staffing decisions. Even their plans to continue supporting their employees seem to dwindle.
That’s why half of the nonprofit organizations have either frozen salaries or have not decided on salary raises. This global endemic has also contributed to funding disruptions and high demand for services and safety concerns amongst NGOs.
The BDO United States reveal the infographic below concerning the impact of covid on nonprofits:
Let’s take the example of food charities. As the coronavirus epidemic continues to strain communities financially, charitable organizations that rely on donations are getting a major hit.
The executive director for East Alabama Food Bank, Martha Henk, says that the covid endemic has increased food needs. Yet, there’s a significant decline in food donations.
The logistics of obtaining food to the right place at the right time is usually a challenge, even during normal times. But, now, when you factor in social distancing and a decline in product donations, then it gets more daunting.
Henk says that they tend to rely on donated food via the food bank network. With the pandemic, one of the biggest challenges is getting food for distribution.
She continues to mention that numerous food banks have recorded about a 70% rise in the need for food, but with a 30 percent decrease in the level of food donations.
Let’s find out below more effects of the covid-19 pandemic on nonprofits.
How Covid Pandemic Has Affected Nonprofit Organizations
1. Impact on Donor Interactions
NGOs rely heavily on donors for the success of most of their projects. Statistics reveal that 31% of donors globally give to NGOs and charities situated out of their residential countries.
The same statistics show that in 2017 alone, Americans donated 410 billion US dollars to charities.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic has paused most in-person meetings, there’s a significant impact on donor engagements. The shift has affected how these organizations interact with donors. Because meaningful interactions with donors remain vital to the success of nonprofits, these engagements are now done online.
However, social media and email communications are not as effective for nonprofit organizations, as it is with in-person meetings. NGOs have to go the extra mile to ensure that donors stay updated with important content like newsletters.
So, how can the nonprofits continue to attract donors?
Attracting donors is one of the greatest challenges that nonprofits have. The situation is now more difficult after Covid-19 came in and struck economies. As many NGOs endure economic hardships, the struggle to attract memberships and donations is real.
The good news is that Google services for nonprofits help organizations scale greater heights amidst the pandemic. It’s one significant way of reaching a wider audience and increasing the memberships and donations for nonprofits. It incorporates the productivity tools and valued video resources that enhance the sharing of your message on YouTube.
The most direct benefit is generated from ad grants that offer free Google Ads. These are free Google advertisements worth thousands of dollars. Google Ads enables the accurate targeting of audiences. It also allows you to reach people in any location.
That’s why it’s a powerful tool for nonprofits looking to increase memberships and donations.
2. Cancellation of In-Person Fundraising Events
One of the significant impacts on nonprofits during the COVID-19 pandemic was the sudden cancellation of the in-person events.
With physical distancing and social isolations, most planned physical events had to be canceled. Yet, such events are highly beneficial for nonprofit funding. According to several people surveyed, 55% claimed to attend fundraising events for charitable giving.
So, the cancellation of the fundraisers limits most potential persons from contributing to the wellbeing of the nonprofits.
The charitable organizations are now forced to devise new ways to raise funds. Those that continue to navigate through the pandemic rely heavily on digital marketing and virtual fundraising tactics.
They have been forced to switch their efforts to social media and email campaigns.
For the NGOs to continue fundraising efficiently, they must direct their efforts towards the following communication channels:
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Virtual fundraisers
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Continuous email marketing campaigns
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Strategic social media content to keep donors engaged with the mission.
3. Unexpected Switch to Remote Working Environment
As organizations shut down to avoid physical interactions due to the covid pandemic, nonprofit organizations are still highly affected.
Most employees, including those working at NGOs, were caught unprepared and forced to adapt to the new work-from-home arenas.
The sudden shift of work environments affected both employees and organizational operations.
The unexpected switch to remote working impacted the way employees perform their jobs.
It can be tricky to work effectively from home. In fact, in the initial days of covid, most employees found themselves struggling to balance their job tasks and home lives.
Some of the things interrupting their work schedules included screen time hours and child care.
Furthermore, the continuous access to computers with a lack of separation between home and office makes it difficult for employees to set precise work hours and achieve the needed organizational goals.
Again, with remote working, the future of NGOs remains unpredictable. As much as many studies have been executed on remote work, many things remain unknown.
Most of these studies about remote work have analyzed how it affects the workplace. However, much remains undetermined regarding long-term effects on employee performance.
4. Effect on Organizational Teamwork and Communication
For NGOs, teamwork in both the in-office and field operations are always crucial to organizational performance. Since covid-19 forced the majority of the employees to work from home, lack of teamwork and timely communication has affected nonprofitable organizations.
Employees are now forced to telecommute, and remote working has become the new norm. They have to rely heavily on online communication channels like:
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Email communications
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Zoom meetings
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Slack
Virtual communication can be a great obstacle when working from home. Slack messages and zoom conferences can make it hard for all employees to connect.
Some may experience network issues. Yet again, others may have technical hitches with their computers or mobile devices.
Such communication barriers have made collaborative efforts challenging for nonprofits. Without the usual office interactions and employee isolations, many still struggle to communicate with coworkers appropriately. As a result, there’s a lot of project delays.
Key Takeaways
As the COVID-19 endemic continues to strike economies, nonprofits are witnessing lasting effects on their work structures. It seems remote work might be their new normal. Moreover, digital engagement remains critical for donor attraction.
For the nonprofits to survive through the hard-hit economies, virtual fundraisers have had to devise creative ways to connect with the donors.
They need to encourage the donors’ continued support of the organizational missions and vision.
