In light of the recent pandemic, we look forward to sharing positive stories about how our clients and community members are responding. We know this is a challenging time for many, and we are here to support you. We hope that by sharing these very brief stories, others will feel they are not alone. We encourage everyone to lift up one another and share their stories. Youth Eastside Services is a leading provider of youth and family behavioral health services in East King County. YES provides evidence-based mental health counseling, substance use and co-occurring counseling and treatment, psychiatric services, and education and prevention programs. They help children, youth and families struggling with depression, grief, trauma, substance use, cultural- and gender-identity issues, anxiety, ADHD, autism, eating disorders, low self-esteem and much more. “YES is a leading provider of youth and family behavioral health services in East King County. YES provides evidence-based mental health counseling, substance use and co-occurring counseling and treatment, psychiatric services, and education and prevention programs. We help children, youth and families struggling with depression, grief, trauma, substance use, cultural- and gender-identity issues, anxiety, ADHD, autism, eating disorders, low self-esteem and much more. During this crisis, YES had to suspend in-person services and programs at our three office locations and at over 50 schools, teen, and community centers. Instead, YES has been providing services and programs using TeleHealth a HIPAA compliant, web-based technology. We know that at a time when everything feels so overwhelming, mental health and wellness is more important than ever. Throughout this crisis YES has continued to provide critical virtual programs and services in responsible, creative, and flexible ways. YES has also adapted our fundraising efforts to meet the demand of the much-needed TeleHealth services.  In March YES had to cancel the annual Invest in Youth Breakfast of 1,000+ guests. The breakfast is our only fundraising event, and we rely on the donations from the breakfast to be able to provide critical services for young people and families in our community, regardless of their ability to pay. Due to this cancelation, we hosted a weeklong virtual event campaign sharing inspiring stories through video on our website, email, and social media.  We were concerned that we were not going to reach our goal for the event, which would impact the at-risk children, youth, and families that we serve.  Thanks to over 550 donors who contributed to the virtual breakfast to provide youth in our community with hope. Our donors became a part of the solution to provide YES clients with immediate, evidence-based, and compassionate care through TeleHealth by contributing a record-breaking $940,000 to the event.  We are so grateful for their support! The current situation has increased isolation, anxiety, and stress, and we know now more than ever how important it is to continue to receive critical mental health and substance use services. The most important of these lessons learned is that we are stronger together when we areunited in our purpose to help children and youth regardless of their ability to pay for services. YES is grateful to have an incredible Board of Directors (Trustees), highly skilled staff and generous donors, supporting children, youth, and families in our community. While we are currently facing an incredibly unique time in human history, YES will keep thriving and being integral in helping others, and our community to reach truly impactful positive change, now and into the future. While everyday feels more exhausting during this crisis, at YES, we are constantly amazed and grateful for the generosity of our donors.  From our experience, donors will make gifts and do their part to help organizations, causes and beneficiary groups that they care about.   Like the mantra from the movie Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come,” the same is true for fundraising, especially during this time. If we let donors know that help is needed, they will give.  To paraphrase Steven Screen from The Better FundraisingCo, Be vulnerable by sharing the needs of your organization and what your clients or beneficiaries are facing, then ask your donors to meet those needs with a gift. Do not hide your needs. If you have a need right now, share it with your donors. Let your donors decide whether to meet that need or not. Do not take the decision out of their hands.The collective effort of everyone from YES clinical staff to Clinical Directors, the Development team, Board members, and donors who are all working together to help and serve children, youth and families is incredibly inspiring, humbling and what keeps us going. When we hear from a client like Leo who shares with us “I don’t have a lot of people to talk to so being able to talk to someone twice a week, definitely helps. My mood would be absolutely terrible otherwise. I would be in a very, very bad way if my therapy got cut off for however long this goes on. Having the option to see a therapist has made a difference. I need that,” makes the work we all do worth it.” – Angela Chapman, Fund Development Manager at Youth Eastside Services Learn more about Youth Eastside Services and how you can support their mission on their website: https://www.youtheastsideservices.org/ We would love to hear how your organization has been adapting to provide services to your clients and how we can support you during this time. Please reach out to us online here.

In light of the recent pandemic, we look forward to sharing positive stories about how our clients and community members are responding. We know this is a challenging time for many, and we are here to support you. We hope that by sharing these very brief stories, others will feel they are not alone. We encourage everyone to lift up one another and share their stories. Photo by Auriza Ugalino for International Examiner International Examiner is the oldest and largest nonprofit, pan-Asian Pacific American publication in the Northwest, and is committed to sharing APIA stories. This May, they’re releasing a special edition issue on COVID-19 and community resilience depicting how the APIA community has been fighting for our elders, our health, and our dignity during this difficult time. “Our mission is to tell the stories of Asian Pacific Islander Americans. Especially in the age of COVID-19, this has become increasingly important, with a return of yellow peril. We’ll be having a special edition COVID-19 community resilience issue coming out in early May, depicting how the APIA community has been fighting for our elders, our health, and our dignity during this difficult time. The more our community does to act in a time of crisis, the more stories we will tell, thus the more empowered our community becomes by hearing those stories. Also, our financial model for ensuring our survival as an organization is strong enough, such that we don’t have to rely exclusively on one source of revenue. We have community partners who believe in us, who have been reaching out to support us. We have donors and subscribers who are new or long-time fans of the paper. We have a strong team of multi-talented individuals who are devoted to this organization. This reinforces even more so the idea that our paper has always been “small and scrappy” (as our Editor in Chief says). With so many people invested in the mission of our paper, we can get through anything. I’ve only been working at the paper for a year and a half, so I’m now witnessing that the strength of our organization surpasses what I initially believed. We’re also learning not to take the expected for granted. None of this will ever be “done” – the norm never helped to serve those who are marginalized and in need in this community. We need to create a new norm that will help serve us all. To other nonprofits in the community, I hope we can get through this together, and continue to support each other. I’m grateful towards organizations who have long supported us, and continue to do so during this time. Asian Pacific Islander Americans for Civic Engagement, or APACE, will be sponsoring our community response COVID-19 issue. Our readers and our community are so special to us. We hope to continue returning in kind.” –  Auriza Ugalino, Photographer & Community Relations Manager at the International Examiner Learn more about the International Examiner and how you can support the APIA community on their website: https://iexaminer.org/ Follow Auriza Ugalino on Instagram @aurizalynn.photo for more of their work. We would love to hear how your organization has been adapting to provide services to your clients and how we can support you during this time. Please reach out to us online here.

In light of the recent pandemic, we look forward to sharing positive stories about how our clients and community members are responding. We know this is a challenging time for many, and we are here to support you. We hope that by sharing these very brief stories, others will feel they are not alone. We encourage everyone to lift up one another and share their stories. North Helpline volunteers sorting donations. North Helpline‘s mission is to assist their neighbors in obtaining basic needs such as adequate food and housing. We connected with Kelly Brown from North Helpline to learn more about how they are adapting to provide their services amid the COVID-19 pandemic: “We are really focusing on our food bank program and rent assistance. We have done away with registration processes and are simply giving our neighbors in need groceries. In an effort to make sure we are able to continue serving our community without interruption we have split our staff and volunteers into teams that rotate weeks on and off site. This new model has required us to hire some temp staff and recruit 4x the amount of volunteers. Our rent assistance program usually requires an eviction notice but with the moratorium on evictions we are working with our neighbors and their landlords to make sure they don’t fall too far behind on rent. We have always known our community is there for their neighbors but have been astounded by our community’s response to this crisis. We had triple the amount of new volunteer applications in March than we normally do!  When the schools closed the principal of Jane Adams reached out offering her staff as volunteers as well as making sure we knew about the other resources of Seattle Public schools. We have also learned to be really flexible and responsive to our community’s needs.  Every single staff member has been creating, sharing, and learning new processes.  I am so grateful to be working with this team. As I write this I can hear volunteers talk about how comfortable they are with volunteering here because we have it so together. It is because of our hard working and thinking staff that our community has somewhere they can rely on during this uncertain time. To members of the nonprofit community, something I keep telling myself and my staff is this is a marathon and not a sprint. We need to take care of ourselves and be able to sustain the pace we are setting for a while. Also, this situation we are in is what reserves are for! Use them! Purple team is on-site this week and I am working in the office to support the team.  The relief I hear in people’s voices when I tell them we are open and have changed the food bank to comply with social distancing is what keeps me going.” – Kelly Brown, Executive Director at North Helpline You can learn more about the North Helpline and how you can support their mission and programs on their website: https://www.northhelpline.org/ We would love to hear how your organization has been adapting to provide services to your clients and how we can support you during this time. Please reach out to us online here.

In light of the recent pandemic, we look forward to sharing positive stories about how our clients and community members are responding. We know this is a challenging time for many, and we are here to support you. We hope that by sharing these very brief stories, others will feel they are not alone. We encourage everyone to lift up one another and share their stories. YouthCare staff loading food donations from Northwest Harvest YouthCare is an organization that works to end youth homelessness and to ensure that young people are valued for who they are and empowered to achieve their potential. We connected with them in early April to learn more about how they are adapting amid the COVID-19 crisis. “YouthCare serves some of our community’s most vulnerable young people. We cannot shut down, even in dire times. Right now, our priority is to continue providing essential and life-saving services to young people while mitigating the risk of exposure for young people, staff, and our community. Here are some of the ways we’ve adapted in order to continue our work. Essential Infrastructure: To ensure for everyone’s safety, we have made changes to our operations and the ways we can receive support, including closing our main office to the public and temporarily suspending volunteer support. We have opened up an urgent pantry in our administrative office’s basement so that our programs can have daily access to food. And we’ve moved all fundraising—including our annual luncheon—to online platforms. Our Programs: While YouthCare offers a comprehensive range of services to help young people reach lasting stability, right now we are consolidating resources and teams to keep young people safe through this crisis. We have temporarily suspended our education, employment, and prevention programs to focus exclusively on the core services of food, shelter, and housing. Staff from suspended programs have been redeployed to help run core programs and keep young people safe. Our housing and shelter programs are now serving a fixed group of young people with 24/7 staffing, meals, and supports. Young people are being asked to stay inside per Governor Inslee’s stay-at-home order. We have increased indoor activities and are supporting young people to take breaks and safe walks outside. This pandemic has brought new challenges and lessons that continue to humble us every day. One of the biggest challenges is ensuring for health and safety in shelter/congregate care settings. Shelters rely on communal space and resources: shared sleeping quarters, meals, laundry, bathrooms, etc. Young people do not have the ability to go to their own room or the privilege of privacy. We are trying to be as creative with space as possible—repurposing classrooms, conference rooms, and office space—and have implemented increased cleaning cycles and disinfectant procedures. Another challenge is the limitation of movement. We find ourselves grappling with the core tension between personal freedom and collective safety—navigating the complicated balance of keeping our doors open and shut at the same time. Like all of us, young people are not used to such stringent expectations, confined space, and limited movement, and the long hours and level of strain are taxing on staff as well. We’ve always known that our youth and staff are resilient. This pandemic is testing the strength of that resilience—and we’re learning about the depth of our courage, resolve, nimbleness, and capacity to problem-solve. With every setback or new anxiety, people are still willing to help in whatever way they can—from our community to our incredible staff. They are undeterred. This is why we’re able to continue serving young people through crisis. We’re continually blown away by all our fellow nonprofits working hard to continue serving our community, and we send thoughts of encouragement to all nonprofits affected by this pandemic. Non-profits are part of our emergency response system and their staff are first responders. The non-profit sector has always provided life-saving services—but even more so right now. Our appreciation for their dedication and commitment cannot be captured in words. Our staff keeps us going! They are doing heroic work every day in these uncertain times. They each hold a deep passion for our mission and the potential of every young person. The depth of that commitment right now is breathtaking to witness and motivates all of us to do the best work we can for young people.” – Nicole Phaysith, Communications Specialist at YouthCare Learn more about the YouthCare and how you can support their mission and programs on their website: https://youthcare.org/ We would love to hear how your organization has been adapting to provide services to your clients and how we can support you during this time. Please reach out to us online here.

In light of the recent pandemic, we look forward to sharing positive stories about how our clients and community members are responding. We know this is a challenging time for many, and we are here to support you. We hope that by sharing these very brief stories, others will feel they are not alone. We encourage everyone to lift up one another and share their stories. Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank is committed to providing healthy, fresh foods and essential items to families in the Issaquah region. COVID-19 forced them to rethink their priorities and operations. Ostara connected with the to learn more about how they are adapting to serve their clients: “The IFCB has undergone strategy and contingency planning from a progressive approach, understanding that our model would need the ability to adapt as the situation evolved. We started by identifying our top two priorities, then what the current restrictions are, weighed against those priorities. What we came up with was a model for engaging volunteers, donors, and even clients that, #1 put everyone’s health as a top priority, and #2 ensured that we were doing the best we could to continue the most basic aspects of our mission: providing food and diapers to a growing population of individuals in need. We’ve altered our model twice since March 16th to adapt to the growing need for reduced exposure, yet kept the process and communication pieces simple and clear for clients, volunteers, and donors to continue to engage with as few barriers as possible. I think our organization has learned some priceless things through all of this. We’ve learned that all of us, regardless of whether we are program, operations, or development staff, have the same values and commitment to our mission. We’ve learned that we can operate extremely effectively, even when all our normal processes have been turned upside down, and we’re not working side by side. We’ve also learned that consistent and clear communication can calm an anxious client and rally an army of supporters during a crisis. To the members of the nonprofit community, now’s the time to be more willing than ever to think outside the box. With priorities and resources looking so differently during this crisis, now’s the time to ask what your role is and how you can change your paradigm to maintain your relevance by adapting.” – Bonnie DeCaro-Monahan, Development Director at Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank To learn more about the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank and how you can support their mission: https://www.issaquahfoodbank.org/ We would love to hear how your organization has been adapting to provide services to your clients and how we can support you during this time. Please reach out to us online here.

This post is part three of a three-part series. If you haven’t already, go back and check out part one and part two, where we describe what happened to the nonprofit sector in Washington during the last economic recession and what nonprofit leaders can do today to survive. At Ostara, we have come to recognize that our team is in the unusual position of being able to connect the dots between nonprofit needs and grantmaker desires. There is so much overlap in that space, and in a time like this, we know that grantmakers and philanthropists want nothing more than to find the overlap and lean into it. (You can tell by the still-growing list of response funds.) In that spirit, Ostara would like to offer a few recommendations of where and how foundations can think about prioritizing their goals. Plan to support recovery in phases. Quick response to emergent needs is necessary, but so is long term thinking about the stability and planning for the organization. As our previous research shows, there are short, mid, and long term periods of time in which the economy will cycle back around. Grantmakers that openly and explicitly communicate phased thinking – on websites and in emails and outreach – will help current grantees and potential grantees see where they may fit in. The more nonprofits can understand the timing of a potential partnership in the longer term, the better they can plan holistically and prioritize their time. Understand that survival may be the key metric for success. It won’t be the number of people served, the number of hours worked, or graduation rates; simply existing in 2021 will be one of the hardest and most important things a nonprofit is able to accomplish. This could turn out to be especially true for organizations whose mission is not specifically health care or human services – such as education, arts, culture, environment, advocacy, and social justice organizations. Although, we are seeing that all organizations and their people are directly connected to this pandemic in some way. Some foundation staff already know or suspect that reporting requirements and outcome tracking are excessive. Grantmakers that clarify expectations around outcomes for current grantees or potential future grantees with sensitivity to this reality – and grantmakers who require as little as possible – will provide the biggest relief from a grantee’s day-to-day stresses. Nonprofits need stability and some grantmakers may be in a position to provide it.  Long-term, unrestricted financial commitments will make a bigger difference than any other kind of financial gift. A grantmaker that removes as many restrictions as possible – not just during this epidemic but permanently – will have the biggest impact on a nonprofit’s ability to serve their community. Consider making bigger and more long term commitments, reassuring grantees that they can count on multi-year funding without meeting benchmarks. Foundations may feel that this is the absolute wrong time to spend down assets, but just as with financial ROI, investing in social impact ROI when the economy is most vulnerable can have the biggest social return. Grantmakers often encourage bold action from their grantees and this is an opportunity to demonstrate what that looks like. Money is great, and is only part of the solution. Nonprofits need ongoing, relevant fundraising expertise and capacity to complement and support their teams. That is likely to become even more true as budgets are slimmed and funding levels drop over a sustained period of time. Now is the time for organizations to plan for the future and invest in the important work of engaging donors and stakeholders. Grantmakers can now consider what role they can play in helping nonprofits assess their organizational needs and access that kind of expertise and support. Philanthropy in the form of foundation giving is a core driver of nonprofit work in our region. We know that grantmakers are here for the long haul, and Ostara shares the desire to support both individual nonprofits as well as the longevity of the sector as a whole. Grantmakers face an unprecedented opportunity to show up in new and innovative ways when it is most needed and most impactful to the largest number of people. Some may act quickly, and some may take their time to plan out your response. Everyone can play a role in this recovery in a way that resonates with each organization’s core values. There is much opportunity and we are here to help in every way we can. How can we work together? We are here for you and we will walk with you as you navigate this situation. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you would like to discuss how to shift your fundraising event plans, how to respond to funder inquiries about programs and services, how to manage remote work for your teams, or to navigate fears with donors or volunteers. We’re here to connect.

This post is co-authored by Olivia Miller Gattuso with input from the entire Ostara team.This post is part two of a three-part series. If you haven’t already, go back and check out part one, where we describe what happened to the nonprofit sector in Washington between 2007 and 2012 during the last economic recession. Nonprofit workers, we see you: you are overwhelmed, tired, and genuinely fearful about the future of your work. The organization that you have invested so much passion, time, and energy into may be wobbling. Donations may not be coming in, you may have had to cancel big in-person fundraising events, your programs may have shifted or paused in ways that threaten your ability to achieve your mission, and your colleagues may be losing their jobs and livelihoods. You are scrambling to adapt, to pivot, to ensure that your organization—and its vital team of people—still exist in three years, in one year, or even next month. A New York Times article quoted Tim Delaney, chief executive of the National Council of Nonprofits, saying, “In an ordinary disaster, no matter how severe the impact, there is a border beyond which life is normal. Here there is no border. We see the first tidal wave coming in, but know there will be a second, a third and a fourth after it.” Another article points out that three-quarters of nonprofits say they will run out of cash in less than six months. “Nonprofits live on the edge, pouring everything they have into their mission.” For organizations like this, a short-term dip in cash can mean layoffs, program cancellations, and dissolutions. But, it can also mean survival or even growth; improvements in long-term planning, cash position, and donations; higher contributions by board members and volunteers; more effective program service and delivery; and a greater understanding of the need for capacity investments when this is all over. In fact, overall the nonprofit sector was, in some ways, able to weather the last recession better than for-profit businesses. What makes the difference between an organization that closes its doors and an organization that grows to meet community demand during an economic downturn? What can you—tireless nonprofit leader—do right now to ensure that your organization survives this crisis and serves your community through it? We have waded through the rising waters of resources out there to pull together a data-driven list of the strategies that work, proven through real nonprofits’ experiences of the last recession. As you figure out how to proceed, consider these tried and true crisis-responses. In the next 30 days: Clarify the gap between your expenses and revenue. An article by Steve Zimmerman at Nonprofit Quarterly identified a few steps that we recommend every nonprofit do now in response to COVID-19. He said to: “Understand your cash position.” Leadership must understand how long they can cover expenses without any new infusions of revenue. “Assess damage to revenue streams.” How much revenue that you expected to come in this year do you already know will not arrive? “Look at the dual bottom line.” Consider the impact of a program alongside its financial costs. A healthy nonprofit will have a mix of services that generate revenue or sustain themselves vs. services that are expensive to deliver but result in tremendous community impact. We like the version below of the map Zimmerman referenced. As you think about how to proceed this year, consider programs that are Stars (generate revenue or donations and align with your mission), Cash Cows (generate revenue), and Heart projects (require significant resources but are essential to your mission. Now is the time to question projects that may be uncertain in either revenue or mission, that are experimental, or that you know are not a good use of resources. Engage your donors and funders to help you fill the gap. Approach funders that you have strong relationships and make a clear ask to help you through any short-term cashflow challenges. Find creative ways, like challenge pools, for your major donors to lead the way.  Don’t be afraid to ask funders for overhead funds, unrestricted grants, and multi-year commitments. We recently wrote posted twice about how to do this. Check out here and here. Between now and the end of 2020: A 2011 study led by David Harrison at the University of Washington examined a set of nonprofits in King County, WA and the actions they took between 2008 and 2010 to weather the last economic recession. Learning from this research and our decade of work with more than 350 nonprofits, we recommend that nonprofits do the following this year: Involve everyone. Include your full team in identifying creative solutions that mitigate harm to the organization and its community. Talk to the people you serve – what do they need and what is the best way to provide it? Draw on the energy and passion of your staff and board to create a team-based approach to getting through this. Engage your donors and volunteers – how are they able to give and what do they care about? Move swiftly and boldly. After you have determined your cash position and the programs or expenses that are not serving your organization, act quickly to make difficult decisions that will preserve assets and engage effective fundraising strategies. As Harrison’s research pointed out, this may mean reducing your fixed costs in ways you couldn’t have imagined before. Do you need your office this year? Can you immediately cut some utilities, the monthly water cooler delivery, or other nonessentials? Engage in shorter-term, more nimble planning. We all know things are changing rapidly, seemingly every day. Now is not the time for a five-year strategic plan. Work with your team to determine what you are going to do in shorter bursts of time, and then reassess together as things change. What is your 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month plan? Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. The nonprofits that survived in Harrison’s research pursued partnerships, pivoted programming, and sought new service delivery methods to adapt to their changing environments. We have already seen tremendous examples of this – like the Refugee Artisan Initiative who pivoted their artisan production process to sew greatly-needed masks for healthcare professionals, or Cancer Lifeline who has started hosting their in-person support groups and classes online. Focus on relationships always, but especially now. The common thread throughout all our work here at Ostara is relationships. Whether we are talking about grant writing, holiday appeals, events, capital campaigns, boards, or major gifts – relationships are paramount to the success of a nonprofit. Never has this been more true. Take time to connect with clients, staff, donors, volunteers, and your board – check-in and have honest conversations. Invite them into your process, and find out how you can support them. Always come back to your mission – and make sure it’s a clear one. It’s never a waste of time to review your mission and values. Now more than ever, we are encouraging our clients to make sure everyone on their team knows why they exist, and that any project that does not support that mission in some way falls to the back burner. In 2021 and Future: Appreciate and communicate with your team. Show that you appreciate your staff and the work that they have done up to this point, and continue to do this into the future. Consider donors, funders, volunteers, and board members part of your team, and invest heavily in stewarding those relationships. Re-examine your revenue mix. The biggest action that organizations in Harrison’s study took to sustain their operations over the last recession was to reimagine their list of revenue sources and ensure that list was as diverse as it possibly could be. As you do this, consider: Annual fund activities like events, annual mail, and electronic appeals. Major gifts – targeted requests to the segment of donors that already give the most to your organization. Private grants – strategic proposal-writing to well-aligned foundations and corporations. Remember to refresh your knowledge of the funding landscape every six months. Public grants and contracts – projects in partnership with city, county, state, or federal governments to achieve common goals. Be aware this may change from one administration to another. Earned revenue and memberships – creative ways to leverage your resources and partnerships to sell services or products Special campaigns via social media, peer-to-peer platforms, community giving days and more Build—and don’t be afraid to use—your reserves. If you have an operating reserve, use it! Now is the time to draw on that fund to engage in intentional deficit spending. That means you may approve a deficit budget next year. Explain to your staff and board why you are doing this and what it will allow you to achieve. Communicate this decision with funders and explain why it is a wise financial choice that allows you to continue serving your community. Make a plan to rebuild that reserve in the future. If you don’t already have an operating reserve, reiterate to your board why this is a crucial element of emergency preparedness. Nonprofit best practice is to establish three to six months in a board-designated operating reserve. Set a goal for annual contributions and a target number you would like to hold in reserves. When you are able, create an operating budget that includes a contribution to your reserve. Create a culture of understanding on your team about the importance of a reserve and its value to your long-term sustainability Take time to plan for unexpected challenges. Once you have made it through the initial six to twelve months of this economic recession, work together to create plans for the next unexpected disaster. Are you prepared for an emergency? Do you have a leadership succession plan in place? Do you know what you will do if an expected revenue source drops off? Lastly, advocate for the sector. Follow along and support regional conveners like Washington Nonprofits and Communities Rise as they fight for funding and systems that support the nonprofit sector.  Your voice is important. Nonprofits have proven their resiliency time after time. We know that COVID-19 has affected our world and community in unprecedented – and still unknown – ways. And yet, you are the real-life nonprofit heroes, continuing to show your bravery, responsiveness, and commitment to your communities and mission during this difficult time. We look forward to helping you along the way and witnessing the impact of your work as we work through this crisis together. We plan to share stories of positivity, community, and hope in nonprofits on our social media pages as much as we can over the coming weeks and months. Follow these stories here.Read Part III of this series where we discuss how funders can make the biggest impact for the long term, where and how to invest to help nonprofits survive this pandemic and the years that follow, and what mistakes to avoid. We are here for you and we will walk with you as you navigate this situation. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you would like to discuss how to shift your fundraising event plans, how to respond to funder inquiries about programs and services, how to manage remote work for your teams, or to navigate fears with donors or volunteers. We’re here to connect.

This post is co-authored by Olivia Miller Gattuso with input from the entire Ostara team. Today – April 13,  2020 – much of the United States is weeks or months into temporary routines of social distancing, mandated by governors and urged by the President in response to the COVID-19 crisis. For the nonprofit sector, the economic impacts of this are profound. As programming and fundraising events are canceled, staff are reduced, volunteers and clients are not showing up, and revenue sources shift or disappear, nonprofits’ survival is uncertain. We get it. In fact, we have seen this before. The Ostara Group was founded shortly after the largest drop in the U.S. financial markets since the 1929 Great Depression. The worst of the 2008 recession lasted a year and a half; by mid-2009, numbers began to trend upwards and the turmoil started to quell. But the 18-month period wreaked havoc on the nonprofit sector, in lasting ways. Last month, Congress passed a $2 trillion economic stimulus package (the CARES Act) that includes emergency loans for small businesses and nonprofits to begin alleviating some of these pressures. And as many have rightfully called out, this is a time for more and greater funding for the nonprofit sector; “this is the rainy day funders have been saving for.” The Pacific Northwest philanthropic community is beginning to provide lifelines for nonprofit organizations of all shapes and sizes in this unprecedented time. Regional funders like Seattle Foundation, Community Foundation of Snohomish County, King County, and many others have joined together to establish rapid response funds to support specific COVID-19 needs in the community. Nearly 500 foundations across the U.S. have signed a philanthropy pledge of action that commits them to compassionate grantmaking during this challenging time. And a coalition of Seattleites called All in Seattle has banded together to raise funds to funnel directly into local nonprofits. Yet, we know the fight to survive this is far from over for nonprofits. To help our nonprofit community through this, we are posting a series of three blog posts: Part I: What does the data tell us about how funders responded during the last recession? What can nonprofits expect this time? Part II: Based on those lessons, what should nonprofits be focusing on to survive this? What fundraising strategies might be most effective right now? How can or should you pivot their operations, programming, fundraising, and finances to best leverage public and private investments to survive? Part III: How can funders make the biggest impact? Where and how should you be investing to help nonprofits survive this pandemic and the years that follow? What mistakes should you avoid? Part I, Part II, and Part III are now live on our website. We are here for you and we will walk with you as you navigate this situation. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you would like to discuss how to shift your fundraising event plans, how to respond to

This post is co-authored by Olivia Miller Gattuso with input from the entire Ostara team. This post is part one of a three-part series. In this post, we discuss what the data tells us about how funders responded during the last recession and what nonprofits can expect this time. To understand the extent of damage to the sector in the last recession and identify ways nonprofits can survive the crisis at hand, our team compiled giving trends from the top 50 private foundation funders in Washington State between 2007 and 2012.[1] During the last recession, it is worth noting three things: 1. Foundation funding surged, dropped, then recovered: Following the economic crash in mid-2008, private foundation giving experienced a temporary one-year boom of more than $150M[2] (presumably to address immediate short-term emergencies) and then a large drop below 2007 rates. By 2012, giving had almost entirely rebounded: in our sample, giving hit 98% of 2007 giving levels that year. These trends are consistent with national data, which shows funding did not fully recover until 2012. Figure 1 Source: Nonprofit Quarterly, March 2020 What does this mean for you? Think about your organization’s big picture and what you can do to prepare for 2021 and 2022. Even if you are doing okay now, know that more drop-offs in foundation funding could be coming down the road and consider a plan to increase revenue in other areas as a practical measure. Think about foundation funding as one piece in an interconnected ecosystem of funding. If foundation funding goes down, what other parts can go up? Read Part II of this series for very specific recommendations of what to do now to prepare. 2. Funders responded differently: In the 2008 economic crash, we see the response of funders in three different ways. In our sample: One-third of funders completely stopped giving. This reduction represented a loss of $39M to the local nonprofit economy. One-third gave less than the prior year. This shows the average funder decreased giving by 33%. One-third gave more. These funders gave an average of 83% more than the previous year.[3] The Seattle Foundation, whom we might view as a microcosm of donor behaviors and attitudes, awarded smaller grants to fewer grantees in 2008 and 2009 compared to 2007. By 2011, they gave more than twice as many grants but fewer total dollars. This indicates lower average amounts per grant, but more organizations impacted than before the recession. What does this mean for you? Reach out to all of your funders, but know that it is unlikely that all of them will respond the same way. Lean into relationships with funders who understand and are responding to the pressures you are feeling. Nurture those relationships, but don’t ignore the others – they will come back eventually and you want to be positioned to resume that relationship when they do. Check out this post that describes how to approach funders that you already have relationships with to garner additional support during this tricky time. 3. Funding varied per mission sector: The short and long term impacts of changing funder priorities were felt differently in each category. See below for the response of each sector: Education: Initial Response: In our list of 50 funders, education grants more than doubled in the year of the recession, following the pattern noted above. In 2009, though, they dropped back down to lower than pre-recession levels. At the same time, according to Philanthropy Northwest, grants to education-related causes increased in proportion to overall giving in that same time period, indicating a sharper decline in other categories. Rebound: By 2012, education funding in our sample had increased back to 44% higher than 2007 levels. By 2014, education received more dollars in the Pacific Northwest than any other category.[4] Today: There are key differences between the 2008 recession and this one for education organizations, primarily the profound impact that closing schools across the country has on youth and education-based programming. It is yet to be seen how this trend transfers into the age of COVID-19. Focus diligently on funder retention over the next 6-18 months. Thank funders who have given more money to your cause or shifted to general operating grants. Share anecdotes and regular updates about your work. Communicate regularly about how you are planning for the future and the funds you know you will need to sustain services. Demonstrate that you understand and are keeping up with changing education priorities. Arts: Initial Response: Between 2006 and 2008, arts funding increased overall, but decreased as a percentage of total charitable giving in the Pacific Northwest. Rebound: Philanthropy Northwest research indicates that arts giving declined in the region overall by $8.2M between 2010 and 2012. Community foundations and corporate funders actually increased their arts giving in this same time period. Today: So far, we have seen public funders step up to support arts grantees during this time. But some family foundations and COVID-19 relief funds have been slower to respond. Continue to advocate for the value of arts organizations, even during this time. Seek relationships with community foundations and corporations who already understand the tremendous value you provide. Keep your funders engaged by celebrating past performances and any programming that has pivoted to the digital space. Human Services: Initial Response: Funders in our sample followed a different trajectory than other categories; they immediately decreased funding in 2008 but then rose back up to distribute more funding by 2010 than they had pre-recession in 2007. This represents a quicker and bigger increase – likely in response to soaring community need for food, housing, and wage support—than giving in other categories. Rebound: By 2012, as the economy regained its footing, growth in human services funding was outpaced by growth in other areas. Today: We have already seen a surge in responsive funding for human services. However, we anticipate this increase to dissolve in 2021 and potentially level out or grow in future years. Similar to education funding, focus on funder retention. Environment: Initial Response:  The environmental sector took the hardest hit in 2009 as total dollars granted by our sample of funders shrank by 62%. Rebound: By 2012, environment funding had fully rebounded, and the number of grants distributed to environmental causes had more than doubled over 2007 numbers. Today: Pacific Northwest funders consistently give higher dollar amounts in this category than funders in other parts of the country (according to Philanthropy Northwest trends reports). While environmental grants may decrease in 2021, we anticipate the community interest to save our planet will grow in the future. Like in the arts, continue to communicate the value of your sector even in this time; what lessons can we learn right now about the impact of lower human activity on the environment? How can you use this time to plan for and expand services strategically? How can you bring funders along on that journey? Health: Initial Response: In the last recession, health funding was remarkably steady. 2012 giving by our sample was comparable to 2007 in both dollar amount and number of grants distributed. Rebound: When we expand the time period in question, though, we can see that health funding began to soar in subsequent years; between 2012 and 2014, overall giving to health-related causes more than doubled.[5] Today: Funding in this category has the potential to be the most radically different than the last recession, due to the overwhelming impact of COVID-19 on our health-related infrastructure. It is difficult to understand and predict how philanthropy will respond. In the past, family foundations made up most of the surge in health-giving, so look to these funders that you already have relationships with to bolster revenue in the next several years. Capital: Initial Response: During the real estate boom prior to the 2008 crash, capital funding had increased each year relative to other types of gifts and made up one-quarter of all grants in the Pacific Northwest. In 2009, capital grants quickly decreased to one-third of 2007 levels. During this time, we saw many foundations quit funding capital. As part of our capital projects back then, organizations had to plan for fewer foundation gifts and move many of those asks from the early stages of the campaign to the back-end of the campaign, with the hope that they would come back. Rebound: By 2012, our sample of funders recovered this loss and distributed more capital grants than in 2007. Philanthropy Northwest reports continued gains in capital funding of more than $37M (a 41% increase) between 2012 and 2014. Today: Many organizations will need to reassess the goals and timeline of their capital campaign. Make sure your case for support is clear and timely. As foundation funding for capital potentially declines, focus on stewarding your individual donors and engaging your community within this new context. What does this mean for you? While COVID-19 brings its own challenges to each sector, we can rely on 2008-2012 data to make conservative and educated budget projections for the next few years. It may be in your best interest to review your actuals from 2007 to 2009. What changed? Which funders were most responsive to your needs? Use this information to prepare your board, staff, and organization for the next few years. Most importantly, be sure to maintain communication with your current and lapsed funders—even if they deny your next proposal. From all of this, we know that many funders come back and new funders pop up, so continue your stewardship, cultivation, and research efforts. Based on our prior experience, this will lead to more institutional funding in the future. Read part two for more details on how to shift other parts of your fundraising efforts and your financial planning in response to the changing priorities of grant funders. Conclusion We know that the future is filled with uncertainty and fear, but nonprofits of all sectors have been resilient in the past, coming back stronger than ever. We must use the lessons of the past to help guide organizations through this unprecedented time. Look out for Part II of this three-part series that will help you navigate the next 30 days, prepare through the end of the 2020 fiscal year, and set 2021 up for success. We are in this together and we look forward to serving as your thought partner through this. We are here for you and we will walk with you as you navigate this situation. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you would like to discuss how to shift your fundraising event plans, how to respond to funder inquiries about programs and services, how to manage remote work for your teams, or to navigate fears with donors or volunteers. We’re here to connect. [1] Data included private foundations whose tax records can be found in Foundation Directory Online, through public Form 990s. We compiled the 50 foundations who are based in Washington State and who gave the most in terms of total dollars granted in the five-year period examined. Then we assessed their individual giving patterns towards WA-based 501(c)(3) organizations during that time. This is an admittedly incomplete, but still informative, the sample of WA philanthropy during the last recession. While private foundations do not make up the entire funding landscape in Washington, we know that they distribute as much as 85% of the region’s dollars. [2] Private grants increased from $701M to $859M between 2006 and 2008. [3] This excludes Gates who increased giving by $80M, more than doubling their 2007 figures. [4] See Philanthropy Northwest 2014 Trends report: https://philanthropynw.org/sites/default/files/resources/Trends_in_Northwest_Giving_2014-Philanthropy_Northwest-2.0.pdf [5] See Philanthropy Northwest 2017 trends report: https://philanthropynw.org/trends17/fundertype

In light of the recent pandemic, we look forward to sharing positive stories about how our clients and community members are responding. We know this is a challenging time for many, and we are here to support you. We hope that by sharing these very brief stories, others will feel they are not alone. We encourage everyone to lift up one another and share their stories. Ming-Ming Tung Edelman, Founder & President of Refugee Artisan Initiative Refugee Artisan Initiative‘s mission is to transform the lives of refugee and immigrant women by providing sustainable work in sewing and handcrafting products. Amid COVID-19 they’ve had to pivot from making home and kitchen sewn goods like napkins and potholders to making PPE for our health care workers. “We’re learning through these challenges that we can think outside the box and have a positive pivot from making home and kitchen sewn goods like napkins and potholders to making PPE that’s in demand and save lives. Our artisans can use their sewing skills toward a useful purpose instead of the possibility of unemployment. To members of the nonprofit community, you can transform your organization at a time of crisis while keeping the mission of the organization. I was able to do so by having a GoFundMe page highlighting how our refugee and immigrant artisans can use their sewings skills to make gear against COVID-19. It must strike a chord with many as we have raised close to $20,000 in less than two weeks.” -Ming-Ming Tung Edelman, Founder & President of Refugee Artisan Initiative To learn more about the Refugee Artisan Initiative and how you can help achieve their goal of raising funds to make 10,000 face shields to protect our health care workers: https://refugeesarts.org/ We would love to hear how your organization has been adapting to provide services to your clients and how we can support you during this time. Please reach out to us online here.

In light of the recent pandemic, we look forward to sharing positive stories about how our clients and community members are responding. We know this is a challenging time for many, and we are here to support. We hope by sharing these very brief stories through our social media channels that others will feel they are not alone. We encourage others to lift each other up and share their stories. Joseph Yurgevich, Executive Director at Cancer Lifeline Cancer Lifeline is an organization whose mission is to provide resources and support patients through their cancer journey. Ostara connected with Joseph Yurgevich, Executive Director at Cancer Lifeline, to learn how they are adapting to offer their services amid COVID-19. “We started adapting the first week of March realizing that the high-risk populations were basically everyone that we normally serve. We first moved to get our cancer support groups online. All of our programs had been in person up to this point.We did a couple of pilots first and discovered Zoom was actually very effective for the support group format. With some minor adjustments, it was really a go. We continued expanding to other types of programming we do. I have a group of wildly over-achieving program staff who just took the challenge and ran with it. By the week of March 22nd, we had gotten the majority of our programs on Zoom as well. I’m really thrilled that we can continue delivering our mission during this time. Cancer is known to take away control of our environment and situation in life and cancer can be a very isolating disease because other people don’t understand the perspective you share. So, it’s just really fantastic to be able to offer our programs when social distancing is being required. My advice? Continue to have hope. Continue to look at what’s happening underneath the surface. Underneath the distancing…because there is a lot of inspiration to gather from what our fellow humans are doing during this time.”– Joseph Yurgevich, Executive Director at Cancer Lifeline To learn more about Cancer Lifeline and their programs, check out their website: https://cancerlifeline.org We would love to hear how your organization has been adapting to provide services to your clients and how we can support you during this time. Please reach out to us online here.

This blog post is a collaboration of the entire Ostara team. Part two to our “Navigating Your Fundraising Season Amid the COVID-19 Outbreak” series. Click here to view our first post. We are navigating uncharted waters. Many of you are making difficult choices, working exhausting, long days and facing futures of uncertainty. But you are not alone. The nonprofit sector is a resilient collective of individuals and organizations dedicated to the promise of possibility and potential. We stand with you in this vision and are committed to working alongside you to weather this storm and shape a new world that works for all of us.As we look to that future, the nonprofit sector must be included in COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts. Please take a moment to add your voice to Washington Nonprofits’ joint letter to Washington State elected officials demanding the inclusion of nonprofits in these efforts. As we process constantly evolving information, we are rapidly considering how we continue fundraising and plan for uncertainty. If you haven’t yet, now is the time to reach out to the funders who are accountable to you and your communities. Here are three steps to consider when approaching institutional funders for emergency unrestricted funding. Step 1: Describe the Problem Consider your current situation: calculate the amount of funding needed and the potential impact to your program if it is not received so that you can clearly communicate this to the funder. How has your service delivery been impacted by COVID-19? Explain why your work in the community, bringing people together in this way is valuable and needed. If you have an annual event that will be canceled or postponed, how much does this event typically raise? How will your revenue generation or community-building efforts be impacted by the loss of this revenue? What impact will this have on the communities serve? Your staff? Is there an increased need for your services given the rapid economic downturn? Be honest about the scope of the need, maintain a clear and direct tone and center the safety and well-being of your community at this time. Step 2: Describe the Solution Outline steps you are taking to adapt to the current situation in order to continue providing essential services to your community or in some cases, address the increased demand for services. Share any immediate results you are noticing from making these changes. Make sure your funders know you are exhausting every strategy to address your financial situation at this time above and beyond this ask – a targeted appeal to your donors, applying for public assistance like small business relief available through the recently approved CARES Act, a virtual event, making budget modifications, etc. Demonstrate that the board and leadership of your organization are in conversation and making decisions together. Provide details about how you will continue to make informed decisions based on credible sources that ensure your community stays safe and informed. It can feel like there are no good answers right now – be vulnerable and honest about what you are experiencing. It is important, arguably now more than ever, that funders hear and deeply understand the truth of their grantees’ circumstances and the immediate and downstream impacts this will have on our communities. Do your best to maintain a forward-looking tone – remind the funder that healthy communities are interdependent, and we must work together now to mitigate the impact of this crisis on our long-term collective well-being. Even if you are not an organization providing basic needs support to our communities right now, if your mission was important prior to COVID-19, it still is. Restate the importance of your work and mission — now and into the future. Step 3: Make Your Ask If this is a long-time funder, your relationship is the foundation for making an emergency appeal. Share context about your relationship and the impact their funding has made over time. Remind them that their investments have led you to this point, and your organization’s sustainability and impact are contingent on continued investment right now. If the funder is a new funder, communicate your shared vision for the community and their role in urgently investing in your work at this critical time. For example, with schools closed, education organizations have shifted their programming dramatically and rapidly. “We have an immediate need for extra costs to pivot how we implement programming overnight. These include new costs for technology, distance learning, and distributing supplies to students from families all over the county experiencing financial hardship. Our long-time partners are more important than ever as we work to sustain our core mission: the nurturing and success of our youth. We are asking for a one-time emergency contribution of $20,000 to ensure we remain a hub of quality care and learning in this community now and in the years to come.” Organizations providing basic needs support may be operating with fewer resources than normal while navigating an increased demand for services. “As COVID-19 takes its initial financial toll, we have assessed that the current rate of need in our community will require an additional $20,000 by June – $5,000 monthly – to ensure our neighbors maintain stable housing and avoid homelessness. A grant of $20,000 will enable us to continue this elevated response to the impact of the economic downturn on so many lives. Never before has the need for this funding felt more urgent, nor has the financial distress been so widely distributed across people struggling to keep their homes, health, and dignity intact. As historic inequities become ever more acute in the wake of COVID-19, your support at this time has the potential to uplift the trajectories of thousands of neighbors in our community.” The bottom line is – reach out, be vulnerable, be bold and be transparent. You alone are not accountable for the well-being of your community; our funders are accountable as well. We must make the same ask of them that we have made of each other – to stand with us in solidarity. For more tips on writing a special appeal, check out our last blog post linked here. We are here for you and we will walk with you as you navigate this situation. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you would like to discuss how to shift your fundraising event plans, how to respond to funder inquiries about programs and services, how to manage remote work for your teams, or to navigate fears with donors or volunteers. We’re here to connect.