Building Community During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Building community among your donors is absolutely essential to a healthy and stable fundraising process, but the last few days have presented significant challenges to that work for development professionals around the country. Much attention has been given to the fundraising events that have been cancelled, and that will likely be cancelled in the coming days, but let’s not forget that we now must rethink our approach to cultivation events and even smaller donor meetings as well.
Given the pervasive feelings of fear and anxiety in our communities, it may be tempting to give your donors some space and stay quiet, but now is the time to remain in active communication. Staying in touch, and giving people an opportunity to remain in contact with one another, will help you forge a stronger community as you work together through the challenges that the Coronavirus pandemic and economic downturn are causing.
Here are a few ideas for ways to keep your community engaged and strong, even though you can’t physically gather them together.
Make personal phone calls to donors. Whether those calls come from your executives, members of your development staff, or other key players in your community, this is an opportunity to connect, let people vent, and make sure they know that you are forging ahead in your work to achieve your mission.
Explore Virtual Events. These can take place in a variety of forms. You might livestream a performance or presentation that you had previously planned, or you might invent another reason to gather people online for a conversation about your work. Luckily, the resources for online gatherings are vast, including: Facebook Live, YouTube Live, and Zoom Video Conferencing.
Send regular email updates. We are operating in an environment in which everything is changing daily. Keep your community up-to-date on your work. Don’t just share the bad news of cancellations and postponements, make sure you’re also sharing your good news, programming successes, and reasons to celebrate even during challenging times.
Be clear about how your donors can help! The Coronavirus pandemic is affecting nonprofits across the spectrum, many of whom are looking at significant revenue loss through the rest of the Spring. Let your donors know that you need them to participate in keeping the organization going so that you can continue to provide essential services through this summer and beyond. Depending on the severity of the loss you are looking at, you may want to think about a concerted campaign, on par in scope with your annual year-end appeal, but focused on email, social media, tele-fund, and crowdfunding solicitations.
It is human nature to come together in moments of crisis. Don’t let this moment pass you by. Continuing the important work of building your community will only make you stronger in the long run, once the hardest days of this pandemic are behind us.