Report shows global impact of pandemic on charitable sector
| Published date | 01 June 2020 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30779 |
| Date | 01 June 2020 |
JUNE 2020 NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR
7
© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC, A Wiley Company • All rights reserved
DOI: 10.1002/nba
Industry News
Report shows global impact of pandemic
on charitable sector
A new report from the Charities Aid Foundation
shows that the negative impacts of the COVID-19
pandemic are indeed being felt by nonprots in com-
munities all around the world.
The Voice of Charities Facing COVID-19 World-
wide is based on a survey of more than 500 organiza-
tions worldwide showing to what extent the pandemic
is impacting their organizations, and how they are
coping with those impacts in their communities.
Key ndings from the report include:
• 96.5% of respondent organizations have been
negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 67.93% of the respondents have seen a decrease
in funding and reported difficulties in reaching
donors, while 33.97% indicated an increase in oper-
ational costs.
• The main difculty organizations face in adapt-
ing their operations to the current conditions is the
lack of infrastructure and access to systems that allow
moving their work online.
• Nearly 10% of organizations surveyed were
forced to suspend their work.
• Many organizations have limited staff and
cannot rely on volunteers at this time, so the staff
they have available are working double the hours
to meet their beneciaries’ needs. In fact, more
than half of surveyed organizations are unable to
fully meet the expectations of those they serve due
to stafng limitations and system challenges, the
research showed.
• Restrictions on travel have affected 63% of the
respondents’ operations.
Despite the challenges that charities are experi-
encing worldwide, almost all respondents—90%—
continue to serve their communities to some
extent, the survey found. Although they have had
to suspend certain activities, almost two-thirds of
the organizations surveyed continue their opera-
tions remotely, and 28.23% are maintaining full
operations.
To read the study in full, visit https://www.
cafamerica.org. ■
Charities expect revenue drops, but some donors plan to boost giving
In response to the global COVID-19 pandem-
ic, some 80% of charities now believe their 2020
revenue will be lower than expected, and the vast
majority of charities are concerned about main-
taining a nancially stable organization through the
rest of the year. However, an increase in charitable
giving from individuals might help to counteract
that expected drop, offering some hope to pessi-
mistic nonprots, according to new research from
the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance.
The report—Give.org Special Report: COVID-19
and the Charitable Sector—surveyed 118 charities
and more than 1,000 adults in the United States,
exploring what charities and donors expect will be
the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak.
As noted, about four out of ve expect to see
drops in donations, with most believing that donors
will likely be less able to give (93.5%), that charities
will be less able to host fundraising events (69.6%)
and that donors will redirect support to individuals
in need (54.4%).
However, more than half of individuals (52.5%)
say they expect to give about the same, and another
30.8% of individuals say they plan to give more in
2020 than the year before. Of note, younger gen-
erations are the ones most likely to increase their
giving, with 47.7% of millennials and 60.8% of
Gen Z participants saying they plan to give more,
the study showed.
But on some fronts, nonprots’ concerns are con-
rmed by the data. In particular, about a quarter of
individual donors plan to give money to small busi-
nesses in their community (directly or via crowd-
funding), and 24.5% say they will look for ways to
help unemployed individuals directly—funds that
may have gone to charity otherwise.
To view the report in full, visit https://give.org/
donortrust. ■
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