Giving Compass' Take:

• Here are three ways that philanthropists can take collective action to respond to the pandemic: Standing by charities, working with others to fund adaptation, and learning from experience. 

• In what other ways are funders collaborating? Are there opportunities in your community to take collective action against COVID-19? 

• Read about COVID-19 resources for giving circles. 

As the crisis hit, we knew we needed to immediately communicate with our members and encourage them to think about where they needed to collaborate. We spoke with Londoners, our members, and civil society organisations of all shapes and sizes. More than anything, we were hearing how imperative it was for funders to reassure grantees of their continued support during this crisis, and that future funding rounds needed to be informed by the experiences of communities affected by covid-19.

  • Stand by charities, and be open to adapt As a first step we drafted a funder statement: We stand with the sector. Over 300 funders have pledged to show an understanding that there will be times when staff and volunteers will not be available, when beneficiaries may require services to be provided in different ways, or when systems must to be flexible to ensure that needs are met.
  • Work with others to fund the adaptation that’s needed  Looking locally, we have been coordinating funders from across sectors through the London Community Response. So far, the fund stands at £16 million and is rising by the day. Over forty funders (both national and local) have committed to co-fund or align funding.
  • Learn from experience Although the covid-19 pandemic is unlike anything we have witnessed in living memory, we were able to call upon lessons learnt from the funder responses to emergencies in 2017. The collaborative programmes demonstrated that it is possible for funders to step outside their normal way of working and significantly speed up decision making.

Read the full article about philanthropists' collective action against COVID-19 by Will Hanford at NPC.