Eight problems (and seven solutions) for fundraising in times of crisis

The European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL) is urging civil society organisations (CSOs) to be proactive to lessen the impact of barriers to fundraising during times of crisis.

A new resource from the ECNL sets out the major eight problems which can make fundraising more challenging at such times, as well as seven ways which the sector should anticipate these.

Five of the eight barriers it describes relate to CSOs opening, using and maintaining bank accounts, whether due to banks’ policies or Government policies, including economic sanctions.

The other three issues are: the impact of a crisis on philanthropists’ ability and willingness to give amid a crisis; pandemic-related restrictions making certain fundraising methods more difficult; and donors’ overly ambitious expectations of how quickly their donations can be put to use.

The ECNL resource highlights a number of measures across the world, including the new Tblisi Principles and a recently-implemented US Treasury policy, which seek to combat these difficulties.

It then makes seven recommendations of things for CSOs and fundraisers to consider proactively, to make it easier to deal with circumstances during a crisis.

These include policies around gift acceptance and recording; policies relating to reserves and how they would be used to help an organisation through a tricky patch; policies to ensure cost management during fundraising activities; and ethical standards, training policies and codes of practices for different fundraising methods.