Economic stress presents formidable hardships, risks and uncertainties for most, and in the not-for-profit community, management personnel, board members and volunteer officers have been confronted with their share of the challenges from COVID-19. Consequently, both large and small organizations have endured severe financial distress, in some cases putting their very viability at risk.
The pandemic has forced many NFPs to forego large, traditional fundraising events in 2020 and early 2021 and scramble to find creative new ways to obtain donations, generate program service fees and collect aging pledges receivable in order to retain sufficient cash flow just to keep their doors open, to keep their employees and volunteers productive and to meet their financial obligations.
Diminished contributions and reduced collectability of pledges receivables and access to credit, along with increased demand for accountability to — and restrictions by — donors, made conducting program activities and funding administrative operating expenses more difficult. But in the face of all this, economic hardships in other areas of the economy have increased the demand for NFP program services. Learn more about the impact of the pandemic on NFPs.