Giving Compass' Take:

• David La Piana, writing for Stanford Social Innovation Review, explains the charts below that portray the full scope of the impact of COVID-19 on nonprofit revenue. 

• What can donors glean from this research? 

• Learn how you can help nonprofits during COVID-19. 

 

 

 

The impact of COVID-19 on life around the globe is extraordinary, and nonprofits are no exception to the disruption. As the chart above reveals, roughly 73 percent of the organizations La Piana Consulting recently surveyed reported a drop in revenue. That fact may be an unsurprising consequence of the COVID-19 crisis, but the scope of it is nonetheless shocking. However, the results weren't entirely bad: 26 percent of social service organizations reported revenue increases during this period, possibly reflecting rising demand and timely governmental or philanthropic response. One respondent described the funding outlook in these terms: “It’s really rough. It’s scary. We don’t know if we’ll survive through the shutdown and even if we do, we don’t have high hopes that the economy will return to normal any time soon, so revenue will continue to be difficult to raise or secure.”

Many people are wondering what the “new normal” is going to be. Working from home seems to be a big part of it for the nonprofits we surveyed. Eighty-two percent of respondents reported the majority of their staff are now working from home. Another 12 percent reported that half or fewer of their staff were working from home. Going virtual doesn't stop there—82 percent reported digitalizing some or all of the programs and services they offered. This trend generally held across all subsectors. As one respondent wrote, the pandemic “inspired us to be more agile, to pivot and approach issues more innovatively, and challenged us to look at our work differently going forward.” Another noted that “it's been very difficult in many ways but also very positive in adapting our culture to be more fluid, nimble, and paperless.”

Read the full article about nonprofit revenue by David La Piana at Stanford Social Innovation Review.