COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities for Nonprofits
Reflections on Epic Intention’s Fall 2020 Projects
Epic Intentions is an interdisciplinary society of Georgia Tech student consultants who aid local nonprofits through semester-long design projects. These projects allow students to leverage and expand their skills in a real world context while solving challenges facing our nonprofit partners, allowing them to focus resources on fulfilling their missions.
Like other industries and sectors, nonprofits are feeling the strain of COVID-19. A June 2020 survey by Independent Sector paints a grim picture:
- Revenue decreased for 83% of organizations
- Individual donations decreased for 53% of organizations
- Services and operations decreased for 71%
- Nonprofit jobs decreased by 47%
These statistics show that the ability of nonprofits to serve people in need has been seriously hindered, and some organizations may not have the resources to efficiently respond to this evolving situation. During the Fall 2020 semester, Epic Intentions worked with two Atlanta nonprofits who needed help quickly transitioning their services to a digital format in order to continue meeting the needs of the communities they serve.
Atlanta Women’s Foundation
The Atlanta Women’s Foundation provides support for nonprofits and programs that empower low-income women and girls to break the cycle of poverty. AWF also provides leadership training for women (and men) serving on advisory boards through their Women on Board training program. Since 2000, Women on Board has trained 5,000 women in board governance and leadership skills through a day-long retreat with in-person workshops.
Due to health concerns and financial uncertainty caused by COVID-19, AWF can no longer hold these in-person trainings to further their mission and generate revenue. This created an opportunity for AWF to focus on customized workshops delivered in a virtual format. They have offered customized workshops since 2005, so they were prepared for this aspect, but they did not have the resources to market their updated trainings or identify new potential partners (companies whose employees may be interested in serving on nonprofit boards).
How We Helped
Project Lead: Jayna Glover (1st year MS Operations Research)
Project Team: Lasya Akshara (2nd year Industrial Engineering), Lindsey Mains (2nd year Public Policy), Rachel Wewengkang (2nd year Industrial Engineering)
After talking with the AWF contacts — Shandy Arwood, Development and Operations Specialist, and Kate Balzer, Director of Communications — this Epic team broke down AWF’s problem into a series of tasks including market research, product definition, creating a brand identity, evaluating the effectiveness of AWF’s current marketing strategy, and researching potential partner companies.
The hardest part was identifying potential partners for the Women on Board program since companies may be hesitant to make a financial commitment for the training program. As the team tackled AWF’s challenge, they faced novel challenges of their own such as scheduling meetings and deadlines across time zones, adjusting to virtual meetings, and holding team members accountable for their work. Despite these difficulties, they enjoyed exploring different businesses in Atlanta and learning more about AWF’s impacts and initiatives.
After months of careful research and design iterations, the team completed their final deliverables for AWF: a marketing plan, branded marketing materials (social media posts, flyers), and documentation of potential partners. During the handoff meeting, the team was pleasantly surprised to talk with Kari Love, AWF’s CEO, who explained how their work will aid in the expansion of the Women on Board program.
With help from Epic Intentions, AWF is now in a position to increase their services despite experiencing setbacks due to COVID-19.
Open Hand Atlanta
Open Hand Atlanta’s mission is to eliminate disability and untimely death due to nutrition-sensitive chronic disease; a team of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists empower individuals to lead healthier lives through nutrition interventions such as medically-tailored meals, nutrition education, Medical Nutrition Therapy, and Chronic Disease Self Management.
In 2019, Open Hand received funding to use Healthie, a telenutrition platform that provides a secure way for health and wellness professionals to work with clients virtually. Open Hand was in the process of designing digital complements to their existing nutrition programs when COVID-19 disrupted their operations and slowed their content creation and implementation progress; the Nutrition Services team was strained between working off-site and helping with other organizational challenges. However, the pandemic emphasized the need for telenutrition programs to reach at-risk and marginalized populations, especially in rural areas.
Despite this clear need, Open Hand found it challenging to convince clinics and healthcare providers to utilize virtual nutrition interventions because they are struggling, even more so during COVID-19, to provide sufficient health services, so they are hesitant to dedicate constricted resources to implementing and maintaining new telenutrition services.
How We Helped
Project Lead: Cameron Bell (3rd year Business Administration)
Project Team: Jeff Lovette (1st year Public Policy), Christian Wilson (2nd year Industrial Engineering), Bhargavi Lanka (2nd year Industrial Engineering), Shivam Lahoti (3rd year Industrial Engineering), Hardik Patel (2nd year Business Administration)
This Epic team met with Laura Samnadda, the Director of Nutrition Services at Open Hand, to flesh out their project which involved SWOT analysis, interpreting data for recommendations, and writing a business plan with market, client, and risk and regulatory analysis.
One key finding of the SWOT analysis was that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service expanded Medicare coverage to include telehealth services during the pandemic. This indicated a greater potential client base for Open Hand’s telenutrition service than expected, but implementation would still be limited by factors such as lack of internet access and hesitancy from clinics.
After research and analysis, the team developed a business plan to guide Open Hand’s expansion of their telenutrition portal into rural Georgia. They recommended a phased approach since implementation will take longer in areas where Open Hand is still establishing connections with healthcare providers and ensuring internet access. The team also provided a regulatory forecast detailing the ways local and national policies and politics could impact the rollout.
With help from Epic Intentions, Open Hand is now equipped with strategies to acquire a client base for their telenutrition portal which will empower at-risk and marginalized populations to live healthier, even during the pandemic.
