Coronavirus Will Change How Nonprofits Work
In a May 9th article in the Wall Street Journal, Intel Chief Bob Swan was interviewed about how the coronavirus will impact the future of how we work. “The things we’re doing out of necessity are going to become things we do because they’re logical, “ he said.
The novel coronavirus is forcing big changes in how we work. We are seeing a renewed workforce with a “get it done” attitude, moving from survival mode to a resilient outlook toward “doing what it takes” to do the job. The article talks about companies seeking a more efficient way of operating. Managers are assuming more direct decision-making power. Team members are working more independently. There is an unplanned opportunity for restructuring and reorganization. All of this prompted by a catastrophic pandemic.
This vision of a renewed workforce applies to the nonprofit arena as well. This changing landscape will motivate nonprofits to adopt a new way of doing business.
3 Changes Nonprofits Might Expect
The speed of the pandemic gave little time to pivot. Volunteers have been distracted, dislocated, and faced with balancing professional and family lives, leaving limited time to their nonprofit organization priorities. Everyone, including nonprofit volunteers, has been sheltered at home, often with partners who are also working from home, children who need care and educational support, and other family obligations that arise from everyone being at home every day.
It has been challenging to get the attention needed to address some of the issues confronting these nonprofits, yet we’ve discovered some ways that nonprofits may work differently in the new normal.
Contract versus Hire. Using virtual assistants (VAs) versus full-time employees (FTEs) has become both cost-effective and efficient. Virtual assistants can provide nonprofits complete flexibility in the hiring process. If you don’t have a good fit, or if the project needing administrative assistance gets completed, it is easy to modify or discontinue service if budget appropriate. Conversely, most VAs work on an hourly basis, so expanding and contracting contracts based on program need is easier. And, of course, there is no need to provide a benefits package for subcontractors which can be a tremendous cost saver for the personnel budget.
Managers assuming more responsibility. Disbursing teams to remote locations have required them to work more independently, and with that, has allowed decision making to become more decentralized, enabling the organization to move more quickly toward solutions.
Short term plans become critical. One strategy for addressing the uncertainty of the pandemic is the creation of more concentrated short-term plans with clearly developed benchmarks. While it’s important not to undermine long term goals, setting the pace with objectives and benchmarks to be completed within a defined period of time allows nonprofits to redistribute priorities and respond to obstacles and challenges.
One of the things we hear repeatedly about this health crisis is that there is no foreseeable end point, no designated date to return to normal. With this reality, it is difficult to plan too far in advance, which is why we encouraged our clients to focus their attention on creating a 12-week COVID-19 plan.
By looking at a concentrated 12-week period, we were able to separate the short term from the long term, and the necessities from the "nice to haves." We focused upon those areas that directly related to a strong COVID-19 response and back burnered other non-essential projects.
There is some comfort in an ending point, and our plans provided that, along with a realistic, but rigorous, system of benchmarks week to week. In short, we determined how to position the mission of these organizations, what the messaging should be, and how that message would be articulated over a 12- week period.
How do we maintain momentum?
In the WSJ article, Mr. Swan suggested that our next challenge will be keeping the momentum once the urgency of the pandemic has passed. It will force us to ask, “how is it that in times of crisis we are able to get so much done so fast?” As we transition out of this healthcare and economic catastrophe, there will be a time to rethink how we work.
Nonprofits have experienced a similar surge. Those whose missions are directly related to helping families with basic support services have flashed into action to provide support, often with enhanced fundraising. Other nonprofits are using the time to focus on long overdue retrenching and restructuring while working to keep their respective missions relevant as the world focuses on COVID-19.
Maintaining momentum will require prioritizing the needs of our clients, the needs of our team, and the needs of the business overall. We determined where our vulnerabilities were in this new environment and set out to address them as quickly as possible. We helped our clients do the same. This required the nonprofits to think “out of the box” and achieve a comfort level in learning how to be more efficient, more flexible in handling operations and new technologies. They are exploring outsourcing versus FTEs. Volunteers are working more independently. We are focusing our clients on what we “can do” versus what we “can’t do”, allowing groups to reorganize and re-prioritize to help them be better prepared for more organized and effective reopening with process, procedure, and resources in place.
Change Born from Necessity
There are a great many more lessons to be learned before this pandemic is over. One may be that nonprofits need to think about functioning differently. As people get more comfortable with remote access, more nonprofits may consider outsourcing and virtual assistants to handle some of the operational areas that once were filled with onsite personnel. To be nimble and efficient will help strained budgets and, in many cases, things we are doing now out of necessity may become things we continue to do because it just makes sense.
Interested in a Nonprofit Virtual Assistant (NPVA)?
The More Than Giving Co. can match you with a NPVA to meet your organization's specific needs. They will be up and working for you almost immediately. Learn more here.