Excellent point Peter, it is easier for larger NGO to maintain relationships and have these discussions with partners with key staff in these roles. Much harder for smaller partners or those that could benefit from this type of support and will ultimately not survive the short term effects.
I would also say Corporate partners could take a proactive role in looking at opportunities across current partners and try to take a collaborative approach to response. We are all in this together, we need to all play to our strengths
To your point Katie on zoom about any form of giving be hugely invaluable. That’s totally right, volunteering and in-kind support will be really important in the recovery phase but the need for funding right now is so crucial.To illustrate the size of the need for charities CAF have set up our on emergency fund for smaller charitable organisations. Within a week we’ve received £40m worth of applications from 5000 applications. It’s probably worth flagging we’ve had to go out to clients to support the Fund because demand is so high.
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Yes it could not be said better than the way you have put it- Partnership and coordination on the ground have an immense ripple effect in impacting the control and prevention of COVID-19 most developing countries. The governments are also looking and calling upon local NGOs to out and help with education and campaign against COVID-19 hence any registered NGOs has the local approval of the government to engage in the campaign to stop and prevent COVID-19 from spreading . I work with smallholder farmers and our first target is to protect who produces food otherwise we might end up with another calamity of food shortages without our farmers. Also farmers are used as education agents in their localities and farming cooperatives to educate the community on transmission of COVID -19 and its prevention .
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Long due diligence cycles are a sad reality. We have to also consider other options - such as intermediaries like Donor-Advised Funds that may already have relationship (and completed due diligence on local NGOs).
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On the point about furlough - We’re also talking to clients in industries more adversely affected like insurance as well as industries where staff have been put on furlough. It’s more complex for them to publicly announce additional support but we are seeing them doing it still.
On the whole there’s a great deal more needed. Already we’ve had over 20 large clients pledge additional £4m of funds, which is incredible but unfortunately just a fraction of the £60m+ that the London marathon generates alone.
Agreed, Josh. One implication for me is that companies should recognise that your NGO partners may become even more important to you as a business in the post-crisis world. For example, fundamental questions about the relationships between economies and wellbeing have been raised by the crisis. The policy discourse on companies’ purpose and contribution to society may change, in unpredictable ways. NGO partners will play an important role in helping companies navigate that future.
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Josh when the demand is too high you can not just do the funding alone. Maybe its time to think about other donors and foundations to chip in and support you by donating into your purse .Then you can donate accordingly. A small amount of funding could be better than nothing at all it could save even one live.!
So much great advice. If you have one take away or key action from everything said today - what would it be?
Absolutely, lots of people are talking about what the “new normal” will be. It’s early to say, but its clear the economy will be more public health-centred. Ultimately businesses can’t succeed in faltering economies, so working with groups to keep communities resilient is so important. Stakeholder > shareholder.
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Response to Question 3
Identify your strengths and vulnerabilities as individual organizations and collectively as partners. This will enable you to apply strategies that you may have not even considered that will help you mitigate risk and build resiliency. Also plan in phases. A crisis demands fast responses, but if the first three months are about survival, planning for the next three months – and the next three after that – is just as important. Plan for June, plan for August. And if you can, make two plans: a bad case, and a worst case. (Good case is probably out the window for the short-term). If you don’t know what to do today, make a plan for tomorrow. Because soon enough tomorrow will be today, and then you’ll know what to do today.
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Great discussion - thanks everyone! What I take away from this discussion is the need to support NGOs financially in the short-term to maintain partnerships and boots on the ground, while working hand in hand to find solutions for the short and long terms! Some great ideas today!
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As we frame and implement our short-term responses, we should act with our longer-term visions of impact and social change in mind. Applying these principles in the context of the new challenges presented by COVID-19 may help us identify new approaches to the pre-existing challenges faced by the individuals and communities we serve.
Listen to both sides, have open, honest & frank discussions with partners. Keep long term objectives clear and navigate the short term as it unfolds
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This crisis is forcing us all to do things in different ways - keep connecting, keep listening, keep talking and creating.
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Yes @OpenRoad - and in planning for the future, NGO partners will have different and valuable perspectives on how the world is being changed by the crisis. Draw on their insights and intelligence for your own business planning. Work together on re-framing your partnership to respond to the future context.
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Yes Maya. As it were this is a war with unseen enemy. People must act with Speed!
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Thank you for joining everyone, and for the great discussion. David will be drawing on the great insights shared here for an Action Toolkit that we will be publishing next week.
Having produced an overarching framework for how businesses can support the most vulnerable in their value chains, communities and beyond, along with an Action Mapping Tool with 200+ examples (available at https://snipbfp.org/FightCOVID19), we are now deep-diving into specific topics and issues, including on how to support NGO partners.
We are pulling together Action Groups with the aim of rapidly co-creating guidance to inform immediate and longer-term decision making and make connections needed to support action.
We invite you to join an Action Group on supporting NGO partners here: https://snipbfp.org/C19_ActionGroups 10
In addition to supporting NGOs, we are creating Action Groups on how best to tackle gender-based violence, support vulnerable workers and micro and small enterprises, and how to promote handwashing and other preventative measures.
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Final thoughts… businesses need to continue supporting immediate response, but also think longer term about how to pivot partnerships for the recovery. Talk to your partners, make sure funding is unrestricted.
ALSO collaborate, drive industry responses and give your trusted partners a platform to work with other orgs in your sector too. We’ve seen great examples of this in the utilities sector for vulnerable consumers e.g. Macmillan