Heart and Soul Free Clinic, a nonprofit that provides healthcare to the underserved, never considered shutting its doors as a viable option when COVID-19 reached Indiana in March 2020. The team was concerned that the population they served would be left without alternatives than emergency care. 

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by Andy Canada, Senior Consultant and Director of Data Analytics, Johnson Grossnickle & Associates

As we search for positive outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic, we might note that our tech skills have improved, or maybe we’ve mastered a new way to do second-grade math. But, certainly, other lessons learned could have a longer shelf life, including unexpected opportunities to engage with donors and prospects or making adaptations on the fly that actually seem to work.

As necessity forced us to explore different ways to communicate and connect with one another, it is important to reflect on which ideas and practices have risen to the top. One thing is sure; large doses of flexibility and understanding have been required to navigate situations that seem to change by the minute — both in our professional and personal lives.

I recently hosted a webinar with Melanie Harmon, Senior VP of Advancement at Manchester College. The session, Frontline Fundraising and Events Go Virtual: A Look at Donor Engagement Techniques, explored some takeaways in our work with donors during the past few months. Here is an overview of some of those lessons, as well as a few ideas on how to incorporate them into the workplace in the coming months and years.

Within a few days of the onset of shelter-in-place mandates, most of us were stumbling our way into a new normal — adapting to juggling family obligations alongside work obligations as best we could. As the work of contacting donors resumed, many development staff members wondered how to check in with an appropriate mix of professionalism and concern.

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