As we were putting the finishing touches on this issue, we heard from one of our readers describing what the past few weeks have been like. Many nonprofit leaders, she wrote, “are working exhausting hours with or on behalf of people desperately affected, perhaps putting themselves or their staff at great risk; some are laying off staff and closing down operations temporarily or permanently, and some of us are completely reinventing how to do the work, each day over and over as the situation changes.” And, she added: “Some of us are losing people to the pandemic and grieving while doing a combination of these things and more.”
As we worked to shape this issue, we had all of those challenges in mind. We hope that you will see in the following pages a quick way to reconnect with your peers to understand how they’re handling the crisis and get advice from experts. Most important, I hope it will help you begin to reimagine a world that emerges better and stronger because of philanthropy’s leadership.
In recent weeks, we’ve been reimagining how we can serve you better in these days when nonprofits and foundations are more essential to our communities than ever. We’ve invited top experts in the nonprofit world to join us for three briefings touching on topics like board leadership, the federal stimulus legislation, and fundraising and finance. You can find summaries of key points on our site or watch them anytime.
We’ve also retooled our webinar schedule to better serve your needs — and created an all-access pass your entire staff can use to gain new skills while they are working from home and unable to attend professional development conferences. We’ve created new advice columns based on your questions, with answers from the most knowledgeable people in the nonprofit world.
And we are publishing more first-person accounts so you can hear what people at foundations and nonprofits are saying and experiencing.
That’s important because some of the best counsel on what to do during the crisis comes directly from people like you. After we published an article about what nonprofit leaders can do now, one reader offered additional ideas: “Learn to sew and make masks,” she suggested or “organize an advocacy campaign to get Congress to pass a nonprofit bailout bill.” But perhaps the most important thing she said was to reach out to one another: “Call one of your colleagues at another nonprofit who is working 15-hour days and ask how you can help.”
We hope you know you can call (or email) us anytime for help, too. Stay well and stay vigilant.
