In Times of Crisis, Philanthropic Impact is Amplified

Just a few blocks south of the United States Capitol sits the Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The neighborhood has been my home since 2012, and home to the defending World Series Champion Washington Nationals' ballpark since 2008.

Anyone who is a baseball fan, and particularly those who live in close proximity to a stadium, will tell you there's nothing quite like those summer months when the season is in full swing (rest assured, this is the sole baseball pun).

Each summer prior to 2020, I've relished the annual tradition of poring through the team's schedule during those cold winter months, coordinating with friends, and determining which games we'd plan to attend when the hot, humid evenings inevitably settled over our nation's capital. As with all facets of normal daily life, however, this summer looks quite different.

Fan-less baseball might have returned to Nationals Park this month, but the most visible branding surrounding the perimeter of the stadium, and the real heroes going to work inside, come from the World Central Kitchen, DC-based celebrity chef Jose Andres' humanitarian organization that has been providing meals to those in need since 2010.

Each day, since the early stages of this global pandemic and the accompanying economic fallout, the World Central Kitchen feeds 250,000 people across 34 states.

In times of crisis, the power and impact of philanthropy are amplified.

For nearly eight years, I have worked for my alma mater, Miami University, as a fundraiser, and now manager of other fundraisers, developing relationships with our alumni along the East Coast with the ultimate goal of aligning donor interest with University need.

For those of us who work in development, we see the impact of philanthropy daily. But now, in the midst of a global pandemic, the need becomes more pressing, and we have the opportunity, and responsibility, to communicate to donors the importance of philanthropy to the organizations that stitch together the social fabric of the country: the universities that develop the leaders of tomorrow, the hospitals that conduct the research and develop the cures for pandemics of the future, the public spaces that have become a refuge for so many in this age of social distancing - nearly all we hold dear is touched in some way, or even fully supported, by the culture of philanthropy in the United States.

At Miami University, as elsewhere, the business of communicating impact has become paramount, and we have had to adjust the means through which we accomplish this task. From filling the current void of physical touch through mailing letters and packages to moving in-person meetings to virtual platforms, much time has been dedicated to the pursuit of perfecting this aim. Some specific examples of methods we have employed include:

• Shipping a package of fresh produce from the University's farm to a donor who provided the funding to construct a solar-array to power the farm's operations
• Recording personalized video messages from deans and department chairs to supplement the written annual reports provided to donors
• Mailing chocolate, coffee, and other "pick me up" items from Miami-owned businesses to alumni, while communicating the personal story of the alumni owners in the process
• Emailing all alumni with a video message from the Director of Miami's Office of Financial Aid sharing personal anecdotes of how gifts to our Emergency Needs Fund have been used to support specific students with technology, transportation, or basic food need stemming from the disruption COVID-19 caused during spring semester
• Hosting a virtual commencement experience for 2020 graduates, planned by an immersive innovation company founded by a recent Miami graduate, and empowering alumni across the globe to share messages with the graduating class
• Regularly highlighting the University's direct connections to helping fight COVID-19: emphasizing that the Governor of the State of Ohio is an alumnus; showcasing faculty research that is benefiting the vaccine effort; making known the efforts of University community members across campus who secured, and donated, thousands of units of PPE to local hospitals.

These are just a handful of the ways Miami has attempted to demonstrate value to our donors. How have your own organizations been creatively communicating impact to your key stakeholders?

Reading and watching the news every morning, one can't help but wonder where we go from here. Though the market has virtually recovered to it's pre-COVID highs in late February, the economy at large looms with perilous red flags flapping in the wind: unemployment numbers remain ghastly, GDP dropped by an astonishing 33% in Q2, the world seems to hang on the Tweeting thumbs of the President, and the general uncertainty is palpable. It begs the question: what will the impact be on charitable giving in 2020?

We are coming off a really good, really generous year in the world of non-profits. In 2019, charitable giving in the U.S., consisting of giving from individuals, bequests, foundations, and corporations, amounted to nearly $450 billion according to the Giving USA 2020 report released in June.

Time will tell how the current volatility of the short-term environment will influence the psyche of donors. Anecdotally, in my own work, I have seen an increase in donors (who are in a position to do so), shifting their interest to immediate, expendable cash giving. I worked with one donor, for example, to structure a one-time, six-figure contribution to the expendable account that serves the endowment she established in her parents' name. The gift will ensure, regardless of our Foundation's endowment performance in the next few years, that all current scholarship recipients will receive their award through graduation, while also allowing for 10+ additional incoming students to receive the same guarantee. From a designation perspective, the gift is emblematic of others that have been made since March - focused squarely on supporting students whose ability to continue their studies might be in some way impacted by COVID-19.

On the other side of the spectrum, long-stalled bequest conversations have also been reinvigorated, largely at the behest of the donor themselves, perhaps due to the extra, unexpected downtime that has come as a result of quarantining, or perhaps for the more macabre possibility that we all are considering our mortality and legacy as we see illness sweep across the globe. To give color to this trend, a colleague of mine and I just advanced, to closure, a seven-figure estate gift. After seven years of slow progress, the conditions presented by this pandemic accelerated the donor's timetable in a matter of weeks.

Undoubtedly, there are more questions than answers at this juncture. Will institutions and organizations make a dramatic shift in priorities to reflect donor sentiment towards the effects of COVID? Will certain sectors stand to benefit more than others as donor interest realigns? Will 2020 see a dramatic drawback in raw charitable giving, or will certain categories, such as bequests, make-up for shortfalls elsewhere?

One thing is certain. The landscape of charitable giving is in the midst of a dramatic change. I remain confident brighter days are ahead. History teaches us so. Society is resilient, and the good ones use moments of trial to build stronger systems.

In my regular runs around Nationals Park, I've found myself often thinking of the day when fans will return, whenever that might be. I imagine many of us will enter those gates with a parallel feeling to the excitement; one of reminiscent appreciation for the volunteer work that was done on those grounds during this Summer of 2020. Work that was funded and made possible by charitable giving. For me, a personal pastime has become forever linked with a professional calling. Whether a donor, a fundraiser, or an everyday citizen who benefits from the work of both, may you too use this time to find your own connection to the power of philanthropy, so that we might all stand to benefit in the years to come.