On Thursday, March 12 at 9:15AM, President Christina Paxson announced to everyone on campus that “...we have made the very difficult decision to move academic instruction for all undergraduate and graduate students to remote learning.” Students must return to their homes. On the same day at 4:00pm my seminar, “Nonprofit Organizations,” met for what was to be our final on-campus session of the semester. For at least one senior student, it would be her last on-site class at Brown.

My immediate thought: How do I teach a session when students are so distracted? So I paused, I listened, and we talked. They shared their thoughts on friends and campus life they would miss; on how their immigration status might change; on relatives who may be exposed to the COVID-19 virus; on jobs, job interviews, and internships that could be cancelled and on the logistics of moving out of dorms.

Then we focused on the rest of the soon-to-be-online semester. What would it look like?

We had spent the first half of the semester focused on the performance of selected nonprofit organizations. What are the elements that make for high performance, high impact and high innovation? What are the reasons for poor practice and performance? What are the values and principles that support better performance and top quality?

Now a new question: What did a whole new set of circumstances for us and nonprofits mean on how we would approach the second half of the semester? Together we began to sort this out.

It soon became apparent that the public health and economic crisis challenged all institutions in so many unique ways. Many nonprofits such as food banks were struggling to meet enormous demand while others were experiencing little or no demand. Many lost volunteers. Spring fundraising events, a traditional source of donor income, were canceled. Reserves at smaller nonprofits were low. Revenue was lost as organizations such as childcare and arts centers were shuttered. Many were at risk of closing.

We proceeded to unravel these challenges using frameworks from the first half of the semester. What followed became some of the best student work that I’ve seen since I started teaching at Brown in 2006.

Despite the uncertainty about online learning and anxiety about unanticipated change, students responded with a burst of curiosity and intellectual energy. We asked: How have nonprofit organizations been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis and how are they responding? What is the best advice on strategies in this time of crisis? How can they begin to reinvent themselves, adjust their missions and improve performance? How will nonprofit policy and practice be different in a post COVID-19 world?

Seminar guests shared wisdom and experience on responding to disasters and addressing increasingly complex and urgent needs of vulnerable populations. Watson Institute Senior Fellow Angela Blanchard shared principles and proven breakthrough strategies she has used as a widely recognized responder and leader in multiple disasters. Eileen Hayes, CEO of Amos House, spoke of the chronically unhoused who are particularly vulnerable without a place to shelter in place, as the rest of the world was doing. She described urgent efforts to convert agency training space and open-up vacant hotel rooms with new government support. She described the strong response of donors who recognized the quality and urgency of her agency’s work.

Students in team presentations and final papers addressed burning questions. Their creative use of discussion questions, animation, polling, and breakout rooms made our new online learning less of a challenge and a better experience than anticipated.

Best practice was benchmarked. In California, small local farms experiencing decreased demand from closed restaurants were matched with food banks to meet increased demand for fresh produce. The Brown Daily Herald, a nonprofit corporation, began to partner as never before with peer Ivy League publications to share survival strategies (#SaveStudentNewsrooms). This gave new meaning to Angela’s expression: “People can survive individually, but they thrive collectively.” Best COVID-19-related strategies, new opportunities for reinvention and characteristics of a post-COVID-19 future were identified.

New Strategies and Opportunities:

• • Employee and client health and safety were of urgent concern.

  • Expanding the potential of technology had begun to transform relationships with donors, community stakeholders and other nonprofits.

  • Fundraising events were being converted to creative online appeals.

  • New attention had begun to be focused on recurring giving options and monthly giving campaigns.

  • New commitments were made to diversity, equity, inclusion, justice and issues related to equal access to services and technology.

  • Urgent attention was focused on rigorous fiscal analysis, and scenario-building.

  • Organizations were working smarter to strengthen infrastructure and creatively reposition space.

  • Boards of directors were more engaged.

  • Messages were tested and reframed to bring donors closer to mission and impact.

Post-COVID-19 Future:

• • Fewer large fundraising events and greater use of digital platforms will accelerate diversification of sources of support.

  • Many nonprofits will not survive; others will thrive with new energy, ideas, and imagination.

  • Increased awareness of the social sector, vulnerable populations, poverty, and equity can leverage change previously considered unachievable.

  • Creative use of space and work-from-home arrangements will free up and redeploy resources.

  • Contracts and agreements with funders and partners could provide for more flexibility in meeting goals.

  • Essential talent displaced by the crisis could be retained and redeployed.

  • COVID-19 is an opportunity to challenge, grow and refresh the foundational missions of nonprofits.

  • Those who are fiscally smart, better-connected, imaginative, open, participatory and strategic will succeed.

  • An increased government role will accelerate the decline of some nonprofits and challenge the missions of those that continue.

At the end of the semester, I told students how impressed I was with the scope and quality of their work. The final paper had become much less of an assignment and more of crowdsourcing experience. The range of sources students consulted was remarkable. This included new developments, ideas, strategies, innovations, best fiscal and program practices, all framed by a crisis which at that point was only 6-8 weeks old. Students had begun to imagine a better future amid significant uncertainty. Despite major disruptions and anxiety regarding the switch to online learning, each student contributed to its success. I believe they have a more profound understanding of nonprofit policy and the mission-focused force for good that these institutions represent.

I have many times reflected on the talent deficit in the nonprofit sector. Students in this seminar are better prepared to fill this gap. Each has had or will have a relationship with a nonprofit in some way: as staff, donor, board member, volunteer, program manager or CEO. They understand that complex and uncertain times require imaginative, agile, and resilient institutions and leaders. I anticipate that their impact will be transformative.