Grants Coffee Talk: COVID-19 Concerns in Grantmaking
On March 18th, grantmakers from across the globecame together to discuss how they are reacting to the COVID-19 crisis. This open conversation revolved around twoprompted questions.
Whatchanges are you currently rolling out?
What changes are youconsidering?
These questions resulted in the overarching topic of “Whatcan we as grantmakers do to make the lives of our grantees easier?” There weremany different ideas and some grantmakers shared steps they are taking toalleviate the strain their grantees are facing.
Some foundations and organizations have had the capacity tocreate emergency funding, see a comprehensive list at https://covid19freelanceartistresource.wordpress.com/#FUNDING
Besides the creation of new funds grantmakers are looking attheir current grant portfolios and reevaluating the processes in place. Changes to requirements, deadlines andapplications are being made to meet the needs of grantees and grantingorganizations.
While all of these items address the short term needs ofgrantees, grantmakers are also thinking about the long-term and what theirorganizations grants are going to look like over the course of the next year.Will they increase funding, will they have to decrease funding, will there bemore operating support, more program support?
These are all issues that the Arts Council is currently addressing. We have already extended the Summer Hartford Events Grant deadline to April 17th, and are having one on one discussions with our grantees on how we can support them during this time of uncertainty.