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Fundraising in the time of coronavirus
Local nonprofits find creative solutions, strengthen relationships
By Julie Borths
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Flexibility, focus and personal connections: Those are the hallmarks of local nonprofits navigating 2020 and beyond. Whether facing the impossibility of staged productions, the complexities of online learning or the increasing risks of families in crisis, keeping these agencies and institutions moving forward has been a challenge – and may have some long-lasting rewards.
At the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Director of Development Sara Clark said the need for flexibility became obvious as soon as the pandemic reached Ohio. With no way to perform live theater onstage – and the loss of its traditional revenue stream – there was no choice. In some ways, after all, the show must go on.
Sara Clark, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company
“We launched a COVID recovery fund almost immediately … focusing on how hard the company – and the industry – was hit,” Clark said. “We had to go into hyperdrive.”
The suddenly empty halls of DePaul Cristo Rey High School also prompted immediate action, according to Sparkle Worley, the school’s vice president of advancement. There really wasn’t a choice.
“We have 320 students and 65 staff members who are working hard to learn and to educate,” Worley said. “Our office helps fill the gap so learning can happen. It helps that we have a passion for what we do.”
At both institutions, that energy was poured into transforming what was usually in person – the continuing theater season at CSC and the annual auction at DPCR – into virtual events.
Sparkle Worley, DePaul Christo Rey
At ProKids, where community volunteers advocate for abused and neglected children, Executive Director Tracy Cook said a similar transformation was necessary.
“Our donors are involved with us throughout the year,” she said. “We do ask them each year to partner with us for our traditional Friends of Children Breakfast fundraiser each May. As our team revised plans beginning in March, we rebranded that event and moved it to September so we could present the most powerful virtual presentation we could put together.”
The ProKids Call for Community became the key fundraiser for the year, presented online in small groups and in larger groups. But, Cook said, a focus on engaging donors individually was critical.
Tracy Cook, ProKids
“We shifted to more phone calls, emails and sometimes Zoom meetings to keep (donors) updated on how they are continuing to make a difference for abused and neglected children in our community,” Cook said. “As our volunteers worked on their cases, wearing masks and being socially distant during visits with our children … we were able to share these stories with our donors and make sure they knew the impact they were having in such uncertain times.”
A commitment to the institution
That kind of focus – on both the individual donors and on the mission itself, was also important at DPCR. “Our model is not your typical high school model,” said Worley, citing the school’s affordable Catholic, college prep curriculum partnered with an innovative work study program. “Our donors and friends have confidence that the school leadership makes decisions based upon what is best for our students and families. Our students are not going to work at this time.”
“And the partners, who usually would be hiring students to work, “have been very understanding and … almost all have indicated that even if our students are not at work, the money they have paid thus far can stay with the school.”
That commitment to the institution has been part of Clark’s experience at Cincinnati Shakespeare as well.
Cook said donors have enabled ProKids to triple the number of children served by the agency in recent years. “We know that the more our donors learn about how they can break the vicious cycle of abuse and neglect, the more they want to help ProKids create a new cycle of growing up safe and confident for the kids we serve,” she said.
“When we let them know how much our children need them right now, with so much uncertainty in our world, many leaned forward – asking, ‘What do you need?’” Cook continued. “It’s been a great affirmation to know our donors continue to prioritize our kids.”
Creativity born from chaos
None of these successes comes without costs. Clark said donors not only miss the CSC performances, they miss one another.
“We can never forget that development is called that because it’s a relationship business,” Clark said. “When people feel valued, heard, seen, they continue to support and to give.”
The pandemic, Clark said, “is a reminder that a snazzy benefit package or a fancy event might be what initially gets people to give, but feeling connected to, and valued by, an organization which does work they believe in, that’s what keeps them giving.”
Worley said traditional events are “not only for fundraising, but also for friend-raising,” referring to how donors will bring others along. “We have had to be very creative this year,” she continued, citing a complex golf outing which relied on appointed tee times, fewer foursomes and no surrounding events like a dinner.
“We did very well,” she said. “Our golfers even played in the pouring rain.”
Creativity was important at ProKids as well, Cook said.
“We kept our focus on the needs of our children in a world changing before us. Large and small victories we saw with our children – relatives taking custody of our children, adoption stories, high school graduations, and even the smiles we could tell were behind the masks – always kept us motivated,” Cook said.
Clark compared the experience to what happens in a show when the understudy goes on for a lead role. At first there is concern for who had to step out, but then everything shifts to the understudy who is on stage. How can everyone help them perform their best? Can they step up to make their own performance better? How can everyone – from the ushers to the other players – make this an unforgettable performance?
“We can do some of the best work of our careers at a time like this,” Clark said. “And theater folk are natural problem-solvers.”
Staying in contact with one another, even while working virtually, helped Worley and her team keep their energy, she said. By continuing many of their normal activities – sending greeting cards and reaching out by phone – they built a sense of normalcy even when so many other things needed to change.
Cook said that at ProKids, sharing what was not going to be normal with their donors was also important.
“If vulnerable families were already coming apart due to untreated mental health issues, substance abuse, violence and generational poverty, the pandemic (adds) a layer of stress that could be the final straw for many of them,” Cook said. But like Worley and Clark, Cook said sharing hope was also important.
“The good news is that one of the best strategies to get through these times is to find ways to serve others,” Cook said. “Imagine the community we can build for present and future generations. It is up to us.”
A ‘remarkable wave of generosity’
Nationally, CAF America – an organization that facilitates charitable giving – and the Nonprofit Alliance have both studied how charitable giving has worked during the pandemic.
In its report, CAF America notes that nearly all nonprofits have suffered economically from the pandemic, but few worry they won’t be able to continue their operations. The reason? Respondents credit technology, their team’s commitment, adaptability and creativity, and access to continuing funding.
To frame both the necessity of nonprofits and their stability, the Nonprofit Alliance reports that while many agencies are seeing significant increases in need, they are also seeing a “remarkable wave of generosity from donors.”
The same report also includes this hopeful note: 80% of donors plan to give the same or more as 2020 ends.
