The month of March 2020 saw the cancellation of many events, large and small—and for those of us in fundraising, some of the most painful losses were our galas. At the time, we put together our six best pieces of advice for how to move forward with a major event cancellation or postponement. Now here we are, five months later, and the potential for holding a large in-person event anytime soon is not looking good. Those nonprofits that pushed off their spring galas into the fall are now in the same boat with their colleagues who usually host their event during fall gala season: forced to consider another round of cancellations.

If your nonprofit is like so many others right now, you’ve probably run into some challenges in regards to your fundraising strategy. Nothing is exactly how we expected it would be, even six months ago, and the prospect of convincing supporters to maintain their donations can seem scary.

Even throughout these difficult times, your organization can take steps in order to strengthen your strategies both now and for the future.

As fundraisers, we are used to speaking confidently about our vision for the future, about the goals that our organizations will accomplish and how we are going to achieve success. Now, that kind of forward-thinking storytelling is difficult, especially in situations when the future remains uncertain. Storytelling is an absolutely essential part of fundraising, and you must continue to do it to keep your organization moving forward through the end of 2020 and beyond.

So, what should we be telling our donors about where we are going and how we are going to get there?

Whether you're a founder or a longtime member of a decades-old non-profit, finding funders to make your vision a reality is key. Donorly’s Founder and President, Sandra Davis, leads a webinar about building your non-profit's relationships from the ground up, all with the goal of growing your family of donors.

This session is designed for founders, leaders, and fundraisers at smaller nonprofits and young organizations.

For many nonprofits, the widespread effects of the pandemic unfortunately meant canceling existing event plans. With plenty of advanced planning, charity auctions and annual fundraising galas are the perfect case study for going virtual. If an auction was already on your 2020 calendar and you need to keep fundraising to power your mission, a virtual auction is your best bet to keep donors engaged and build a solid revenue source.

No matter your area of focus as an organization, your FY20 operating budget is officially out-of-date. Whether your expenses are increased because you are currently providing essential services to a rapidly growing population of people in need, or your operations and attendant revenue are shrinking with closed buildings, cancelled programs, and layoffs, it is time to reorient yourself for the rest of the fiscal year (and beyond). With earned revenue getting tougher and tougher to come by, your role as a fundraiser is becoming ever more important and you need to make sure that you are up to date on operational conversations at your organization about how your finances are changing.

Here are three considerations to think about as you dive into these important conversations with your Executive Director, General Manager, and/or Accountant.

Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) are in a unique position to be helpful as we navigate fundraising during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are three important steps that we recommend as you move forward considering how to include DAFs in your emergency fundraising plans.

We’ve all been working from home for three weeks now, and if your team is anything like ours, then you’re probably settling into what feels like a new normal—even if that new normal is filled with a new set of challenges and very difficult decisions.

As events across the country continue to be cancelled, all of us in the nonprofit space look forward to the time when we can start to gather again in celebration and support of the incredible causes that unite our communities.

But in the meantime, how can we recreate that togetherness without actually being, well, together?

We get it, the world is a scary and unstable place right now, and we’re so deep into uncharted territory that sometimes it can be hard to see the forest for the trees. But if there’s one piece of advice we feel confident in giving, it’s this: Don’t stop fundraising.

As we discussed in an earlier post, now is the time to start communicating proactively with your donors. Don’t back off and give them space (unless they have specifically asked for it, of course). In times of crisis, people want to come together, and they want to help. It’s your job to give them the pathway to do just that.

There’s no way around it. Whether or not you have had to cancel programming and events, your organization is being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn that has accompanied it. For nonprofits across the spectrum, this is no longer business as usual, and it is certainly no longer fundraising as usual. In addition to the stories you are telling your donors about your mission, vision, and the work that you are doing to serve your community, the time is now to incorporate the current climate into that story.

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.

Amid the rash of event cancellations and venue closings taking place over the last 48 hours, many nonprofits of all sizes are evaluating whether to move forward with their calendars as planned. Between the health risks involved in convening large groups of people, and the financial impact of ticket cancellations from those in your community who do not want to take the risk of attending events, there are lots of factors to weigh as you make your decision. Luckily, there are steps you can take to mitigate the potential damage of an event cancellation or postponement.