The Struggle Is Real: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Rural Nonprofit Fundraising

Background: Rural communities in U.S. were differentially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with double the infection and mortality rates of urban areas. COVID-19 and the resulting precautions and resource deficiencies have made nonprofit work challenging. Nonprofits with financial reserves are more resilient to impacts of COVID-19, but many nonprofits in rural areas are smaller and may not have robust financial reserves. Organizations have noted reduced revenue, reduced philanthropy, reduced government aid, reduced staff and volunteers, and worries about future financial stability. The work of nonprofits and their resources are critical to address complex social problems in rural areas. Thus, this study seeks to understand how the pandemic has affected rural nonprofit fundraising capacity.

Methods: Out of 57,700 rural nonprofits that filed 990s in 2016, a random sample of 800 (200 from 4 U.S. census regions) were emailed or mailed a survey. The final sample included executive directors, board presidents, or fundraising staff (N = 80) who answered questions about the impact of COVID-19 on their organizations. Ordinary least squares and logistic regression models were used to examine how rural nonprofit fundraising was affected by the pandemic.

Results: The size for rural nonprofits ranged from 0 to 33 staff, with a mean of 5.5 (Med = 2, SD = 9.3). Board sizes ranged from 0 to 21, with a mean of 8.9 (Med = 9, SD = 4.5). The average tenure for executive directors was 8.8 years (Med = 8, SD = 5.6). Nearly 60% (57.7) reported decreases in money raised compared to previous years, while 42.3% organizations reported no change or an increase in revenue. Many rural nonprofits were flexible and willing to adjust fundraising strategies during the pandemic, with 45% reporting that they made substantial changes. That pivot was instrumental in helping some organizations thrive, as results from logistic regressions showed organizations that changed their approach to fundraising reported a significant increase in funding over the past year (OR = .35, p < .05). Additionally, 21.2% of organizations reported having a parent or umbrella organization, which appeared to be a protective factor. Rural nonprofits with umbrella organizations were more likely to have raised more money during the pandemic than independent organizations (p < .05).

Conclusions: These findings will assist nonprofit leaders and stakeholders in understanding fundraising practices and organizational characteristics that helped or hurt fundraising outcomes during an economic downturn and global crisis. Further, this investigation provides knowledge for funders and capacity builders who will ultimately need to help nonprofits bounce back from struggles caused by the pandemic. One key finding was organizations that embraced change in their fundraising plans did better financially than those that did not. It is possible that resiliency and innovativeness of rural organization leaders, noted in previous studies, may have contributed to willingness to pivot. Also, parent organizations acted as an insulator to much of the economic impact for many rural nonprofits. This could be due to larger network connections and greater access to resources that they may have shared with rural affiliates.