End of year seasonal giving is something Northeast Ohio nonprofits usually anticipate. But 2020 hasn鈥檛 been like any other year in recent memory. And some nonprofits are getting creative due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Dianne Newman is co-chairing the annual campaign for the Shaw Jewish Community Center of Akron.
This year, given the pandemic, they鈥檙e partnering on the with Akron鈥檚 Jewish Family Service, Jewish Community Board, and the K-12 Lippman School. Newman says so far, they鈥檙e seeing increased need and, in some cases, increased donations.
鈥淪ome people are more cautious because they鈥檙e not sure of their jobs. Other people -- feeling grateful for not losing their jobs and not having problems -- are being more generous.鈥�
And once the pandemic is over, Newman anticipates they鈥檒l need to be more creative with programming.
鈥淧eople no longer like to go to big events or to sit in a room and be talked to. They鈥檝e discovered how nice it is to be at home.鈥�
Newman adds that there鈥檚 also been an increase in the need for social services, such as helping seniors get to medical appointments.
At the , they鈥檝e had to pivot from the old way of presenting programs to people at work. CEO Jim Mullen says that鈥檚 because a lot of people continue to work from
home.
鈥淔rom that aspect, we鈥檝e done a ton of videos [and] Zoom calls. We have found, quite honestly, Zoom has given us a whole other dimension of actually reaching more people. We have seen an increase in the number of people coming to meetings [and] we鈥檙e getting better attendance.鈥�
Mullen says giving has still been steady this year, but they鈥檙e finding need has increased in Northeast Ohio as people struggle with job losses that have led them to seek assistance from social services 鈥� such as coming to the region's food banks, which are coordinated by United Way.
