Four Nonprofit Triumphs During the Pandemic

We recently reached out to nonprofits across the country to hear about their experience during the pandemic in 2020. The challenges of the year produced the need for innovation and presentation the opportunity to triumph over those challenges. Because of this opportunity, we asked these organizations what their greatest triumph was during the course of the pandemic. These triumphs are not only great stories, but they also provide insights for other nonprofits. These ideas are replicable outside of these nonprofits and outside the pandemic, as we move forward to a more normal year. Here’s what they had to say.  

Houston Food Bank 

Feeding communities for 39 years and now serving 18 south Texas counties, the Houston Food Bank developed innovative ways to continue serving the estimated 1.1 million food insecure individuals in Houston and the surrounding area. We spoke to Brian Greene, the president of the Houston Food Bank, to learn about the success experienced by the food bank and how they overcame the challenges of the pandemic to serve the hungry when they were most vulnerable. Here’s what he had to say...

“The Houston Food Bank is an organization that is always called upon and helps in times of disasters and emergencies, but we’ve never had the level of challenges and limitations that came with the pandemic,” said Brian Greene, president/CEO of Houston Food Bank. “We had to work differently because of social distancing, changes in supply chains, a heavily impacted volunteer base, and a demand for food assistance that we’ve never seen before. We had to find ways to distribute more food with increased restrictions, how to do more with fewer volunteers, and how to do it all while adhering to strict health and safety protocols in a new as-contactless-as-possible world.”

“As news of COVID began hitting the media, Houston Food Bank decided to pack quarantine kits to be ready for if and when they might be needed. This eventually became a new program of home delivery kits, especially for senior citizens, which filled a major gap during the pandemic. We also created a new contactless, drive-thru distribution model; established weekly Neighborhood SuperSite distributions to get large amounts of food into specific communities of need, with a goal of serving from 2,500 to 10,000 vehicles per event; established new workforce streams; and relied on partnerships, old and new, to turn challenges into opportunities.”

“Initially, what was devastating for the hospitality industry became a blessing for food banks – we were able to harness the surplus of produce and other foods they could not serve to try and meet demand, and their laid-off employees were a Godsend when our volunteer pool diminished due to stay-at-home orders and we were able to hire them. These workers filled the critical roles that, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, were performed by volunteers. The hospitality industry is always so generous to and supportive of food banks, and it was painful to see how it was ravaged by the pandemic, but to be able to turn the negatives into positives for the community was meaningful. 

“We have all been through an unimaginable year, one filled with challenges and uncertainty, but also with kindness and community. Neighbors and companies came together in amazing ways, and in Houston it allowed the Houston Food Bank to distribute an astounding 297,980,183 pounds of food during the first year of COVID, from March 2020 to March 2021. What we have accomplished is truly extraordinary, and we could only do it with the amazing Houston community.”

297,980,183 pounds of food speaks for itself. Learn more about the food bank and its remarkable work here. 

Cincinnati Parks Foundation

The Cincinnati Parks Foundation is the philanthropic partner of the network of Cincinnati Parks. The foundation supports the community by taking action on behalf of individuals. Their mission is to create private/public partnerships that support the conservation and enhancement of our city’s parks and green spaces through education, advocacy, and fundraising. At NMBL Strategies, we believe in the creative power of these partnerships and the impact parks can have on communities, especially throughout the pandemic. Let’s take a look at what the foundation achieved this previous year...

Hats Off Luncheon Fundraiser

Our premier fundraiser, the Hats Off Luncheon, an event that typically hosts 1,200 guests at the city’s flagship park, Smale Riverfront Park, pivoted to a hybrid event, which encouraged guests to safely distance themselves in Parks all over the city in small groups while enjoying a gourmet picnic for two. In lieu of live entertainment, as is typically featured at our in-person event, our program pivoted to a mission-focused video that highlighted entertainment performances, the Foundation mission, the recipients of the Smale award, and the important work the Parks’ staff did to keep the Parks open and accessible when everything else was closed. Attendees were able to watch the video from their devices while on-site at various parks around the city.  We were also able to provide a donation to the Cincinnati Recreation Commission to provide meals for children in the Commission's before and after school programs, in addition to funding the programming through our parks. The response of our community was so positive that we will return to this same model in 2021 with “Art Deco Afternoon, Picnic in Your Parks” on Friday, October 1. Tickets available on our website soon!  Although it was initially discouraging to have to cancel our in-person luncheon, our hybrid version was able to accommodate more guests, expanding our reach around the city to attendees who would not have otherwise attended our typical event.

Friluftsliv Hiking Challenge Programming

Winter can be a scary time: cold temps, short days, dark nights. Add to that social distancing, working from home or online learning, plus limited opportunities to connect with family and friends, what can already be an isolating season is brought to an entirely new level. There is a Norweigian saying that “there is no bad weather, only bad clothing.” In fact, in this land that borders the Arctic Ocean, where conditions that we would describe as “extreme winter” are prolonged, spending time outside remains a priority. They call it friluftsliv: a commitment to celebrate time outdoors, no matter the weather, no matter your age, no matter what. Inspired by this concept, The Women’s Committee of Cincinnati Parks, an all-volunteer group that supports and promotes Cincinnati Parks through special events, brought the concept of friluftsliv to Cincinnati. Each week, those who joined the free Friluftsliv Hiking Challenge (after all, friluftsliv literally means FREE AIR) received weekly emails with a printable self-guided hike, a trail map, and a scavenger hunt. Families of all ages were kept active and engaged, learning details about Cincinnati Parks that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. We started this program in mid-December, with the hope of 25 participants as our metric of success. Over 300 people signed up for the Cincinnati Parks Friluftsliv Challenge! Challengees brought members of their quarantine pod, organized socially distanced group hikes, and shared the challenge with others. It became physical education for our online learners. A new classroom for our preschoolers. A gym for our fitness enthusiasts. A quiet respite for the overwhelmed. And a breath of fresh air for all. Participants overwhelmed us with their positive feedback, calling it a 6-week long adventure that allowed them to explore our parks in winter, a season where temps and conditions would have otherwise kept them indoors. Weather need not be a deterrent to exploring Cincinnati Parks. In fact, our challenge revealed that colder temps uncover an entirely new landscape, just waiting to be discovered. One hiker told us an especially touching story that after her husband had been let go from his job, the challenge gave them a much-needed distraction during their most troubling time. They benefited mentally and physically, spending time together exploring outdoors and discovering all that the parks have to offer. The Friluftsliv Hiking Challenge gave people an excuse to get outside, connect, reflect, relax, and renew. Now that so many have seen the healing benefits of our parks, even on days that require all of one’s warmest clothing, there’s no stopping them. After the challenge ended, we posted all six of our challenges on our website, and once again promoted it around the community, inviting visitors to complete the challenge on their own time. Read more about this program here. 

Be.Well Anywhere Programming

In partnership with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Be.Well Anywhere was an incredible pivot that provided children with disabilities and their families two adaptive programs - running and hiking. So many of these children found the programs and appointments that they rely upon for services and social connection were canceled, however, their need for support was greater than ever. This year, our Be.Well participants received instruction and support virtually and completed weekly goals safely on their own within our Parks. Each participant was paired with a “ buddy” who would cheer on and encourage through regular emails, Zooms, or text messages. Each program ended with safe, socially distanced finales - a 5K at Smale Riverfront Park, and a Halloween Hike at Caldwell Nature Center, where buddies and patients got to participate together (albeit with masks and some distance). Although these programs looked different than the typical in-person programs we provide for these populations, we found that there were a lot of elements that really worked better with the virtual elements and gave us plenty of ideas on how to expand Be.Well Anywhere in so many different directions. In 2021, we are now able to provide six programs to Be.Well families where participants can safely social distance but transition back to in-person programming: yoga, geocaching, running, martial arts, biking, and hiking.

The parks foundation went above and beyond to create unique and functional programming that handled all the challenges faced in the last year. The ability to take communities outside at a time when so many individuals missed the outdoors and feeling comfortable outside their home is a remarkable triumph. They truly zeroed in on what their constituents needed and delivered on what parks do best. Check out more about their work here. 

The PenaltyBox Foundation

Founded by Drew Laine in 2018, the PenaltyBox Foundation works to deliver support to the international hockey community. This support comes in the form of funding for expanding the sport into underserved neighborhoods or support hockey families/communities that have suffered incredible loss. 

“When the reality of the pandemic really sunk in, it was scary for our non-profit on two levels. First, we knew that there would be a drastic increase in the requests for aid and second, we wouldn't have our major fundraising events to fund these requests. I realized if we were going to continue to thrive, we needed to get creative in how we were reaching our donors. We doubled down on our remote events including at-home Olympics, virtual 5ks, pro-athlete Q&As, and also decided to run an individual endurance event where I walked 75 miles in 24 hours without stopping. We truly focused on Community building events that would help distract our families for even one minute from what was going on in the world and it paid off.”

As a young nonprofit organization, the pandemic could easily have been intimidating to the point of causing a shutdown and wait attitude. The PenaltyBox Foundation continued to work throughout the pandemic when sports and the community surrounding the game of hockey were dearly missed as everything was put on pause. Be sure to learn more about their work here. 

YWCA Boulder County

Working with over six thousand individuals annually, YWCA Boulder County is dedicated to supporting communities in need when critical social issues arise. The publically funded organization is committed to eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all. They continued to do their incredible throughout the pandemic despite the loss of most in-person programming. Here’s what Boulder County's Vice President of Development & Marketing, Brittny Wilson had to say about their experience in the last year… 

“We knew our fundraising efforts were going to look a little different during the pandemic, especially with our events, since we weren’t seeing our donors in person as much. In order to host an effective virtual gala, we needed a succinct program with a clear ask that would keep people’s attention. We also did a lot of pre-work with our major donors leading up to the event telling them about our needs, our fundraising goals, and getting commitments before the event so when the time came to give we had a waterfall of donations come through that raised the energy and prompted more overall giving.”

By immediately recognizing that fundraising would be impacted, the Boulder County YWCA was able to focus on a long-term strategy to meet their fundraising needs for a challenging year. Learn more about their mission and successes here.

These nonprofits and their success represent only a small portion of what was seen in the nonprofit sector across the nation in the previous year. So many organizations developed new programs or even just new ways to deliver their traditional programming. As we move forward into a new normal and return to an in-person program, it is important to examine what worked during the pandemic and utilize the positive features. Even more important, the industry as a whole must carry on the spirit of innovation and motivation to serve our communities no matter. From donors to staff to volunteers, last year showed what the industry can overcome and the potential of what’s next. 

Is your nonprofit ready to plan a more successful future? We help nonprofits innovate and progress by developing strategic plans that strengthen organizations and align their future. Learn more about our strategic planning process and download our strategic planning prep guide today.