Nonprofits are facing tough decisions amid Covid-19 and its economic fallout, including whether to lay off workers and reduce or cut services even as the need is surging in many cases. Here is a compilation of how-to advice to help you adapt your policies and operations, support your staff, and protect your organization’s finances as the crisis unfolds.
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Coronavirus DiariesA Leader Responds to the Mental-Health Aspect of the Pandemic
The number of people contacting Crisis Text Line for help has increased by 40 percent since the start of the pandemic. CEO Nancy Lublin leads the response as some of her employees deal with loss. -
Coronavirus Diaries
How One Leader Works to Protect Vulnerable Clients and Her Employees
Claudia Medina is head of Enlace Comunitario, a nonprofit in Albuquerque that aids victims of domestic violence in Latino immigrant communities, many of whom are undocumented. -
Management and Leadership
How to Run a Virtual Office, From Leaders Who Have Done It for Years
The executive director of a global nonprofit and the CEO of a small business that serves charities talk about how they communicate, nurture a strong organizational culture, and more. -
Technology
Charities Warned to Monitor Cybercrime
High-profile nonprofits often hire outside companies to identify online scams that misuse their names, but there are steps groups can take on their own to protect themselves. -
Advice
8 Things Nonprofit Leaders Could Do Now If Their Work Is On Hold
For those with downtime during the crisis: catch up with important advisers and peers, focus on ways to strengthen your organization, pursue professional development and more, says one former chief executive. -
Management and Leadership
A Test of Leadership at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Nicole Taylor is trying to turn it around after a workplace scandal — and now she must deal with the coronavirus scare and economic downturn. (See an article from Recode on Monday about a new effort the fund has undertaken to persuade donors to earmark up to 5 percent of their advised funds for pandemic relief.) -
Opinion
How Foundations Can Mobilize Their Staffs to Do the Most Good in This Crisis (Opinion)
Give people room to focus on their health and families and what matters most in this moment. This is no time for rigid formulas, so let people innovate and adapt. -
Coronavirus Diaries
How One Leader Is Managing During a Crisis With No Road Map
Alison Singer is co-founder and president of the Autism Science Foundation, which promotes awareness of autism-spectrum disorders and funds research on their cause and treatment. -
Management and Leadership
Facing Financial Stress, Nonprofits Lay Off Workers
Experts say there are less severe alternatives to consider when cutting personnel costs, but if groups need to let people go, they should be smart about the choices they make. -
Tips and Tools
Nonprofit Crisis Management: A Checklist
Steps to take to assess your organization’s strengths and weaknesses and strategies to adopt to help it weather this or any crisis. -
Tool Kit
Chronicle Advice on How to Respond to Covid-19
Chronicle resources to help your nonprofit adapt its policies and operations, keep donors close despite social distancing, and continue serving the community during difficult times. -
Opinion
8 Steps Nonprofits Should Take Now to Survive the Pandemic Fallout (Opinion)
Resist magical thinking, consider hiring interim “restructuring” executives to help overwhelmed leaders, and get ready to make a lot of tough decisions as a new study finds that more than half of nonprofits think the worst is yet to come. -
Advice
Emergency Paid Leave: Answers to Your Questions
A human-resources consultant explains what nonprofit leaders and employees need to know about the new federal law that guarantees paid sick and family leave for reasons related to Covid-19. -
Opinion
A Priority on Consistency for a Nonprofit’s Clients
Nicole Lynn Lewis, CEO of Generation Hope, which supports teen parents pursuing college degrees and their young children, says it’s important for people to understand the impact Covid is having on the families her group serves. -
Advice
How to Adapt Your Nonprofit’s Sick-Leave Policy During Covid-19
Understand the new federal requirements about emergency paid leave, relax rules that may not be practical now, and other tips from experts. -
Management and Leadership
What One Nonprofit Has Learned About Telework After a Bumpy Start
San Francisco Baykeeper has started video coffee hours and happy hours to stay connected as employees work from home. -
Management and Leadership
Nonprofits Struggle to Balance Providing Services and Protecting Employees
The demand for food, medical services, domestic-violence assistance, and other aid is likely to spike because of the coronavirus crisis. Figuring out how to respond and still keep workers safe is hard, especially when charities face an uncertain financial future.
