The COVID-19 Crisis & Nonprofits: Do you have the stats to support an emergency fund need?
If you're questioning whether or not you should be soliciting gifts to an emergency response fund, you get can your answer quickly and simply by doing the math.
I was caught off-guard by the amount of broad-base appeals I saw go out quickly when the coronavirus crisis hit our country like a ton of bricks. At first, I thought "of course every nonprofit is having an emergency," and then a few hours later I thought "where are the numbers behind these emergencies to prove they're in one?" Knowing that people give when they have the utmost trust about how their money is spent, it felt like a giant miss that asks were going out without real, hard stats to support the needs.
Let's use educational institutions as our examples. There are those whose families and students have already paid their tuition, have their basic food and shelter needs met, and are plugging away with distance learning from their computers at home. There are those who have fielded dozens of phone calls and emails for four weeks now from parents who cannot pay the remainder of their Spring tuition balance, who could use some help with meals each week, and who aren't even considering the possibility of returning in the fall if it will cost them any amount of money. The latter is in a position to gather the data and create a new fund. They have an unprecedented and unexpected need. To say they have a new need wouldn't be enough though. We need to know how many families have a need, how much money that equates to, when the needs are hitting the organization, and their plan to rally. If I'm lending my support to you in response to a solicitation that yells "help," I want to know why it's an emergency.
When we use this language, we're making a one-time ask. If we crunch the numbers and meet with our admin team only to learn that although this situation isn't ideal, it isn't hurting us right now, then we have no need for an emergency response fund. If we hop on the bandwagon because everyone else is and we don't want to lose our shot at some extra support, we may be risking future support from our loyal and consistent donors. Why? Because you can't back up why you have this extra need now to justify the added email blast solicitation. Families may have already put you into their philanthropic budgets for annual gifts, and you could be taking from those buckets -- your anticipated annual, unrestricted support -- to raise funds for a new, restricted, and maybe-not-necessary fund. Getting a one-time gift that can't be stewarded with proper data and outcomes because of a lack of immediate needs is not worth the potential risk to your trusting donor base. They trust you because of how you've asked them for support in the past, and because of how you've spent that support.
I'll echo my sentiments from a previous post again: do not assume you know everyone's financial situation; life must go on to the extent that it can, and when you have the chance to ask, do so gracefully and softly with much emphasis on your gratitude. Do not make impulse decisions in the language that you use when you ask or the framework around your ask without having iron-clad facts to back up your needs. It's okay, after all, to be one of the places that doesn't have a dire need right now. But if you don't, then I hope you will carry on with your well-considered and already-planned annual fund asks that demonstrate the power of unrestricted dollars and ongoing support!
