As the criticism of wealthy philanthropists has mounted in recent years, and the charitable tax deduction has been questioned, it’s worth keeping in mind how much of a difference donors large and small are making to help Americans through the pandemic. Without the nonprofits supported by private dollars in our nation we would be in a far worse condition today.
While President Trump and the federal government initially played down the danger, colleges and universities sounded the alarm. And once it became clear no college athletes were going to participate in March Madness and that courses of all kinds would be held online only, the message sunk in that this was no time for business as usual.
This example shows that nonprofits are much nimbler than government agencies. And that’s been the case even during other crises when we saw stronger presidential leadership than we have from the Trump White House. But just as importantly, it reveals that nonprofit organizations were better in tune with societal needs than market driven organizations.
That is likely to be the case even now that the federal government is sending billions of dollars to help states and localities deal with education, housing, joblessness, and many other issues. It will be nonprofits that we count on to carry out federally financed efforts in many cases – and we will need them to fill in the ever-widening gaps as governments struggle to keep up with community needs.
In addition to taking an early role advocating for the common good, nonprofit organizations have continued to take on leadership roles. Foundations have supported research and begun organizing relief.
For instance, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation helped create a research accelerator early on. And the Robin Hood Foundation reactivated its relief fund, established after 9/11 and last used in response to Superstorm Sandy, to help nonprofit organizations cope with an influx in clients now, while also planning for a very long recovery.
Speed and a United Front
Certainly, the government bailout dwarfs the scale of private gifts made to date, but nonprofits can distribute funds they receive much more quickly than federal or state agencies. Past experience suggests nonprofits reach those in need weeks before any government funds do. That speed is essential in a pandemic when people are unable to work and don’t have savings to fall back on.
Nonprofits and philanthropists can play a crucial role beyond their speed: Needs are likely to vary community to community. With the White House continuing to display inconsistencies in its policy toward the pandemic, nonprofits remain on the front lines working with their local and state governments both to advocate for needs and provide services. In Seattle, one of the first places hit by the pandemic, the Seattle Foundation created a Covid-19 Response Fund that coordinates responses from nonprofits, for-profit companies, and government officials. This collaboration allows for a united front in the face of this monumental challenge and has been adopted in communities across the United States.
A focus on collaboration is one of the lessons that emerged from the nonprofit response to the 9/11 attacks. In New York, the 9/11 United Services Group served as a team to coordinate nonprofit funding. Today, like 2001, New York remains “ground zero” in this disaster, but unlike after 9/11 every state has its own cases of Covid-19. A collaborative approach, therefore, remains essential not just within a community but nationally. After 9/11, New York nonprofits benefitted from the experience of the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City. Today, nonprofits will need to share their best practices in real time as the virus spreads across the country to not only stop the disease but limit the harm to society of the pandemic.
Continued Needs
Most disasters create need long after government funds and public attention has moved on. It is often the most disadvantaged that suffer the greatest in disasters, despite the reality that all can be affected by this pandemic. With so many hotspots throughout the country, nonprofit advocacy and services for the needy will be essential as ever, not only in the current crisis but long after. Another lesson from 9/11 is that without such advocacy, the recovery can create even more inequalities than existed before the disaster.
Alexis Tocqueville’s maxim that self-interest rightly understood includes the entire welfare of the community has real resonance during a pandemic, because the well-being of individuals is even more defined by the choices community members make at this time. Protecting ourselves from disease also includes protecting others. This view is built into the DNA of nonprofit organizations. During this pandemic, nonprofits not only performed the functions they traditionally have done during relief and recovery but have also helped mitigate the failings of the federal government in the service of the common good.
A multi-pronged approach to the common good helps protect against both inefficiencies in market mechanisms as well as incompetence or ill will in government agencies. The responses of nonprofit organizations during this pandemic should give critics of philanthropy pause.
Gregory R. Witkowski is senior lecturer of nonprofit management at Columbia University and is writing a book on the nonprofit and philanthropic roles in the relief, recovery, and reconstruction of Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks.
