Giving Compass' Take:

• Catherine Crystal Foster encourages donors to practice unrestrained, immediate giving, as though they were preparing for a global pandemic.

• Foster uses a crystal ball analogy to show us the importance of immediate giving. What can we do to make sure our giving meets the demands of the current crises?

• Read more about the necessity of immediate giving to combat coronavirus and the ensuing crises.

Imagine you, a Silicon Valley donor, received a crystal ball at this time last year. You were enjoying a summer vacation and looking toward the fall, when you’d be attending a flurry of events in September and October, planning for your end-of-year giving. But a glance at your crystal ball revealed that a devastating “black swan” event was about to occur around the world and at your doorstep.

Millions of people would fall ill and hundreds of thousands would die. Countless people would experience hardship and poverty for the first time. Bedrock nonprofits in your community would suddenly lose access to reliable sources of funding, and some would go under. Donors, community organizations, and those they serve would be unable to come together physically to share, observe, serve, and participate. And the streets would ring with cries for racial justice, some from people who never dreamed they’d become activists, some from those whose suffering stretches back for generations and who have been calling for change for far too long.

What would be different about the way you thought about your giving, allocated your dollars, set your priorities, spent down your philanthropic capital, and related to those who receive your funding? Would you have devoted more time, attention, and dollars to different communities? Would you have questioned any practices that you previously thought were necessary?

Ask yourself, what would you have done if you had known this confluence of crises was coming — and then do it.

It’s tempting to believe that we could never have envisioned any of what has taken place or how we should respond. But we didn’t actually need a magical view into the future to act before, and nor should we let that hold us back now.

Read the full article about immediate giving during coronavirus by Catherine Crystal Foster at Medium.