(Illustration by iStock/Irina Shibanova)
The new Coronavirus is the great leveler. Everyone, regardless of where you live, what you do, or who you are, is threatened by the deadly virus. Sophie Trudeau, Tom Hanks, and Kevin Durant, to name a few, have all contracted COVID-19.
In fact, in the United States it is the wealthiest communities like New York City, Seattle, and San Francisco that were hit first and hardest, while less wealthy communities in states like West Virginia and New Mexico have, until now, largely escaped the virus.
In the long run, however, this situation will probably invert. The virus will most likely have a greater impact on disadvantaged people and communities than on wealthier ones. Knowledge workers like myself can stay home and still draw a paycheck, while many blue-collar workers in the food and transport industries will have to continue to go to work, putting themselves and their coworkers at a greater risk of contracting the virus. In addition, the wealthy have more ready access to good health care services than do the poor, particularly those living in rural communities.
Industries themselves are also being impacted differently. Everyone is hearing about the problems facing airlines and restaurants, but what isn’t getting as much coverage in mainstream media is the impact the virus is having and will have on nonprofit organizations. Many people who live paycheck to paycheck are losing their jobs or being furloughed and will need help with housing, health care, jobs, and other social services at the very time that the nonprofits delivering those services will be under added pressure.
Food banks, for example, are more essential than ever, yet some are finding it difficult to recruit volunteers and obtain food donations. And we know from the last recession that when the stock market falls and people lose jobs, charitable giving will decline and put nonprofits under financial distress at the very time when their services are needed most.
How SSIR Is Responding
In the coming weeks and months, we at Stanford Social Innovation Review will do our best to bring you articles, podcasts, webinars and other types of content that address these and other timely topics. But we will also continue to provide you with a steady stream of articles and information about timeless issues such as strategy, scaling, leadership, and collaboration.
One of the issues we are taking up now that has particular relevance today is mindfulness. All of us and our organizations are under increased stress and anxiety. And one of the ways to deal with that is mindfulness. So last week we launched the first in a regular series of articles that will run online over the next year, called “Centered Self: The Connection Between Inner Well-Being and Social Change.” I encourage you to go to our website and sign up to be alerted when we publish a new article in the series. And yesterday, I moderated a 90-minute webinar on this same subject, “Cultivating Mindfulness for Social Sector Leaders: How to Build Resilience and Achieve High Impact at Work.”
We want to hear from you about your experiences and thoughts on how to handle the current health, economic, and social crises. If you have an article or a proposal for an article that you think your peers would be interested in reading, please submit it to me at: [email protected]. For more information about the kinds of articles we look for see our submission guidelines.
Sheltering in Place
On a more personal note, everyone here at SSIR is doing fine. We have all been working from home this week and will continue to do so for as long as necessary. One of the reasons we are at home is because the San Francisco Bay Area, where most of us live, is under a “shelter in place” order. But we actually started encouraging everyone at SSIR to work from home more than a week ago.
Fortunately, most of the work we do can be done remotely, and it is not directly impacted by the virus. The Summer 2020 issue of SSIR will come out as planned in mid-May. We continue to publish online articles from our homes, and our webinars will go forward. In fact, we may even increase the number of webinars that we produce this spring to serve all of the people who are similarly confined to their homes.
Our in-person conferences are the one area of our work that has been negatively affected by the virus. Unfortunately, earlier this week we had to postpone our Frontiers of Social Innovation conference that was to be held at Stanford on May 12, 13, and 14. It was well on its way to be our largest and most interesting Frontiers ever. But we do plan to reschedule it to next spring, so stay tuned for that date. We are hopeful that we can still hold our Nonprofit Management Institute conference as scheduled at Stanford on September 21, 22, and 23.
One last thing. Please remember to take time each day to talk to a friend who is not connected to your work (even if it is over Zoom), take a walk (if only around the block), or watch a funny video (even cat videos are now okay). It will help keep you sane and healthy. And that’s important. Because the work that we all do has never been more essential.
Support SSIR’s coverage of cross-sector solutions to global challenges.
Help us further the reach of innovative ideas. Donate today.
Read more stories by Eric Nee.