The nonprofit has an opportunity to tell the story of how the organization adapted to tremendous external changes in the last year.
With the pandemic forcing us to pivot to a virtual environment, we lost no time in adapting to the changes. Very quickly, we were able to pivot to an all-virtual work environment, and our staff didn’t skip a beat. Pulling the community together, we led an emergency campaign, ultimately raising $2.3 million for COVID emergency relief. These funds ultimately supported 90 local nonprofits serving more than 190,000 individuals and families. In addition, we helped coordinate the distribution of more than $444,000 worth of in-kind donations, including: 24,049 disposable masks, 3,883 reusable masks, 2,991 COVID-19 home test kits, 530 face shields, 120 gallons of hand sanitizer and more.
While much of last year was focused on responding to emergency needs sparked by the pandemic, we didn’t lose sight of long-term goals. In fact, we were able to exceed our Community Campaign goal of $17.9 million. This was made possible by our quick work to support local businesses as they pivoted to running virtual campaigns. In order to engage their employees, we created home volunteer kits they could use – helping also to meet the in-kind needs of our community. We also created digital content and hosted virtual webinars to share community needs and encourage giving.
Finally, we partnered with UW Credit Union to take a crucial step in building a more equitable community. Knowing that the call for more equitable systems was rightfully louder than ever before (following the murder of George Floyd and the amplified needs brought on by the pandemic), this fund was established to help improve the financial wellbeing and financial capability of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Southeast Asian and people of color in our community. Grants totaling $1.5 million were awarded to 32 local organizations working to build a more equitable Dane County.