Non-profit organizations have been struggling to keep up with workplace demands during the pandemic.
In November, the Alberta Nonprofit Network collected information from surveys it conducted to see how non-profit organizations have been coping during COVID-19. The report compiled from the surveys had nine findings.
Two non-profit organizations in Lethbridge, Volunteer Lethbridge and Community Foundation of Lethbridge and Southwestern Alberta, have experienced some of these hardships.
Volunteer Lethbridge is a non-profit organization that connects volunteers with ideal volunteer opportunities and gives other non-profit organizations the help they need to run effectively.
Community Foundation is a charity that manages charitable gifts from donors. These donations then get turned into endowment funds that are then given to non-profit organizations the donors want to support.
Nicholas Canning, program coordinator of Volunteer Lethbridge, says they have lacked funding during the pandemic.
“Funding would probably be a big thing. The lack of donations and the ability to connect with other people in the community and capture the things that they’re doing.”
Canning adds Volunteer Lethbridge had to cancel many of its events this year, which include, casino events, a gift-wrapping event, a balloon ball and a marathon run with the University of Lethbridge.
Charleen Davidson, executive director of Community Foundation, says they have been able to help other non-profits during the pandemic.
“We don’t depend on provincial or federal grants; however, during COVID-19, because we were offering COVID-19 response and recovery grants to our community, we actually benefitted from the Government of Alberta Matching Donation program.”
Davidson adds the federal government released some emergency community support funds, which Community Foundation was able to use to help support the community.
Both Canning and Davidson say the demand that has increased for their organizations has been funded. They also both found that government and public sources of funding have been helpful to their organizations.
COVID-19 has changed their workplace environments by forcing most people to work from home. However, Canning says Volunteer Lethbridge has been able to hire people from different places in Alberta and Canada.
“We’ve been able to hire employees not only in Lethbridge, but in various places in Alberta and we actually hired somebody that’s currently in Ontario. So, our work environment and our perspectives have sort of expanded and there’s been a lot of team building and online meetings.”
Davidson has been working in the office alone while her team works from home.
“We were closed for a couple of months and I’m currently working alone in the office, while my team works from home.”
During the pandemic, no one from Volunteer Lethbridge or Community Foundation has been laid off.
In order to get back to a better place, Canning says teamwork needs to continue and COVID-19 safety protocols need to be followed.
“I think the continued effort amongst our team to follow the safety protocols would be number one. The consideration of the community and who’s affected by COVID and the ability to capture and recognize the needs of the community as a whole and how we can take the opportunity to hear the voices in our community and what needs to be done.”
During the pandemic, Community Foundation has been busier than it’s ever been.
“We were never off our feet because we had so much support from our community, as well as from our provincial and federal government. So, you know, we were actually significantly busier than we’ve ever been to try and help respond to the impact of COVID-19 in our community.”
To learn more about the survey results Alberta Nonprofit Network collected, go to albertanonprofits.ca.