COVID-19 is changing the way we interact, do business and communicate. How will Pittsburgh’s nonprofit world have to evolve in order to survive?
As days turn into weeks and now possibly months of social distancing brought on by the looming threat of COVID-19, nonprofit leaders are having to think strategically and creatively about the future. How will these organizations continue to provide services to those who rely upon them? How will they pivot and adapt to the changing landscape? And what will separate those who sink from those who swim?
“This is going to take GAS,” said Saleem Ghubril, executive director of the Pittsburgh Promise. “ ‘Grit, Art and Science’ will be needed to raise money in these trying times. You can’t be casual about it.”
To keep a nonprofit afloat, you need to show up like an artist each day for an audition. The art of building relationships and trust and telling the nonprofit’s story in a way that is compelling and winsome will be key in attracting support.
“The science part of it is doing your homework, knowing who you will need to pitch to. You must identify, cultivate, solicit and create stewardship in the best of times, let alone when we are confronted with something like the coronavirus,” he said.
Source: The future of nonprofits in Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette