Nonprofit organization communication, crisis planning, and strategic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Nonprofit organizations have somewhat different foci, contexts, and resources than typical for-profit organizations, so may have experienced and responded to COVID- 19 in ways not covered in traditional corporate research. We investigate the influence of nonprofit organizations' communication support and use, crisis experience and preparation, and extent and impacts of COVID-19 on their strategic responses to the crisis (from retrenchment to perseverance to innovation). Our study is a longitudinal panel survey conducted with 578 U.S. public charities, once before the pandemic and the other 6 months into it. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to characterize the sample, and hierarchical regressions to assess the influences on strategic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. A major finding is that communication with external stakeholders predicted organizations' abilities to maintain core activities (perseverance) during a crisis and to pivot (innovating) on mission delivery. Practical applications for nonprofit organizations are addressed, with particular attention to COVID-19.