Nonprofits are holding back on some services, limiting employee travel, expanding work-at-home opportunities, and taking other steps to protect workers and volunteers as the threat of the coronavirus continues to spread worldwide.
The American Cancer Society, for example, is working to expand the number of its employees who have access to technology that allows them to work from home.
“Our first and most immediate concern is our employees,” said Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society.
The charity, which as offices around the country, hasn’t imposed a travel ban, but he added that the virus is a “developing situation” and that “some of those decisions will be made for us.”
The American Cancer Society also is taking a close look at conferences and other external meetings that may impose a risk to employees.
The nonprofit is setting up communications channels for both employees and volunteers to make sure it can respond to concerns.
The charity also is asking people who have recently traveled to high-risk countries to avoid stays at the American Cancer Society’s “Hope Lodges” — facilities that provide free lodging to cancer patients and their caregivers during treatment — until at least two or three weeks after their return from abroad.
Foundations are also thinking about how their workers can do more remotely. The Technology Association of Grantmakers held a special webinar Tuesday to help its members handle requests from leaders who want to make it easier for people to work from home. And on Thursday the council is holding a webinar with the Center for Disaster Philanthropy on how foundations can respond through their grant making.
Travel Restrictions
Compassion International, which works in 25 countries, has instituted travel restrictions to protect its workers and volunteers and also to avoid potentially spreading the virus to the people it serves, said Lacey Croco, senior crisis management specialist in Compassion’s office of risk management.
The charity is following the guidelines of the countries where it operates, and generally the nonprofit’s employees are free to travel within the countries where they are based, Croco said.
However, none of its employees are required to travel anywhere they don’t feel comfortable, and the organization is working to minimize the need to travel to countries that are at high risk of spreading the virus.
Catholic Charities USA “has asked its staff members to reconsider any travel plans for the next four to six weeks and be prepared to extend that time period if necessary,” Patricia Cole, a spokeswoman for the charity, said in an email.
The groups also will be hosting a webinar “to highlight ways to prepare for the continuation of agency operations in the event a widespread outbreak occurs, as well as individual and staff health considerations in an effort to maintain a safe and well environment for clients, employees, and volunteers.”
Fundraising Worries
Croco said Compassion International is concerned about the impact of the virus on fundraising involving gatherings of supporters if people get nervous about such interactions based on warnings from public-health officials. “That’s definitely something that’s on our radar,” she said. “Spring is a big time for us.”
As an example, she cited the group’s “Compassion Sunday” events — gatherings organized by local supporters to raise money.
The organization is currently working on an “adjustment forecast” to try to be ready for curtailed funding, Croco said.
Protecting Volunteers
Some groups are also working to protect their volunteers. Habitat for Humanity announced that it is suspending its “Global Village” volunteer builds until at least May 2 to avoid spreading the coronavirus.
“Many of our Global Village builds take place in communities that may not be equipped to address an outbreak of the coronavirus,” wrote said Mark Andrews, senior vice president for international operations of Habitat for Humanity International, on the nonprofit’s website. “We must take caution to not potentially expose these vulnerable communities to the virus through accidental transmission from our volunteer or staff teams.”
The decision affects more than 1,350 volunteers on 138 scheduled builds, Andrews wrote.
