Nonprofit work is essential in this country. Nonprofits make up 10% of the workforce, making them the third-largest workforce in the United States. That’s millions of people who work day-in and day-out to provide the critical services at which nonprofits excel—cultural, social, medical, and otherwise. They’re examples of what it means to be mission-driven: true helpers that provide support to some of our nation’s most vulnerable people and communities.
But, no matter how noble a cause, a nonprofit is still a business. They may not have “profit” (we would debate this), but they still have operations, budgets, realities, and real people that are affected by shifting political, economic, environmental, and social climates. And they’re certainly not exempt from a global pandemic.
In June, the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies’ 2020 Nonprofit Employment Report indicated that the nonprofit sector has faced sweeping layoffs—to the tune of 1.6 million workers between March and May of this year. Closures and social distancing measures have wiped out organizations that didn’t have a rainy day fund. Others are seeing overwhelming engagement and requests for assistance from people who need their services more than ever before. Many nonprofits are struggling, and in turn, the people who depend on them are as well.
This year may have churned up the perfect storm for the sector, but nonprofits are figuring out ways to regroup and adjust to the short-term and long-term realities of our current climate. We (virtually) sat down with four nonprofit organizations to see how they’re reacting to a year they just couldn’t have seen coming.