Reneging on commitments or substantially reducing payment schedules as a result of companies seeing their charity partnerships as ‘nice to have’s’ and not essential to the survival of a business has negative consequences for an INGO’s reputation in country for example with government ministries who have expectations of project deliverables, be it education or WASH programmes.
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Are there existing agreed ways of working in the event of a crisis? If not, take the time to map out the risks to the partnership and possible mitigation methods. Where will the bottlenecks be and how can we preempt these? How can we speed up decision-making processes while ensuring that the voices of key stakeholders are heard? (How do we continue to apply feminist principles to our ways of working rather than making top-down decisions?)
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I think that’s exactly right, David. We should appreciate that BOTH NGOs and companies are suffering (with a few industry sector exceptions), and suffering in very similar ways. Can we really expect all but the most mission-critical partnerships to be able to run under these circumstances?
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A1.2 CHALLENGES: We know that the challenges we face as NGOs are mirrored by institutional partners, private sector partners and individual supporters;
We face challenges to our operations – office closures, keeping our teams safe, security, remote working, staff absence due to sickness or caring for family members, travel restrictions both domestically and internationally, availability of equipment and materials to run our programmes and operations - all these aspects are bringing challenges to implementation.
Maintaining financial stability is also a challenge for all as we face a loss of income, restricted cash flow and impending recession. For NGOs, fundraising is increasingly challenging – as the private sector, public sector and individuals are threatened with income losses, the ability to support NGOs diminishes. Fundraising events have been cancelled, income generating activities stifled. Many individuals are forced to consider withdrawing support, and some companies and foundations are needing to review their commitments to support NGOs or have limited capacity to increase their support during this turbulent moment in time.
As an NGO, we are heavily reliant on donor support, and how our partners respond will directly impact our ability to deliver our programmes. We are all working to pivot our approaches in order to respond to the crisis, and the situation is constantly evolving. At Mercy Corps we know that delivering cash, WaSH and supporting small businesses will be vital for recovery. To meet the urgent needs, we need pro-active and responsive partnerships and funding in order to save lives and livelihoods in communities.
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A few further thoughts on your point, Kate, about the funding crisis in the charity sector: unrestricted funding – the kind that covers NGOs’ core operating costs – may be under threat with individual private donations falling and fundraising events cancelled. Restricted funding – such as that tied to delivery of specific activities and results in the context of a corporate partnership – may be at risk where programme timelines and outcomes were defined in a context that no longer exists. Where a range of different kinds of donors are all under financial pressure, even a well-diversified income portfolio can suddenly present stark funding risks requiring harsh cuts in capacity, just as demand for the NGO’s work rises sharply.
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And even where overall funding is relatively secure, liquidity may be a pressing problem.
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Agree, Nicole. That’s also a great example. Plus this organization may need additional funding to be able to effectively take on this new focus during COVID-19.
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Totally agree, it’s key to recognise that cash is king. Many NGOs have lost vital income streams – e.g. shop closures, fundraising events, face to face fundraising etc. In the UK alone, charities will lose an estimated £4.3bn worth of funding as a result of the crisis
Let’s keep in mind that there are some private sectors that are seeing an unexpected surge in demand for their services and goods. They will see an upturn in their businesses and their profitability. Those industry sectors may have few or nascent relationships with NGOs. So expanding donor or partner pools beyond typical actors is worth considering.
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I’d fully concur with the need to have that conversation - preferably prior to any crisis, but in the end most won’t have foreseen such eventualities. But, no time like the present. One thing we need to ensure is that we give each other a break! We can’t expect either NGOs or Business to function as normal, meet original targets etc. We need to have the conversations where we are realistic about what is possible, consider the world others are living in, and collectively agree what is feasible and won’t overload individuals or organisations at such a sensitive time.
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Couldn’t agree more Darian…
Thanks Kate - I’d second this observation and at CAF we’re seeing this play out a lot. On the point about funding for NGOs supporting the direct relief and recovery from COVID-19 : we deliberately aimed our own fund at groups not directly working on COVID-19 response, but have otherwise been impacted by what’s going on and therefore struggling to operate
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Great point Beth - the challenge is to ensure these companies are interested in investing in very fragile environments where NGOs typically work
Hi Claudia, have you experienced a reduction in payments yet with your own partnerships? At CAF, we’re advising our clients to see through funding commitments but making them unrestricted.
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Agree, now is the time for open & honest conversations between partners around what is needed and how they can support each other
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Absolutely David. The challenge comes from many angles and will have long-term impacts I am sure.
A1.3 CHALLENGES: As the virus challenges our delivery of certain activities in the field, a critical challenge for NGOs is that the temporary suspension of activities does not stop our ongoing support costs to keep our field teams and operations ready to ramp back up as soon as we can. We can’t afford to lose our teams - not not only because we know this pandemic will pass and our services will be needed even more so to support the recovery and we need to maintain our operations and be ready, but we also know that the countries we work in do not all have stimulus packages to support their citizens, so the threat of unemployment is a great risk. We need the support of our partners to see our teams through these challenging weeks so we can move rapidly as soon as we are able.
Flexible and adaptable partnerships enable us to pivot quickly. Considering unrestricted funding is also a solution to this issue. Trusting in the NGO to direct the funds where they are needed most in order to accomplish our shared goals and supporting programme adaptation/re-focusing…
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Hi @JoshNewton, yes, one company in particular that has been hit hard by the impact of covd-19 on their business is requesting a significant redesign of our programme in the DRC and cannot commit to future funding currently
Hi Jack, I think that’s a brilliant approach and will offer such valuable support to so many superb organisations who are struggling but not being prioritised with the inevitable change of focus at this time.
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@Darian_Stibbe This is a tough one. Hopefully it’s not either/or. @ccodsi asked the question at the top of the discussion about finding a new middle ground.
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