Giving Compass' Take:

• Michael Gordon Voss speaks with Patricia McIlreavy, CEO and president of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, and Fred Kaynor, vice president of business development and marketing at Schwab Charitable, about the philanthropic response and strategies for addressing COVID-19 and other crises. 

• How will other disasters such as storms and hurricanes compound the response to COVID-19? 

• Read these basic tips for disaster giving. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended public health and economies around the world, challenging governments, organizations, and individuals. As the crisis continues to unfold with remarkable speed and scale, the philanthropic sector has used different strategies and tactics to support people in need. How might it do more?

SSIR's publisher, Michael Voss, speaks about philanthropists' response to COVID-19 with Patricia McIlreavy, CEO and president of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, and Fred Kaynor, vice president of business development and marketing at Schwab Charitable. The full transcript of the episode can be read below.

MICHAEL GORDON VOSS:  Welcome to season two of Giving With Impact, an original podcast series from Stanford Social Innovation Review, developed with the support of Schwab Charitable. I’m your host, Michael Gordon Voss, publisher of SSIR.

Patty, as I mentioned in your introduction, you came into your role at CDP in March. At that point, the COVID-19 pandemic had already been ravaging parts of Asia and Europe, and we were beginning to feel its impact here in the US, most notably in New York and here in the Bay Area. Where are you and the Center currently seeing the areas of most acute need, both here in the US and globally?

PATRICIA McILREAVY: Michael, thank you for having me on the podcast. As you know, CDP is looking both domestically and globally, and there really isn’t any one place where we’re seeing the same need. So it’s very hard to say where we’re positioning ourselves in terms of any one thing, because it changes daily. Anyone tracking the Johns Hopkins site, anyone looking at the different spaces that are happening, places that we feel were flattened are seeing resurgences. Places that we expected to stay low are actually seeing increases. That is the nature of a pandemic. It is incredibly difficult to stay on track of it, especially something which has no idea of borders. I mean, this is going to take us some time and we need to be prepared for that in the long run.

Listen to the full podcast about supporting those in need during COVID-19 at Stanford Social Innovation Review.