Giving Compass' Take:

• Social sector organizations that operate digitally are becoming necessary to respond to COVID-19, build resilience, and support vulnerable populations. 

• How can you help organizations that are struggling to shift their workspaces to provide ongoing digital support?

• Read more on how to work remotely and respond to a pandemic in the social sector. 

Over three million workers filed new claims for unemployment insurance in the United States this past week, representing a record-breaking surge in economic need as the COVID-19 pandemic forced families into seclusion. Even as the need grew, the pandemic forced government and private social services to close their offices, disrupting the normal channels people use to seek help. Even digital systems began to fail—for example, unemployment claims sites in several states reportedly crashed due to high web traffic.

The capacity to operate digitally and to quickly reconfigure support systems has become a critical lifeline.

Amid this unprecedented disruption, the capacity to operate digitally and to quickly reconfigure support systems has become a critical lifeline. While the original intent in building these capacities was to deliver better service to more people, they are proving key to resilience in an emergency. Three examples from our grantees illustrate this well:

  • The Digital Services Collaborative (DSC) at Georgetown University’s Beeck Center for Social Innovation + Impact was founded with support from The Rockefeller Foundation in 2019.
  • Another great example is the work of Benefits Data Trust, an organization that uses technology and data science to reach out to and connect people with critical benefits and enrollment support.
  • The closure of physical operations at social service centers causes an array of problems, increasing the demand and highlighting the critical need for digital support tools. The COVID-19 pandemic has hit America in the middle of the tax season.

Read the full article about operate digitally by Kevin O'Neil and Durva Trivedi at the Rockefeller Foundation.