One of the things I’ve been reflecting on a lot over the last couple of months is that, although we all face a common challenge in COVID-19, the impact of the virus is going to play out very differently for each of us, depending on where we live in the world.
In Australia, we have one of the best healthcare systems in the world and the safety net of social welfare which some of us are dependent on right now.
While has been tough for each and every one of us in our community, the safety nets we have here simply do not exist in The Hunger Project’s Program Countries in Africa, India and Bangladesh.
The impact in these countries will be far more severe if organisations like The Hunger Project don’t act quickly and effectively.
Reaching every last person: The Hunger Project’s COVID-19 response
When COVID-19 started to have an immense global impact, we knew we needed to act.
I think it really showed the true power of our model having 500,000 leaders trained in our communities, all ready and willing to take action to protect the 16.5 million people that we reach in some of the most rural, remote parts of the world.
One of our main intentions was to make sure that we reached every last person.
The Hunger Project’s second pillar is to “mobilise everyone” and we’ve certainly seen the community members mobilising themselves in new and powerful ways to prevent the spread of the virus.
The challenge and opportunity: How COVID-19 will affect our fundraising
The reality is that COVID-19 will impact fundraising for all not-for-profits. The Fundraising Institute Australia has predicted about a 20% decrease.
Having said that, The Hunger Project has so many strengths that will see us through this challenging time.
The first is our community of long-term, committed investors who walk with us on this journey. They know that it is a long journey, but at the end of it will be the end of hunger. They will keep us strong.
We also have good financial governance and make sure we keep a reserve, and we always ensure that this is strong enough to keep us doing our work into the medium-term.
The final aspect of our organisation that will keep us strong is the fact that we have incredible leverage — every dollar invested goes such a long way which makes a huge difference.
That said, we know that it will take all of us to stop the spread of COVID-19 globally, so I encourage everyone to look at how you can contribute and make a difference.
A global issue requires a global solution: What can you do?
It’s been so wonderful seeing Australians banding together and staying home to keep the community safe. We’ve now launched a campaign ‘Stay In, Reach Out’ as a way for Australians to extend that spirit of the collective good to the global community. We invite all of us in Australia to stay in to protect our families and still reach out to 16.5 million people in THP communities.
If you are in the position to, simply give the equivalent of what you would spend on the things you can’t do right now, and instead enable others to do what they can in order to keep safe. If that excites you, click here to invest. Thank you in advance for playing a role in being part of the global solution.