Initial Nonprofit Leadership Response Survey
As COVID-19 spread across the country and world, nonprofits faced challenges to their everyday activities. The Bush School’s Center for Nonprofits and Philanthropy, in collaboration with the University of San Diego, produced a survey to assess the needs of nonprofit leaders in the Brazos Valley. Conducted in late April, the survey reviewed current operations—if the nonprofit was still operating—as well as plans to operate for the next four to eight weeks. The survey also asked about anticipated financial hardships and the nonprofit’s most pressing concerns. The survey responses from some ninety organizations were analyzed and a report of the responses was published online.
Webinars, Continued Programming, and Collaboration
The survey also identified key areas of concern that face nonprofit leaders. Those areas of concern most cited in the survey were the basis of a series of webinars hosted by Bush School professors and local nonprofit leaders to assist local organizations. After the initial seminars, the audience was surveyed to determine additional topics for webinars over the course of the summer. All webinars were offered on a weekly basis free of charge and covered the following topics.
- COVID-19 Finance and Human Resource Policies and Management Implications, Dr. Angela Seaworth
- Leadership in Crisis, Dr. Kenneth Taylor
- Board Leadership in Turbulent Times, Dr. William Brown
- Fundraising Strategies Moving Forward, Dr. Angela Seaworth
- Funders’ Perspectives on Grant Making, Dr. William Brown, Allison Pennington, Alison Prince, and Bree Bess
- Social Innovation in the Midst of a Crisis, Dr. Robbie Robichau
- Design Your Summer (and Beyond), Dr. Jenny Morrison and Gaby Jordan
- The New Frontier: Positioning Your Nonprofit Post COVID-19, Dr. Tosha Cantrell-Bruce
- Keeping Employees Close in a Time of Social Distancing, Dr. Deborah Kerr
- Adaptive Leadership: Leading an Organization to Face Its Tough Challenges, Dr. Mary Hilderbrand
- Building Financial Resilience through a Crisis, Dr. Ellie Heng Qu
A second survey in July of some eighty organizations examined how nonprofits are continuing to respond to COVID-19 as well as what assistance and programs they have taken advantage of.
The Center continued free online webinars for local nonprofit leaders throughout the fall semester. It will continue collaboration with other centers and agencies conducting similar research, including University of San Diego, Arizona State University, and the United Ways of Texas.
