Nonprofits are facing a serious uncertainty right now. Most nonprofits have only a couple of months of cash reserves. Also, with remote work restrictions, they are facing unbudgeted cell phone costs and IT costs, and some essential services are also facing unbudgeted overtime and cleaning costs.
Front-line organizations workers, like the ones who are helping the homeless, don’t have the luxury to work from home. They’re working closely with people to help find them shelter and to isolate. They are having a difficult time getting cleaning supplies and toilet paper with store-purchasing limits.
For nonprofits, especially those who organize a lot of event-based fundraising, the pandemic has put a stop to spring galas and fundraisers, which are usually very big parts of their revenue.
Some nonprofits, like the Boys and Girls Club, have started hosting online fundraising events in order to raise the money they need.
A local nonprofit, Foster Kinship, has organized a drive-up supply distribution for foster families. This is critical because some of the caregivers are grandparents, and this is a way to ensure that they aren’t going out to the grocery stores.
These organizations are doing really significant work while facing almost incredible odds. Hopefully, though, the government will react and increase funding in order to support these organizations. Advocacy for nonprofit missions is also of vital importance right now.
Nonprofits helping with the coronavirus pandemic
If you want to help nonprofit organizations, keep in mind it’s better to donate money than physical items. Here is how the leading organizations are involved in the crisis.
- Coordinating with businesses, public health authorities, and other organizations in the U.S. to provide personal protective items such as exam gloves, masks, isolation gowns, and other gear to health workers who are responding to the pandemic.
- Providing tents to help health-care centers triage patients.
- Helping low-income families that are homeless and keeping shelters open to donate supplies, food, and funding.
- Coordinating deliveries of equipment and medical supplies to support communities in the U.S. that have been heavily affected by the ongoing pandemic, such as gloves, masks, and gowns to emergency responders, health-care workers, and to medical professionals around the world.
Here are some examples of nonprofit organizations:
- Feeding America, the largest domestic hunger-relief organization, has a nationwide network of 200 food banks focused on providing food for those in need. Some of these food banks are partnering with schools and after-school programs to provide meals for children and their families when schools are closed. They are also organizing drive-through and outdoor distributions and distributing emergency food boxes.
The organization has a grade of a B+ given by Charity Watch.
- Project HOPE supports local health-care workers, focusing on bringing protective gear for American nurses and doctors. The organization has also activated its global medical volunteers to provide staff in critical U.S. cities, such as Chicago. It is also coordinating international efforts in other high-risk countries like North Macedonia, Ethiopia, Kosovo, Indonesia, and Colombia.
This organization has three out of four stars by Charity Navigator.
With traditional child-care services, meal programs, and senior centers that are struggling to stay open, World Central Kitchen has stepped in to help. They are serving almost 100,000 meals every day in major metros such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans, Boston, as well as smaller towns like Oakland, CA, Fairfax, VA, and Little Rock, AR.