Fundraisers share advice on dealing with the coronavirus pandemic
Howard Lake | 24 March 2020 | News
Fundraisers and fundraising consultants have been quick to offer advice and context on the challenge faced by fundraisers amid the global pandemic that coronavirus represents.
Here are a few of the early commentaries published in March before the UK government issued its remain-at-home policy.
1. COVID-19 Doesn’t Need To Slow You Down
Kris Putnam-Walkerly argues in Forbes that philanthropic conversations and activity can still take place even when face-to-face meetings are not an option.
While face-to-face interaction is great, there is no reason philanthropic efforts must come to a grinding halt because of COVID-19. @Forbes https://t.co/TTX37RKd4G
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— Kris Putnam-Walkerly (@Philanthropy411) March 12, 2020
2. Damian O’Broin’s list
Damian collates advice from Moceanic’s Sean Triner, Michael Rosen, Howard Lake, Marc Pitman and The Agitator.
https://twitter.com/damianobroin/status/1238104396233400323
3. Claire Axelrod
While You Have Lemons, Make Lemonade. #Fundraising in a time of coronavirus https://t.co/wHhxtFeeBd
— Claire Axelrad (@CharityClairity) March 16, 2020
4. Sean Triner
Moceanic’s Sean Triner shares his thoughts on what you should be focusing on now.
5. Mike Duerksen
Mike offers two simple but essential elements of advice.
https://twitter.com/mikeduerksen/status/1237874380719284225
6. Tobin Aldrich
Fundraising consultant Tobin Aldrich reminds us that some of us have been through unexpected and difficult times before. “Think of 9/11, the Boxing Day tsunami, the 2008 crash , we have experienced rapidly changing situations before.”
He added that the public will give in response to this pandemic, commenting: “The Chinese public spontaneously gave enormous sums to organisations working to battle the virus, one charity in Wuhan reportedly received over $300m in a few weeks.”
A proper crisis https://t.co/MNqrt6rzV2
— Tobin Aldrich (@tobinaldrich) March 15, 2020
He concludes: “Pretty much the whole population is going to be stuck at home pretty soon with nothing to do but..go online. Now digital fundraising, this is your time.”
7. How philanthropists should respond to coronavirus
NPC have put together a detailed and considered analysis of the current challenges to charities and how the sector and philanthropists might respond. Read How philanthropists should respond to coronavirus.
this @NPCthinks resource on how philanthropists should respond to COVID-19 is an excellent primer on so many issues: https://t.co/sBb27Fpi11
— Alex van Vliet (@alex_vanvliet) March 24, 2020
8. Jason Potts
Jason Potts of THINK Digital questioned how long coronavirus itself would be the prime concern of individuals and supporters.
By looking at the incidence of certain search terms globally he concluded that, despite the great rise in mention of ‘coronavirus’ in search terms, it wasn’t resulting in a reduction in the searches on other key issues that charities face such as climate crisis, refugees, famine and poverty.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.