As the country adapts to the unique circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic, nonprofits are being faced with new challenges as they continue their important work. Fortunately, there are hundreds of emergency relief funds at the global, national, and local levels, offering individual and organizational funding for basic needs, direct services, and other immediate concerns. Since Voqal cannot offer emergency funds for direct services like other funders and partners, we thought we would share a compilation of resources where organizations can find these dollars. A special thank you goes out to Voqal’s grants and fellowships program manager, Mary Coleman, for putting this list together.
National Resources
Duke’s Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship’s (CASE) COVID-19 Capital Relief is a searchable database for global, national, and regional capital sources for for-profit and nonprofit entrepreneurs at risk due to COVID-19.
- To find capital: https://bit.ly/COVID19CapitalRelief.
- To learn more: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/helping-entrepreneurs-covid19-world-part-2-over-145-billion-clark.
The National Center for Family Philanthropy has a list of emergency response funds and resources.
National Geographic has a COVID-19 Emergency Fund for journalism covering hyperlocal issues related to the pandemic.
Independent Sector offers a guide for navigating resources available to nonprofits through the CARES Act.
The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program is available for nonprofits as well.
Local Resources
The Colorado COVID Relief Fund provides funds for protection, impact, and recovery in the state.
Chicago-based funders’ Chicago Community COVID-19 Response Fund for nonprofits provides emergency assistance to communities and operational support to nonprofits to help get through the pandemic.
The Minnesota Disaster Recovery Fund for Coronavirus offers funds intended for, but not limited to:
- needs that arise for individuals and families due to the impact of coronavirus;
- nonprofits experiencing increased demand for services or are struggling due to social distancing recommendations;
- and small businesses that have interrupted operations.
The Oregon Community Foundation’s Oregon Community Recovery Fund provides funds to nonprofits that are particularly affected by the outbreak of COVID-19.
Voqal also recognizes this moment offers challenges unrelated to funding, such as remote engagement of staff and volunteers. There are several resources to guide meaningful and effective online meetings and interactions:
- Facilitators for Pandemic Response provides a great collaborative guide for all things virtual meetings.
- IREX provides an Online Collaboration Guide for Facilitators.
- The Interactivity Foundation provides some helpful educational resources for facilitating exploratory discussions both online and in-person.
- Mentimeter and Ideaflip are both great interactive software for hosting online meetings.
Voqal hopes some of these resources are useful and impactful as we all settle into the new personal and professional routines and norms resulting from this pandemic. If you know of other resources or opportunities, please let us know on social media and we will add them to our list. In the meantime, keep fighting the good fight and we look forward to all the great things you’ll no doubt accomplish over the next year.