As the ongoing COVID pandemic caused havoc around the world – and continues to do so two years on – the not for profit sector was particularly badly affected. As vulnerable members of the community needed more help than ever, NFPs had to dig deeper than ever to maintain a seamless continuity of service. To put it mildly, this has been a Herculean task for many of WA’s leading NFPs – and there’s no end in sight for this increase in need.
Kate O’Hara, CEO of Foodbank WA, has witnessed a sustained continuum of side effects thanks to COVID since mid 2020.
“Before the pandemic, we would see about 200 people a day across our branches and mobile locations,” said Ms O’Hara. “This is now often over 500 a day. We support Anglicare WA and other charity sectors who have established the Emergency Relief and Food Access Service as a hotline to connect people in need with relevant support services.
“This service continues and in April 2022 referred 510 people to Foodbank WA for food assistance.”
As people were required to isolate, hardship cases morphed again creating a double difficulty as not only could people not come to Foodbank WA but they also couldn’t afford home deliveries from supermarket. Foodbank WA nimbly adapted again and, in partnership with Anglicare WA, introduced a home delivery service to people in financial stress and isolation.
From Anglicare WA’s point of view, the arrival of COVID-19 not only changed how the organisation raises funds, but CEO Mark Glasson said philanthropic giving has continued to evolve along with WA’s coronavirus response.
“At the start of the pandemic in 2020, as borders closed, overseas and interstate travel stopped, and government payments and subsidies flowed, we saw an immediate rise in people across WA wanting to kindly donate their surplus funds to help others in desperate need during this time,” said Mr Glasson.
“Our traditional in-person fundraising events were replaced by online activations, through which the community continued to support the work we do.”
It’s particularly pleasing to see corporate donations increasing as the community-at-large continued to wrestle with the implications of an ongoing pandemic on the workforce and cost of living rises.
“Corporate donations have increased from organisations looking to be part of the solution,” said Mr Glasson.
“They saw people losing work or hours, and reports of families placed under increased strain. Corporate WA was looking to partner with community services that were part of the frontline response and Anglicare WA was an immediate choice to partner with – given our reputation, our responsiveness and our relationships both at the grassroots within the community, and within corporate Australia.”
Other NFPs have also observed the impact of the pandemic hitting their ability to deliver on long-planned-for events and strategies. Jenny Simpson, CEO of Awesome Arts, was proud of her small team’s ability to respond to change quickly and effectively during the height of the outbreak.
“We were able to deliver all of our programs, including two big festivals,” said Ms Simpson “However, the invisible impact of the pandemic for us was that our regular fundraising activities were put on hold as our focus needed to be upon program delivery and ensuring that we delivered value to our existing partners.”
This impact was particularly felt in the area of corporate partnerships as the pandemic slowed and, in some cases, halted altogether many conversations about social investment.
“At any time when the corporate community suffers or faces uncertainty, there is a significant ripple effect into the not for profit sector, especially the arts,” she said
“We deliver many grassroots programs into disadvantaged communities around Western Australia and ultimately when program delivery slows or decreases, we see that disadvantage grow, especially in remote areas of the state.
“I hope that in coming months as we move through this phase of the pandemic we’ll see business confidence start to grow and the return of social investment.”
Special Olympics Australia is another organisation with a long-term event on its books that has had to adjust to the significant impacts the pandemic has had on its mission to deliver to stakeholders.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on Special Olympics Australia across all areas, from volunteering to athlete participation, education and fundraising,” said National Director, Tanya Brown.
“Special Olympics prides itself on being athlete-centred and our preferred method of engaging is in-person with athletes, coaches, volunteers and family members. Because people with an intellectual disability are a particularly vulnerable group, COVID-19 presented a raft of unique challenges that we needed to overcome.
From a fundraising perspective, Special Olympics deferred a number of national events such as the Inspirational Women’s Breakfast, Annual Gala Dinner and Corporate Swim Challenge, but the team continued to work hard with its supporters to make sure they kept them onboard, committed to finding ways to support the Special Olympics community.
“We had to temporarily suspend all in-person activities and events, including sports training, competitions, social networking and fundraising events,” said Ms Brown.
“We asked our supporters to look beyond COVID and think about the sustainability of a grassroots, participation-based organisation like ours and we were fortunate that our supporters took a longer-term view, understanding that just because we couldn’t meet and interact, our members still had needs to be met.”
Through tough times, some innovative approaches were developed including the organisation’s first ever digital fundraising campaign.
“We’re proud to say we achieved our financial goal and helped bring in funds to help us to continue to connect with athletes,” said Ms Brown.
A pattern emerged in the early months of the pandemic, as the community, corporates and the government all delivered strong responses, establishing what was required to support people.
“In addition to government support, Uniting WA received funding from Lotterywest to set up the Beds for Change program, Woodside to fund two Assertive Outreach Workers and the City of Vincent to enable our outreach team to operate within the city to provide rapid wrap-around support to people sleeping rough in the area,” said Michael Chester, Co-CEO of Uniting WA.
“This funding helped us to adapt and enhance our services to the changing environment.”
However, just like the virus has continued to prove versatile and adaptive with each new variant, so has it exerted new pressures on organisations as the pandemic has continued.
“We are now seeing even greater pressure on vulnerable people and working families in Western Australia,” said Mr Chester.
“Accelerated by the impacts of COVID-19, more and more people are experiencing hardship and entrenched disadvantage due to reductions in government financial support and an increase in the cost of living, combined with a bottleneck in the availability of affordable social housing.”
This additional pressure has required NFPs to adapt and evolve their messaging and retain a consistent voice in the crowded corporate giving space.
“We see a need for greater collaboration between government, business, social services and the broader community to effect positive social change,” said Mr Chester.
“The corporate sector can play a powerful role in ensuring our most vulnerable are not forgotten, as other sectors and the wider community recovers from the impacts of COVID-19.”
Foodbank WA, like other NFPs, never rests on its laurels and as each new twist and turn in the pandemic story unfolds, additional challenges are revealed.
“Just like supermarkets around the country, Foodbank WA also experienced empty shelves, prompting us to ensure a good supply of food for the people who rely on us,” said Ms O’Hara.
“As a result, we have undertaken a comprehensive procurement strategy. We spend just under $1 million dollars on key pantry staples last financial year, and working with Foodbank Australia’s national food supply chain, we can purchase these staples, approximately $2 worth of food for every $1, a move which has changed the way we operate and guarantees we will always have food available even when there are surges in demand.”
It’s positive results like this which demonstrate that even in the face of a global pandemic, there can be an upside to world-changing events.
“The pandemic has made many people realise that there are many reasons people may find themselves in food stress – and many are outside of their control,” said Ms O’Hara.
“Corporate partners in particular have really put their hand up to ensure we have been able to distribute food across WA, and we have been humbled by the generous support of food donors, corporate partners and the community to ensure that people who need a helping hand have regular access to good quality food.”
