Pandemic Case Statement

If we have learned anything in the past few weeks about the way that this crisis is hitting our country, it's that people want to help. People are making masks, organizing food drives, sharing books and puzzles (when properly disinfected!), and checking in on their neighbors.

Funders also want to help, from the government to private groups. But funding opportunities open up quickly, and seem to close for applications even quicker. If you don’t have a basic case statement nailed down so you can react quickly, you are going to lose out. Some questions to base this on:

1.     What are the immediate effects on your organization? (closure, cancellations, layoffs, etc.)

2.     In what ways have you (quickly) adapted to mitigate these effects? (moving things online, distancing, etc.)

3.     What have you learned about your organization and constituency as part of this?

4.     What, in your current estimation, will be some of the longer-term changes to your organization? (changing of funding, programming, etc.) Will there be any core changes to what you do, or to your systems?

5.     Acknowledging the difficulties your organization is facing, have there been any positive effects of this crisis? (the old “lemons into lemonade” story) 

In an ideal world, you have specific examples — numbers, percentages, measurable outcomes — to back you up. We’re in anything but an ideal world right now, though, and what you at a baseline need is some kind of clearheaded response (knowing that it might change completely as the conditions change). If you have not already, I highly encourage you to sit down for a few minutes today with a hot beverage of your choice, look out the window, and come up with a few thoughts to center your organization around (extra credit if you already have and just spend some time honing the response).