The world has shifted dramatically in the first weeks of March 2020 and we at Aspen Leadership Group are taking steps to help protect our clients, candidates, and team members. Our primary goal continues to be keeping our ALG community members as safe as possible, and a secondary goal has emerged – to support our community in navigating this difficult time as you continue to do searches, work with your donors and volunteers, and manage increasingly virtual teams.
To that end we are drawing on our entire team to bring you resources on how to adapt to this quickly changing environment. Our team is made up of leaders who have spent years in emergency response organizations or as chief advancement officers during past turbulent times. Our company was started as a virtual team and we conduct the majority of our interactions using video conferencing, so we can also share with you our best practices to connect virtually, yet still personally, with donors and volunteers, candidates, and staff members. This page will continuously be updated with resources from our team and examples from other organizations.
Briefings
-
Fundraising
- Can nonprofits ask for support right now? Leading philanthropists say: “The Desire to Help is in Our DNA”
- Embracing donors as partners, not transactions
- Is now the time to activate women donors? Why pausing, then strategizing is key.
- Insights from Vice Presidents and 10 emerging ideas
- How to reach out to your donors and volunteers
-
Strategies for Remote Work, Hiring, and Interviewing
- Building teams virtually
- 10 steps to a successful virtual search committee meeting
- Retaining and hiring advancement teams, and what long-term staffing decisions must be made or advocated for to help organizations quickly recover
- How to create successful virtual meetings using video-conferencing
- Virtual onboarding for new employees
- Managing remote advancement employees – during and after COVID-19
-
Career Resources for Candidates
-
Leadership Through Crisis
If we can be helpful in other aspects of work that you are grappling with, we’re only an email or phone call away. If you are grappling with something, others likely are too. I’m confident we have a team member or member of our larger network who can help you, and through that exchange we’ll create more tools for this resource hub.
Above all, we wish you, your colleagues, and your family members good health and continued safety.
Ron Schiller
Founding Partner and Senior Consultant
Aspen Leadership Group
Additional Resources
Advancement
- Advisory Board for the Arts, Arts Resilience Center, with short, mid, and long-term crisis management planning resources for arts organizations.
- The Donor’s Perspective on Fundraising in the Crisis (April 14) — moderated by ALG’s Ron Schiller featuring leading philanthropists — Recap and recording
- Donor Management in Periods of Crisis (March 24) — with ALG’s Ron Schiller and Kathleen Loehr, and Greg Cameron of the Joffrey Ballet — Recap and recording
- Women in Development New York (WIDNY), Successful Fundraising in Changing Times, webinar with ALG’s Ron Schiller and several ALG colleagues at Planned Parenthood, National Museum of American History, and more, Email [email protected] to receive the recording.
- Inside Philanthropy, As Fundraisers Take Stock of a Grim New Landscape, They See Different Paths Ahead (April 3, 2020), quoting ALG’s Ron Schiller on embracing donors as partners, as well as ALG advisor, Robert Sharpe.
- iWave, Webinar with ALG’s Kathleen Loehr on activating women donors and volunteers in times of crisis
- Museum Trustee Association, list of resources and museum responses
- Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), COVID-19 Discussion Community for higher education advancement professionals. Additional CASE resources and messaging from other colleges and universities
- Association for Healthcare Philanthropy, COVID-19 Resource Center and AHP Huddle for active forum among healthcare philanthropy professionals
- Chronicle of Philanthropy, Responding to the Coronavirus Outbreak: Resources to Help Nonprofits
- Torrey Helm LLC, How different kinds of crises place similar demands on institutional resources and responses
- Moving in-person events and conferences to virtual platforms
Nonprofit Sector Resources
- Chronicle of Philanthropy, Nonprofit Crisis Management: A Checklist
- CARES Act
-
CARES Act Provides Financial Relief for Nonprofit Organizations, Venable LLP, for nonprofits and charitable organizations
- CASE: COVID-19 Response Legislation, for higher education advancement teams
- U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, Guide to the CARES Act, including information on the Paycheck Protection Program, Economic Injury Disaster Loans and Emergency Grants, and Small Business Debt Relief, as well as other tax provisions meant to help employers, including non-profits.
-
- National Council of Nonprofits provides a general list of nonprofit resources, including HR, finance, and operations recommendations, as well as policy updates
- Independent Sector COVID-19 site with legislative and policy updates and survey’s of what the sector needs
- Massachusetts Nonprofit Network offers a comprehensive list of federal emergency relief efforts and policy updates that nonprofits and small businesses can access
Public Health Updates
- World Health Organization’s COVID-19 advice for the public.
- From the CDC: Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to Coronavirus Disease and Mitigation Strategies for Communities with Local COVID-19 Transmission
- U.S. Department of Labor – Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) information on COVID-19
- Center for Disaster Philanthropy, COVID-19 overview and areas of critical need