Five ways for your charity to stay ahead of COVID-19
12 March 2020 at 8:06 am
With the uncertainty surrounding coronavirus both overseas and now in Australia, GiveEasy CEO Jeremy Tobias offers tips on how your charity can stay ahead in terms of planning and communicating to your donors and stakeholders.
Like all of our fellow Aussies, we’re staying glued to news reports about COVID-19. The team at GiveEasy thought we would suggest five ways to stay ahead and plan for these uncertain times.
1. Reach out to those that rely on your services
It’s important you communicate any changes to your service delivery early and communicate any potential impacts of COVID-19. The earlier the better, so these stakeholders can plan for alternative courses of action and have time to ask questions. If there are no changes, it is a good idea to communicate it’s business as normal too.
2. Be transparent
The facts are out, so there is no point in hiding the reality. An email with an update from your CEO about the impact COVID-19 is having on your charity (or if it’s not having any impact at all) will reassure your donors that you are doing all you can with the funds that they donated, even if you are having to change some of the service delivery. Reiterate to them that you are doing your best in trying times and include a link to donate. Remember supporters donate in crisis.
3. Review your calendar
Review your fundraising calendar with a view of potentially delaying any face-to-face fundraising events (gala dinner, lunches) until after things settle down.
4. Consider a new digital strategy
Changing direction for your fundraising events to digital may be the best solution for the current climate. Giving Days are a perfect example of gamifying an event online. Your donors will respond well to these, especially if you emphasise that your event has had to be moved online due to COVID-19
5. Be flexible and be prepared
It’s still uncertain in Australia whether cities will be forced to self isolate or even parts of cities like we have seen in China and Italy. However, it’s important to have plans in place amongst your teams to work out roles and responsibilities both from service delivery to fundraising and operations.
Remember that challenging times force us to be creative, courageous and think outside the box. We hope you and your teams will put your heads together to work out a strong fundraising approach over the next few months.
