The general theme coming through from the comments is that you can’t expect things to carry on as normal, and you will need to redefine the partnership (goals, ways of operating, communication etc.) based on the current reality. That reality includes all organisations refocusing and prioritising (often away from the partnership), the difficulty or impossibility of implementing, personnel who are ill or distracted and unable to deliver as effectively as before etc.
While, yes, absolutely, all partnerships need to redefine, we need to appreciate that the reality is shifting quickly. Most countries are in crisis mode. At some stage, we will move to the phase of coming out of lockdown. And finally we will move to the phase of rebuilding our societies. Our partnerships therefore will also need to adapt and change as the situation changes.
I would recommend, therefore planning in detail for the immediate situation, but also have an idea of outline planning for the next phases to come even though of course you will need to adapt and iterate as you go.
A great list, Claudia. From the world of philanthropic foundations (rather than company partnerships), some of those points are being signed up to by quite a number of funding partners under the European Philanthropy Statement on COVID-19. I think many of their principles are relevant for company partnerships too.
One practical example, we’re repurposing sites to make hand sanitisers. Also developing capacity in testing. Everyone is learning as we go and doing so with great energy!
yes, you are right and in addition I was very pleased to see this pledge of action from Oak foundation recognising the need to support non profit partners and those communities hit hardest by the impacts of Covid-19. The commitments which they invite other funders to join, sums it up very well : https://www.cof.org/news/call-action-philanthropys-commitment-during-covid-19
There was talk of ensuring agile due diligence. From a CAF perspective, we recognise that charities face tighter resources now than ever before and therefore the requirements on them as part of due diligence processes needs to factor this in. As a provider of philanthropic services to our clients it’s something we live and breath. What I’d emphasis is:
Desk-based research – consider what information sources are out there that you can utilise. If they’re regulated then does the regulator hold a centralised database that you can visit? Be proportionate – think not only about the destination country that the project will be delivered in but also the value of the donation. From there you can start to think about a proportionate level of due diligence
Minimise the ask and only ask for things you absolutely need – for example proof of an organisation’s bank details / a description of the project that they’ll be running
Beyond just providing funds to NGOs, there are a lot of small things that corporations can do - It is important to demonstrate that private sector provides contributions as well to the overall economy – for ex having MNOs forgo SMS and digital money transactions fees will go a long way to support individuals and businesses in remaining connected; or having financial service providers lengthen loan repayment timeframe will also go a long way in assisting small entrepreneurs whether the impact of the crisis. How can we work together to identify those actions to support the most vulnerables and keep the local economy going?
Agree Sinead! I also think this learning gives us the opportunity to make a real step change in our approach beyond Covid-19 too. Hopefully, whatever their philanthropic strategy and focus, organisations will appreciate the need to fund projects that take a systematic approach to change and are not too niche or siloed.
Also we have many health care professionals who are being supported to volunteer in their local health services… Creative ideas coming forward all the time from employees and leaders
TPI is developing a set of tools for rapid partnering for COVID-19 (TPIglobal.org/covid-19). Would a fast track due-diligence tool be a useful one to include?
We can also look beyond funding and explore ways to leverage skills and human capacity - even in these strange times of lockdown! At Standard Chartered every member of staff has been given a fourth employee volunteering day this year to encourage all our employees to share their time and skills for the betterment of impacted communities. Currently our focus is on promoting virtual volunteering opportunities and being innovative with our approach.
Do you know if other banks are doing similar? A potentially large untapped pool of resources that could be coordinated across banks for potential NGO partners?
Philanthropies must also be creative. We are continuing to streamline and simplify due diligence to get money out the door more quickly while still meet our legal obligations. There are risks associated with less due diligence, but the potential benefits are tremendous.
Hi Sandrine. My colleague heads up our Employee Volunteering programme is regularly posting virtual opportunities that we come across. Our teams in each country are also doing the same for local opportunities. If you have any suggestions please feel free to share them with me after and we can explore!
Hi Claudia. Great to note to win this COVID-19 war we really partnerships. Some of the stakeholders and partners could be new to one another . Maybe there could be a central organisation to receive and hold funds from foundations and Trusts. It is from this central pot that all other NGOs can apply from to support their current challenge. It is still early in the year and most NGOs especially from the South had not received their annual support. This support mostly comes from the West which came first with coronavirus pandemic. Hence putting most of their efforts to address the COVID-19 disease and channeling funds to NGOs in the South still seems a daunting programme. This puts their operations with the local communities at minimal but some are still trying with a lot of challenges. Something needs to be done urgently to support those NGOs working with the community .
Agree that it is important to find ways to lend your support, scale and reach in addition to financial support. For example, one major retailer has enabled Oxfam to put out all our social media content on handwashing and hygiene promotion across all their channels, other digital providers are exploroing how they can lend their digital expertise in enabling us to provide rapid solutions in our humanitarian response to Covid -19
Thanks for all the work you do! If you have any questions related to our application/funding process during COVID-19, here is the link with more information: https://openroadalliance.org/covid-19/
In these times of crisis, people are prepared to consider things that they would not previously have been open to and will usually move much more quickly to act. It is crucial to take advantage of these opportunities for innovation – now is the opportunity to take a step change in the way we work.
For our existing partnerships, it is important to use this pause provided to reflect, evaluate, challenge and prioritise future activities with a mind on long term resilience.
Agree with this Nicole - a useful question we’ve recently been posing in relation to this ‘what is the risk of us not doing this’? i.e. what’s the societal cost of us being cautious? Definitely a balance to be struck though because we’ve also seen such a rise in scams and fraudulent activity