Convening Funders around COVID-19 Response
As our Central Texas, national, and global community continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, funders of all kinds are asking themselves critical questions such as:
What do community organizations and those they serve need most during this crisis?
How can we move quickly to address immediate community challenges, while also strategically planning to support intermediate and long-term needs?
Which of our funding practices are still impactful, and where do we adopt new methods of funding existing and new partners?
These questions were top of mind for funders participating in Good Measure’s recent Partners in Measurement virtual session, which gathered over forty Central Texas philanthropists to share their organizations’ unique responses to the COVID-19 crisis as well as opportunities for coordinated, collective action.
Changes to Funding Practices
As part of a funder panel, Good Measure Steering Committee members urged their peers to take stock and ask themselves, “How is my organization uniquely positioned to support the community through this pandemic?” A myriad of examples were surfaced throughout the session by Good Measure funders and audience members alike, including:
Offering maximum flexibility on current grant reporting requirements and deadlines
Allowing partners to repurpose existing grant project funding to general operating support through grant amendments
Extending the length of existing grant periods
Issuing emergency funding to grant partners
Targeting funding to grassroots organizations that are closest to individual community members and their needs
Shortening new grant application requirements
Eliminating interest on Program Related Investment (PRI) loans
Amending internal policies and procedures to disburse funds as quickly as possible
Philanthropic Coordination
In addition to pivots in each funder’s individual grantmaking, Austin Community Foundation and United Way for Greater Austin encouraged funders in attendance to contribute to pooled emergency funds, such as the All Together ATX fund, as part of a sector-wide response strategy. Meagan Longley from Austin Community Foundation shared, “It can be challenging at times for philanthropists to venture outside of our own grantmaking processes and work together quickly, but the benefit of a fund like this is increased resources directly deployed in our most vulnerable communities and decreased burden on the nonprofit sector.”
The All Together ATX fund has already raised over $4 million and will continue to be open for gifts from individuals, corporations and foundations. The fund will be disbursed in multiple phases, with the first phase benefiting organizations in the five-county Central Texas region providing services that address food insecurity, basic needs support (rent, utilities, emergency cash, etc.), medical needs, employment, and/or childcare. Applications for funding will be reviewed by a committee of community advisors, with priority consideration given to organizations that have proven to be connected to their community and serve the most vulnerable populations impacted by the pandemic. Future waves of funding will be disbursed in late summer and early fall with grants designed to support the nonprofit sector’s recovery and sustainability.
Understanding Evolving Nonprofit Needs—with Data!
Partners at Austin Community Foundation and United Way for Greater Austin emphasized the important role data will play in informing how they adapt and administer community-wide funding pools like All Together ATX as the impact of COVID-19 evolves over time. Funders and community stakeholders of all kinds are eager for regular data on the challenges nonprofits and those they serve are facing. They want to support where it’s needed most and within a time frame that maximizes impact—while avoiding duplication of surveys and burdening nonprofits that are already stretched beyond capacity.
In response to this need, 12 community stakeholder groups came together to create a single, sector-wide survey to assess nonprofit needs, with Mission Capital playing a backbone role to design the survey and analyze results. Partners in this Nonprofit Pulse Survey include: Good Measure, GAVA, MEASURE Austin, Financial Literacy Coalition of Central Texas, Decibel, Notley Ventures, ACC Center for Nonprofit Studies, Giving City Austin, Impact Austin, One Voice Central Texas, and United Way for Greater Austin. Collaborating organizations in the Pulse Survey plan to issue it on an ongoing basis and share the results widely. The initial Pulse closed on March 31st and yielded over 400 unduplicated organization responses. It contains a range of point-in-time data on specific challenges faced by nonprofits, and a resounding call to funders for flexible, immediate financial support to help organizations pivot and serve our communities’ fast-changing and growing needs.
Good Measure is now convening philanthropic partners on a monthly call to discuss Pulse Survey results and other data sets, share what we are learning and how we are iterating as we implement new funding strategies, and continue to engage opportunities for coordinated philanthropic response. Community funders, please watch for an invitation to participate from Good Measure!