This article was provided by and expresses the views of Nancy Bikson, Managing Director at Chapel & York, a partner firm of the Beacon Gainer private client advisory services group.

It is 2021, and most of us have spent months in lockdown, months thinking about the world post-pandemic and the last year thinking about our businesses.  For some, their business proposition is easy – they are closed for the time being (or even forever).  For others, the pandemic has been an amazing opportunity to expand, re-invent and start a new venture.  There are always winners and losers.

The charitable sector is no exception.  When the pandemic arrived we saw a vast outpouring of charitable funds to organisations, particularly those related to health and social care.  Then other organisations looked at what they could and should do.  Charitable organisations reliant on visitors (such as arts and heritage) were able to mobilise their supporters to ensure their survival.  Indeed, many of these organisations were particularly creative in bringing their artists and assets to their stakeholders and we were all able to see behind the scenes of theatres, museums and historic monuments in ways we could never have done before.

Other organisations were equally imaginative and we have listened to zoom sessions hosted by animal experts, joined ocean cleaning boats as they pull rubbish from the seas and learnt about innovative environmental answers to the climate change crisis.

The good news is that the last year has been extraordinary in that is has given organisations an opportunity to be creative, to engage in new ways, and to prosper.  Donors who have valued the work of a charity have recognised the need to support it and, in many cases, to support it with vast funding.

The sad news however is that many charities have struggled, whilst others have closed up shop, both particularly distressing as many charities have seen the call on their services grow exponentially.

Many of these organisations had relied on fundraising activities which have been unable to take place.  Their events have been cancelled.  Supporters doing challenges such as running the London Marathon or hiking across Cuba have been curtailed.  Face to face solicitation hasn’t existed except online.

Some organisations who were marginal haven’t made it and possibly shouldn’t have made it.  This past year has really presented a ‘survival of the fittest’ for charities; those who were not able to be flexible, who didn’t know their donors or how else to engage, may not have survived.

But, the overwhelming evidence is that the philanthropic community has been supportive:

  1. Trusts and foundations have accelerated giving and reduced barriers to making applications for grants;
  2. Donors have increased their giving and expanded their giving interests;
  3. Supporters have engaged more intensely with the organisations they care about.

So what now?  What does the future of the sector look like?

We know that the needs addressed by charities have not decreased and their work is ever more essential to our communities, to countries and to the world in general.  Many organisations will need to rethink how they work and how they deliver services, often with fewer people and less funds.

Organisations will need to evaluate their donor and engagement and see how they can make that engagement closer and deeper.  Those who have been most successful have been those with very close and intimate relations with their stakeholders.  The pandemic was not the time to try to build those relationships, it was the time for reaching out to those who cared most about them, and going forward organisations will want to ensure they have a large base of involved supporters.

For organisations working and fundraising internationally, the pandemic has demonstrated two major things:

  1. It is possible to engage with donors and stakeholders without being on an aeroplane all the time.  Indeed, the fact that we have all spent so much time communicating electronically suggests that the endless travel many fundraisers have done over the years can be rethought and reorganised.  Good for the budget, and for the planet.
  2. Local stewardship will be even more necessary, yet ways of delivery must change. This means a need for an organisation to identify and work with a local partner to deliver local services and events.  This ensures that if and when the foreign organisation does visit in person, their time and effort is used for the maximum benefit.

For donors, the best advice is still to care about what is important to you and support it as much as possible.  No one can ask more.