Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources for Nonprofit Leadership

April 9, 2020

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

coronavirus (Covid-19) resources for Nonprofit Leadership

 

Nonprofits across the world are facing the hard-hitting effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Determining your next steps in the ever-shifting climate can be daunting. Now more than ever for nonprofit leaders, it’s absolutely essential to keep calm, stay informed, and understand the changing scenarios and what it means for the survival of your organization so you can continue to serve your communities in need.

We’ve gathered resources from top nonprofit leaders to help you assess your risks and areas of vulnerability to prepare public communications to your team and stakeholders, as well as prioritize the health and well-being of your employees so you can maintain your organization’s culture and morale.

 

1: resources for nonprofit leadership

You may find yourself holding a mind-numbing number of virtual meetings as you organize your team. And as you embark on the responsibility of communicating both internally and publicly, it is imperative to stay accurately informed on new developments to be vigilant and remain sensitive to the vastly different ways a pandemic can affect your teams and communities.

Be a leader in taking a stand to help marginalized communities by speaking out against acts of discrimination in response to the evolving pandemic. Racial Equity Tools gathered this impressive list of COVID-19 Racial Equity & Social Justice Resources. Forbes shares 5 Things To Know About Coronavirus And People With Disabilities.

Here are some resources for understanding your situation and determining your resiliency plan.

Here is a video from TechSoup on managing the impact of COVID-19 for nonprofits:

 


2: resources for crisis communication

How are you communicating with your teams, supporters, and grantees? Here is a crowdsourced resource that addresses just that with resources, examples, and best practices: COVID Crisis Communications Triage Kit.

The following are more resources on how to prepare communication strategies to reaffirm your mission and remind stakeholders of your organization’s impact so you can retain funding revenue streams.

 


3: resources for supporting your employees

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act was signed into law on March 19th. There are new job protections for workers as well as generous reimbursement schemes for nonprofit employers. The law provides two weeks of paid sick leave, a subsequent ten weeks of partially paid family leave for childcare, and potential refundable tax credits for employers to cover some of the costs of the mandates. The Council of Nonprofits breaks down what the new act means for nonprofits here.

And if you’re a nonprofit with less than 500 employees, you could be eligible for a loan of up to $10 million under the new CARES Act to cover payroll and operations expenses– which will be forgiven in whole or part– as long as you keep your staff.*

*Editor’s note: This post was originally published 4/9/20. Here is an update on 4/22/20:

On April 21st, the Senate approved a second funding deal of $484 billion in additional federal funding for coronavirus relief. Congress is set to add $320 billion more for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), $60 billion of which would be set aside for small lenders. The PPP passed on March 27th ran out of the initial $349 billion the federal government earmarked for it in just under two weeks, so don’t wait to apply.

 


4: resources for practicing self-care

Last but certainly not least, remember to practice self-care.  Mindfulness and practicing self-compassion can go a long way. As global stress and uncertainty floods our news feeds, you may want to beef up your self-care practices over the duration of the crisis. Your organization needs you to take care of yourself to be able to continue to do the important work your organization sets out to do over the long term.

 

There are many considerations for navigating this challenging time, and you may just be surprised at how primed you already are with swift chops for adapting flexibly when faced with uncertainty.

Information flows abundantly as we all figure out effective ways to continue our struggle and strive. And it’s that same passion and drive for leading social change that makes the critical work you do on the daily, nothing short of visionary.


 

Disclaimer: Please note that this is our best understanding of the new resources available and is not legal or financial advice.

 

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