# Coronavirus: lessons for fundraisers from the past

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/03/25/coronavirus-lessons-for-fundraisers-from-the-past/
- Published: 2020-03-25T14:59:34+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**COVID-19 is not the first disaster to challenge charities. UK Fundraising looks
at how charities and fundraisers have battled adversity in the past and what that
might tell us now, including video from two stirring self-help sessions on the brink
of the 2008 financial crisis.**

For many fundraisers this will be their first experience of fundraising in the wake
or midst of a natural disaster, public health epidemic or financial crisis. Other
fundraisers will have experience of weathering challenges like the 2008/09 financial
crisis and decade of austerity, the 9/11 aftermath, foot and mouth outbreaks, regional
flooding, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s/90s.

And that doesn’t include the many fundraisers who live and work in countries affected
by civil conflict, often over many years.

## Advertisement

So, there is a lot of experience amongst fundraisers of working and succeeding in
the harshest of conditions. Some fundraisers are beginning to share this experience,
to highlight any lessons learned that might be applicable in this very different
situation.

Others are looking further back to what fundraisers and donors have done in past
emergencies.

## Same but different

The need to carry on drives all kinds of professionals to find and use other approaches.
One hundred and one years ago teachers in California living under quarantine during
the Spanish ‘flu pandemic switched to new technology and started teaching by telephone.

> Remote education, version 1.0
> Oakland Tribune, California, January 29, 1919via
> [@bruces](https://x.com/bruces?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [pic.twitter.com/y7TxBr9yT0](https://t.co/y7TxBr9yT0)
> — Kenneth Cukier (@kncukier) [March 14, 2020](https://x.com/kncukier/status/1238973931547213825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

## Fundraising doesn’t stop

Fundraising carries on throughout these disasters because it has to and because 
people want to give. The British Red Cross and other charities still held ‘flag 
days’ of street collections during the First and Second World Wars:

Civilians’ experiences then were of course utterly different to those faced now 
by the one fifth of the world’s population that is currently living under movement
restrictions. Which means that channels available to ask and to give have to be 
different.

 * **SEE ALSO [War horses for causes: the 24 First World War cavalry horses that raised the equivalent of c£16 million](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/05/19/war-horses-causes-twenty-four-first-world-war-cavalry-horses-raised-equivalent-c16m/)(
   19 May 2014)**

## Practical perspectives

If you’ve not discovered Mark Phillips’ Pinterest board of [old charity ads](https://www.pinterest.co.uk/markphillips/old-charity-ads/)
do explore it today.  It gives you a sense of connection with other fundraisers 
over the past century or so, in good times and bad.

Mark has also shared some advice for what to do now, gleaned from his study of wartime
and emergency fundraising.

> How do you change your fundraising strategy during the Coronavirus crisis??? You
> have plenty to learn from the history of wartime and emergency fundraising [https://t.co/kymVD0uIPD](https://t.co/kymVD0uIPD)
> — Mark Phillips (@Markyphillips) [March 22, 2020](https://x.com/Markyphillips/status/1241808894525091840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

## Philanthropy in the past

It is easy to focus on how fundraisers are faced with challenges, when all donors
and volunteers are facing their own challenges.

Again, there are examples from the past to explore, ably listed by [@Philliteracy](http://www.twitter.com/philliteracy)
on Twitter.

> So I've been spending the evening reading about plague epidemics & philanthropy.
> 
> Cos, you know.Fascinating to see common threads in terms of impact epidemics have
> had on shifting expectations of state responsibility vs voluntary provision.
> — 📚Philliteracy📚 (@Philliteracy) [March 24, 2020](https://x.com/Philliteracy/status/1242580680187543553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

## How fundraisers faced the 2008 financial crisis

UK Fundraising has reported through downturns and crises.

What did a gathering of fundraisers from around the world do in October 2008 when
they faced the prospect of fundraising amid the global financial crash?

At the International Fundraising Congress in Holland on 17 October 2008 they convened
a last-minute meeting before the first scheduled meeting of the day and shared advice
on what to focus on and how to cope with the worrying changes ahead.

Watch UK Fundraising’s 23-video playlist of video coverage from that one-hour session.

Sound and video quality 12 years ago was not too good – don’t be put off by the 
sound at the very beginning, as Daryl Upsall and Sean Triner play a recording of
President Franklin D Roosevelt.

You can also watch [Alan Clayton](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanjohnclayton/)‘
s one-off session eight weeks later at the Waterloo Action Centre, London, on the
morning of 12 December 2008.

Now the Chairman of ACA Fundraising & Philanthropy, Alan put on ‘Fundraising through
and beyond a downturn’ for free, and used it to distil his experience and practical
advice on what charities could do in unfamiliar waters.

UK Fundraising was there to record his advice in another 20-video playlist:

For more inspiration from past fundraising and giving, do explore UK Fundraising’s
25+ years of archives. Our fundraising experience dates back to the 1980s and coverage
of fundraising here from 1994.

Also explore [SOFII](http://www.sofii.org) for examples and analysis of all kinds
of fundraising dating back to medieval times.

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