Here's what your nonprofit organization can do right now to support the response to COVID-19
What is mutual aid?
Mutual aid is a voluntary, reciprocal exchange of resources and services for mutual benefit.
Why should nonprofit organizations support mutual aid networks?
It’s the equitable thing to do. It uplifts the voices and autonomy of people who have long been silenced and marginalized.
It increases your organization’s capacity. It reaches groups of people who can’t/won’t come to you directly.
How can my organization get connected to mutual aid networks responding to the COVID-19 crisis in northeast Ohio?
Register on the community hub set up by Cleveland Pandemic Response. Both organizations and individuals can register. You can offer support, ask for volunteers, and meet other folks working on the ground.
What are some ways NP orgs can support mutual aid groups?
Share space. Many mutual aid groups don’t have their own building, meeting room, land for a community garden plot, etc. Sharing space benefits them by increasing their capacity to organize and support one another. It benefits your organization by providing free programming that you don’t have to manage or administrate. You can report to your stakeholders that this work is being supported by your organization. Example: St. Clair Superior Community Development owns a large grassy lot with two shipping containers on it. They don’t have he staffing to provide programming or keep the lot free of trash. They allow Food Not Bombs to hold bi-monthly food shares on the lot, and store equipment in one of the shipping containers. In return, FNB has installed picnic tables and planted fruit bushes, and clears the lot of trash twice a month. SCSD is able to report on the food shares when talking to their board, funders, and other partners.
Share resources. If you can’t distribute all of the in-kind donations your organization receives, let a community organization take some off your hands. It benefits your organization by decreasing the workload on your staff and volunteers, as well as reaching an entirely new population that you wouldn’t see come into your office. Example: Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless receives thousands of donations each year, from clothing to hygiene items to toys. Our two outreach workers are not able to get all of those items to where they need to go. NEOCH therefore shares those items with other organizations, large and small, by inviting their own outreach workers to come into our office and take things out to camps, and by dropping items off at shelters.
Loosen restrictions. Community members know their neighbors’ needs. Trust their leadership; find ways balance accountability with accessibility and agency. This benefits your organization by lowering administrative burden, and freeing up staff time for more essential tasks. Example: NEOCH saw the need for small groups of people supporting their neighbors to stay housed, to have easily accessible funds to do so. To limit the red tape and get funds out to people who need them quickly, NEOCH set up a low-barrier micro-grant fund. People doing mutual aid work can answer a few simple questions, have one phone conversation, and get up to $500 on a MasterCard gift card within a few days. NEOCH is able to track that spending online, and request itemized receipts for each purchase. We would never be able to disperse these funds widely or equitably, if we were applying more restrictions on applicants.
Fiscal sponsorship. Folks want to do the work. They need resources to do it. Help them find funds that are accessible to non-501c3 groups through fiscal sponsorship, then agree to manage the funds for them. This benefits your organization by adding to the list of outcomes that are being supported by your organization, which you can report to stakeholders. Example: Stone Soup CLE was the fiscal sponsor for the grant that paid for the picnic tables and fruit bushes that Food Not Bombs received in the first example. FNB would never have been able to access the $3,500 provided through a Neighborhood Connections grant, if they didn’t have a fiscal sponsor tracking each purchase and making sure the money was spent the way NC outlined it should be.
Be transparent. People doing mutual aid work often come from working class backgrounds, don’t have a degree in nonprofit management, and don’t know how to navigate the written and unspoken rules set up by large institutions. Simplify your language, and be open with them about how you can or can’t support them, and why. When this information is withheld, it consolidates power and privilege, and does not support equity. This benefits your organization by gaining the perspective of people with lived experience, which will improve your communication and programming. Example: NEOCH shares the criteria for the Mutual Aid micro-grant fund with every applicant. We also provide written explanations of how the process works to anyone who asks. Our process is constantly improved through these conversations.