In April of 2021, Public Interest Management Group (PIMG) in partnership with the Nonprofit Association of Oregon (NAO) and The Impact Foundry surveyed nonprofit leaders nationwide to assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on their organizations about one year after the first cases and stay at home orders. We gathered 158 responses from a wide-range of organizations in the nonprofit sector across the country. In this report, we are extracting the data specifically from 77 Oregon respondents to extrapolate themes and gain insight from nonprofit leaders throughout our state.

Looking Back To 2020

Like many Americans, Oregonians were alerted to the threat of the rising pandemic as the first case of COVID-19 in the country was announced on January 21, 2020 in Washington State. Just about a month later, the first case of COVID-19 in Oregon was confirmed and on March 8, 2020, Governor Kate Brown declared a state of emergency in Oregon. By March 23rd, the Governor issued the first statewide stay-at-home order that closed most businesses, nonprofits and government facilities.

What followed in Oregon (and nationwide) was a series of often contradicting precautions from epidemiologists, doctors, and government officials. As health authorities worked to contain and treat those stricken by the disease, the mass sickness and death overwhelmed many institutions. The restrictions on movement and work resulted in mass unemployment and exacerbated long-standing issues in our society including houselessness, income disparity, racism, and more.

Throughout all of this civil and societal unease, scientists were learning new information about COVID-19 which led to changes in strategies and fluctuating lockdown restrictions throughout Oregon. The impact on nonprofits to manage opening and closing their offices, hiring and laying off staff, pivot to remote programming, fundraisers, and offices, and meet the increasing needs of their communities who were desperately looking for support and resources throughout 2020 was exhausting, demoralizing, and not sustainable. Despite that, nonprofit organizations