Catherine Hall, CEO, Alzheimers New Zealand

1. What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given recently?
‘Be prepared, not scared’ was something a person with dementia said – it was said for different reasons but was apt and stayed with me as we navigated our way through lockdown. Our preparation began when we saw how COVID-19 was unfolding overseas, prompting us to plan how we would operate to ensure the continuity of our service and agreeing the triggers for moving from one stage to another. So while lockdown arrived sooner than we had anticipated we did move into it well prepared and were able to adapt quickly.

2. What’s been the most challenging part of the lockdown journey?
The uncertainty. We have a huge responsibility when we work to help others in the human services space. Being prepared helped mitigate the uncertainty and meant we could continue to serve the people we exist for and provide a clear pathway for staff.

The second challenge was getting information when it was needed. The health sector had done a lot of preparation but it appeared to be focused on the front-line response in hospitals and less so on the aged care sector, which is where most of the risk lies. Prompting the health sector to focus on vulnerable people was a challenge.

3. What’s the smallest change that’s had the greatest impact?
We had a long-term goal to introduce online options to our suite of services but it was in the early stages. COVID-19 meant we had to fast track this work and make it available sooner. In addition to technology we added other modes of communication such as text, phone and mailing activity packs to carers in order to support our members remotely. Each of these are examples of small initiatives that had a significant impact.

4. What’s been your biggest learning?
I like working from home! I didn’t expect to as I was concerned about having clear boundaries but I have discovered I do. I think it helped that it was a shared experience – we have now moved to a mixed model which is working well.

5. What have you been surprised by?
How many of our clients had an online presence and were able to engage remotely with ease. This was interesting as we had planned pre-COVID to move to online options but had been slow to do so because there was a view that few of our clients would have the ability to do so. It turns out 60% of our clients were connected and responded positively.

As a national organisation this has highlighted that it doesn’t matter where the services are delivered from or where the people are when they receive these services. It sounds obvious but we are now looking at things differently, particularly as people are now more open to alternative options.

6. Strategically, what’s the biggest opportunity lockdown has created for your organisation?
To re-evaluate what supporting people with dementia should look like. Lockdown provided the impetus to introduce changes which we’d been considering for some time and which quickly proved their worth. Leveraging this success, and the more open mindset that now exists within the organisation, is a huge opportunity. We need to capitalise on these new ways of thinking to discover how we can better serve those we exist for.

7. What are you most proud of?
Our level of preparedness and how quickly we were able to introduce new services, communication channels and resources, and the level of support we provided our regional members and clients as they were introduced to these new initiatives. I was also proud of everyone’s willingness to try and to learn as we went.

8. Have you implemented any changes that you will keep post lockdown?
We’ll continue to develop our digital capability and to provide clients with a broader range of options to connect with. Secondly, we’ll harness the openness, nimble decision making and agility we demonstrated during lockdown to make us a more responsive, impactful organisation.

9. Most non-profits have seen their fundraising opportunity shrink. How should the sector respond to this?
It is a challenge and most non-profits have seen fundraising activities and events, corporate partnerships and philanthropic funding come to an end.

I believe the first two are ours to fix as a sector – how do we become sustainable and is this in fact an achievable goal in a sector that is set up to operate on a month by month year by year funding cycle? I think an important response at this point in time is to think about how we could be funded and operate differently as a sector. It’s important also that government understand how dependent non-profits are on particular types of funding and volunteering to do their core work. A timely consideration when one considers the government’s reliance during lockdown on NGOs to support so many vulnerable groups of people.

10. The future of the non-profit sector is…
Being more collaborative. This is already core to the sector but a highlight during lockdown was seeing at a local level the extent to which NGOs worked together. Sometimes with local council and DHBs, and sometimes self-managing to ensure there wasn’t overlap with at-risk clients. This approach to working together definitely gained traction during lockdown and I hope it continues.

Jane Bawden, CEO, Parent to Parent

1. What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given recently?
Make the most of uncertain times. As a non-profit organisation we live in a constant state of uncertainty, particularly around funding, but COVID-19 was a seismic upheaval. Once we were over the initial response and had adapted to the new environment, we saw it as an opportunity – to learn together, to work differently and be more innovative.

2. What’s been the most challenging part of the lockdown journey?
People react to change and uncertainty in different ways and COVID-19 brought with it a new set of anxieties that have been challenging for many. We all need compassion and understanding where the wellbeing of our teams and the people we support is at forefront of our minds. As a non-profit delivering nationwide services, we also faced more practical challenges such as managing the effects of an immediate change to the funding climate and the implementation of a remote service delivery model within a very tight timeframe.

3. What’s the smallest change that’s had the greatest impact?
New ways of engaging with those we support. While initially we thought that adopting new technology to deliver workshops, training and support was a significant change it turned out to be the opposite. We adopted the approach that we were all learning together which took the stress away and we quickly became aware of the positive impact of connecting remotely. Families who had previously found it difficult to connect due to social or geographical isolation were now able to access the support they needed from home. We reached more people based in different locations throughout the lockdown period.

4. What’s been your biggest learning?
Everyone reacts differently in difficult situations. Some disability families found it added another layer of stress to their family situation while for others it was a period of calm. It was a time of peaks and troughs for all those we work alongside – clients, funders, government agencies – and all of us needed empathy, timely responsiveness and calmness during this time.

5. What have you been surprised by?
By how compliant we are as New Zealanders.  There was a real sense that we were a part of the team of 5 million working as one for our greater good. It was a time of togetherness and united purpose and I have never seen that before. Another first was hearing people express their gratitude for the political and civil service leadership we were fortunate to have in New Zealand.

I was also surprised and delighted to see so many organisations, who had the capacity to flex, do so in such a practical and supportive way.

6. Strategically, what’s the biggest opportunity lockdown has created for your organisation?
There were 3 things; the first was we discovered the importance of reconnecting with families who had used our services in the past and for various reasons had lost contact. Our regional coordinators, who typically spend time travelling to deliver face-to-face services, had time during lockdown to contact around 5,000 families and check they were ok. They discovered many were needing help, from requiring food and basic essentials to issues such as dealing with challenging support needs. Even if the family was doing ok, renewing the connection meant support was back in place if needed.

Secondly, it created a learning opportunity within our organisation. This was mainly around technology and learning to be more agile. We recognised early on that our success at connecting remotely wasn’t solely reliant on our technological ability but also the resources of the families we support. Lockdown was the perfect opportunity for us all to upskill, including the families we support, and it was a very positive part of the experience.

Lastly, it was a very freeing time to implement new initiatives as there wasn’t the time for things to be perfect, we just had to get on with it. Parent to Parent has always struck a good balance between knowledge, practical support and being responsive and this held us in good stead. However, lockdown was a reminder that sometimes we can spend too long striving for perfection and being responsive and agile is often more important.

7. What are you most proud of?
The team who worked so well under pressure to provide families with the support they needed. There was a feeling that we were all in this together and we’ll do whatever it takes. It wasn’t a surprise, but it was heartwarming.

8. Have you implemented any changes that you will keep post lockdown?
There are two key things – we saw the positive impact of connecting with the families we support using technology and we’ll continue to refine this. Many families experience health or other challenges that impact on their ability to meet up face to face, such as their children being stood down from school. These circumstances mean they are often in ‘lockdown’ and technology allows them to remain connected regardless of their situation.

Secondly the focus on strategic philanthropic partnerships and the sustainability of our organisation. Parent to Parent has positively impacted disability families for almost 40 years and the need and demand for our services has never been greater.

9. Most non-profits have seen their fundraising opportunity shrink. How should the sector respond to this?
Adopting a partnership model based on high trust will be important. When non-profits are viewed by funders and government as key partners who have the expertise to deliver shared social outcomes, we can make a bigger difference. Working better together relies on our ability to address the strategic priorities of our communities with a common purpose and to create the change needed through a model of empowerment. There will always be a need for reporting and accountability but how can this be managed in a way that is less time consuming and expensive and leads to greater impact?

10. The future of the non-profit sector is…
During lockdown we’ve been reminded that people can create change rather than be passive recipients. The voice of the disability community is becoming stronger from individual families who live daily with disability to the organisations that deliver services to them. This voice has the power to directly influence government policy and the type of support available to those in the disability community. As non-profits we are often better placed to inform and create solutions for government rather than rely on them for the answers. We need to be more active partners with others in order to create effective change.

Aisha Daji Punga, CEO, Starship Foundation

1. What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given recently?
It’s an oldie but a goodie, ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff!’ I think this whole experience has given us perspective as to what really matters – to revisit what’s core to our purpose, our family and friends, our neighbours and community and to be very clear on what’s important.

At Starship Foundation this meant our number one priority was the health and well-being of the team; that they were in an emotional, physical and financial safe space.

Second, we addressed how we could support front-line essential workers at Starship Hospital, many of whom had been preparing for the pandemic for several months and were already stretched.

Business continuity, in particular cash flow, was our third priority. We needed to replace the loss of funds to ensure we could support our commitments, in particular to Starship Hospital, and to do this in a way that maintained donor dollar integrity. We also agreed it was important to maintain an acceptable administration ratio.

2. What’s been the most challenging part of the lockdown journey?
I think on a personal front maintaining emotional resilience. When I look back it is only very recently that I’ve regained a sense of normality. Working with such sustained effort during a period that calls on all your skills from strategising, to forecasting, to being creative and leading the team is intense. And you’re managing that alongside your personal life and wanting to be there for your family and friends. I refer to this period as the sprint and now we are embarking on the marathon!

3. What’s the smallest change that’s had the greatest impact?
The lack of time. The team has become far more agile, so much more intuitive and solution-oriented than before lockdown. And that was simply because there wasn’t time to over analyse anything – we did so many things particularly in those first couple of weeks that we just didn’t think was possible. And it while it was intense it wasn’t hard – we took on a completely different mindset knowing that we needed to just get on and do it.

4. What’s been your biggest learning?
During lockdown we formed multiple teams with specific responsibilities for the health and well-being of the team, donor care, income generation and welfare packs. We made these cross-functional and small based on the premise that if you can’t share a pizza then your team may be too big.   While we have always been quite cross-functional, with these smaller more agile teams the silos within the organisation disappeared and accelerated our impact.

5. What have you been surprised by?
That I know my team so much better than before we went into lockdown. I now know their children, pets, the inside of their houses and not only do I know what their hobbies are I’ve experienced some of them! If someone had asked me if I’d know my team better remotely than working alongside them in the office I would have said never. It’s been an absolute delight.

The other pleasant surprise was the impact of our WhatsApp group. We initiated this to try and recreate the water cooler conversations. One of the team very early on shared their concerns and fears and it immediately became a place of support, care and empathy and at times a good dose of humour! It wasn’t a place to talk work but to be there for each other and it wasn’t something I had expected would become so important.

6. Strategically, what’s the biggest opportunity lockdown has created for your organisation?
Growing our digital capability, diversifying our funding streams and forming deeper relationships with our donors are three initiatives within our strategic plan that have been accelerated as a result of COVID-19. We are further down the path with each of these than we were before.

Like everyone else our digital capability has step-changed. Prior to lockdown we were of a mind that digital donations could only be a small portion of our income stream, with a lower average contribution, and we’ve now dispelled this myth. We turned our first appeal around in a week and now most of our campaigns are attracting new donors through digital platforms. Digital has also helped to reinforce our nationwide remit – we are the nation’s brand and now have greater engagement throughout the country.

We’ve diversified our donor base into more ethnic areas which has enabled us to broaden our audience and we continue to invest in donor care and development.

7. What are you most proud of?
I am most proud of how my team came together, how they focused on our purpose and rallied together. I saw it not just with my team but with Starship Hospital and across the sector as organisations collaborated more.

I have seen some genuine collaborations arise from lockdown and gain real traction during this time. In the children’s health area, I’m leading a collaboration with 8 children’s health charities aiming to provide greater support experiences and connection for families; create an impact framework that demonstrates our economic benefit to the child health sector; determine how we become a more credible partner with government so we are helping them make the money go further and looking at shared services and resources so we can be more effective and efficient. Lockdown provided the impetus to move this collaboration to the next level and we are starting to make headway.

8. Have you implemented any changes that you will keep post lockdown?
There are 5 key changes we have adopted:

1. A mixed model of working from home. Most staff found that they were much more productive at home so we’ll combine this with days at the office where we can connect and communicate alongside one another.
2. We are converting one third of our office space into a creative and collaboration space.
3. We are accelerating our digital journey by building our in-house capability.
4. We have reconfigured our business to be more donor-centric.
5. We have initiated the children’s health collaboration to create greater impact for families.

9. Most non-profits have seen their fundraising opportunity shrink. How should the sector respond to this?
There may be areas that won’t recover and while the landscape has changed it’s important, we don’t talk ourselves into a downward spiral.

My observation across the sector is that people’s generosity is not declining but it is being delivered in different ways. I’m not sure that as traditional charities we are embracing these new opportunities as quickly as we should be. We need to adopt a growth mindset and explore new ways of giving.

Secondly, I think collaboration amongst organisations is going to be critical. We need to reduce the overlap, fill the gaps and find better ways of working together to serve those in need.

Lastly, we need to look at how we might engage and connect with social impact investing. There are billions of dollars in social impact investments that we as charities are not tapping into.

We are on the road to recovery now and have been presented with a huge opportunity to do things better, to reach new audiences and make our organisations more sustainable.

10. Final thoughts….
I think this is our trickiest time right now. Lockdown was fueled by adrenalin and we were in the mode of solving problems but as we move back to normality it’s so important we don’t lose the gains we made as we return to the workplace environment. How do we keep the positive forward momentum we achieved during this time of crisis to rebuild our organisations and the sector to be more sustainable with a better future?

Kate Bundle, CEO, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

1. What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given recently?
To be discriminating about what you pursue, which I reframed as ‘don’t bark at every passing car!’ Keeping this in my mind, particularly in the early stages of lockdown, helped me be clear on my priorities as CEO and to navigate through the masses of information that came through thick and fast.

2. What’s been the most challenging part of the lockdown journey?
Safeguarding our funding. I made the decision to go into lockdown a week early which meant the staff were setup and ready to respond to the needs of our members when the country went into lockdown. Funding was then my major priority.

Connecting with our regular funders to keep them abreast of how we were managing and adapting our services, and discussing how they could support GRG through this next phase was a great example of partnership in action and a very gratifying process.

The other challenge was managing the often-conflicting demands of working and parenting from home. Homeschooling was a challenge and I have a new deep respect for teachers! The longer the lockdown went on, I became more aware of how important my own mental health and wellbeing was in order to continue to meet the demands of leadership.

3. What’s the smallest change that’s had the greatest impact?
Prior to lockdown we believed that as a grassroots organisation supporting people in challenging situations we needed to deliver our service on the ground, face-to-face. Lockdown has shown the limitations of this approach and we now see that by embracing technology we can not only increase our level of support but reach more people. Part of our initial response to lockdown was increasing our remote communication channels such as SMS text, which meant we could be more accessible remotely and responsive to client needs. We recently surveyed members and their positive feedback has endorsed the decision to keep these in place.

4. What’s been your biggest learning?
You can be supportive, responsive, build team and culture remotely. As an organisation with support groups and staff throughout the country, we stepped up our communication to great effect. We met with staff outside of Auckland more regularly thanks to Zoom which has made the team stronger. I’ve seen how adaptable people are and realised that we often limit ourselves with our own beliefs rather than trying something new.

5. What have you been surprised by?
How well our grandparent members managed during lockdown and the positive outcomes they experienced. In a recent survey, many said that it gave them the opportunity to spend time together and to bond as a family – slowing down without quite so many demands was a relief. Others now have improved technology skills and are more engaged with GRG as a result. Those that struggled didn’t have good access to the Internet or technology or were dealing with particularly challenging grandchildren with complex issues.

6. Strategically, what’s the biggest opportunity lockdown has created for your organisation?
Using technology to reach grandparents through a wider range of remote communication channels which I’ve mentioned. Secondly, collaboration with other organisations. Referring grandparents to other organisations that can meet their specific needs has always been a part of our service delivery model, however during lockdown this increased and has reinforced my belief that together we can make more of a difference. Foodbanks and other essential services were a critical part of our network and enabled us to care for our grandparents more successfully.

7. What are you most proud of?
The decision to go into lockdown a week earlier and my amazing team. Making the decision to go earlier meant we were prepared, both mentally and operationally, to respond to member need when the country locked down. My team were incredible and worked so hard to support our members.

8. Have you implemented any changes that you will keep post-lockdown?
Technology has become our new friend – our weekly Zoom team meetings and other platforms have been retained for the greater good. Our engagement with members and remote staff deepened over lockdown and we’ve adapted our communications programme in order to maintain this.

9. The future of the non-profit sector is ….?
Very challenging. The wage subsidy and mortgage holiday have provided an initial buffer so at this point it’s difficult to know where we are going to land and what this may mean in terms of the demand for our services. We do know that in times of recession family life is impacted as households are placed under financial pressure and that when parents aren’t coping, they look for ways to escape. In these situations grandparents often end up being the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. Potentially, this would lead to an increase in demand for our services in a tighter funding climate. I am aware this scenario is one that will be shared by many in the sector.

Frances Benge, CEO, Cure Kids

1. What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given recently?
Working remotely ensures we focus on the skillsets of colleagues and not their personalities.  Personalities can be a distraction to productivity and remote working has provided greater collegiality and collaboration and respect for each other.

2. What’s been the most challenging part of the lockdown journey?
Loss of income and looking for a sustainable business model ensuring that we can hit the ground running once recovery begins.   Cure Kids relies on major corporate partners for funding in the areas of retail, real estate and hospitality – as these industries have been significantly impacted by the lockdown with impact to staff and employment it is difficult to expect the same level of financial support from our donors.

3. What’s the smallest change that’s had the greatest impact?
The education of all generations to use online meeting forums such as Zoom – we have an older generation Board and it was refreshing to see all generations embracing technology.

4. What’s been your biggest learning?
We don’t need bricks and mortar to prescribe an organisation.  I have put a group together to look at remote working for all with minimal physical office requirements in our future.

5. What have you been surprised by?
The way our team has embraced remote working.  I felt after a while the novelty would wear off, but there is a reluctance to go back to working habits prior to COVID-19 days.

6. What’s the biggest opportunity lockdown has created for your organisation?
Greater productivity and opening our eyes to different ways of working – it has allowed us a new lens to take stock of a new way of doing things.

7. What are you most proud of?
Leadership in the most unprecedented circumstances.  It has been unchartered waters, and I am proud that my team has thrived through the lockdown.

8. Have you implemented any changes that you will keep post-lockdown?
We are moving to a more flexible remote working model – longer term we will look to sublet our office with a view to terminating the lease.

9. Most non-profits have seen their fundraising opportunity shrink. How should the sector respond to this?
There is a real economic opportunity for non-profits to work closer with government and others to make social gains within our communities. Collaborating with organisations who have the same inherent purpose means we avoid overlap and together can achieve more. Cure Kids has a long history of partnering with others to deliver outcomes. One example is A Better Start where we collaborate with Virtual Health Information Network, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and more than 160 researchers who are committed to delivering excellent science to give our tamariki a better start in life. Working together as one not only means we use our scarce resources more effectively but leverages our areas of expertise for greater impact.

10. The future of the non-profit sector is ….
Bright – as long as we embrace a more flexible and collaborative model. Measuring impact in the areas we support is going to be increasingly integral to sustainability.

Jason Myers, CEO, New Zealand AIDS Foundation

1. What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given recently?
Someone helped me see that we weren’t ‘working from home’ during Covid-19 alert levels 3 and 4 but rather we were locked in our houses during a global pandemic trying to work. There is quite a difference and we need to be careful about using ‘learnings’ from this time to inform any kind of potential flexible working policies in the future. It was so far from what flexible working under ‘normal’ circumstances has the potential to offer.

2. What’s been the most challenging part of the lockdown journey?
Maintaining the boundary between work and home when they literally became one place. I formed bad habits and worked the longest hours of my life simply because it was right there and there was always something else to do.

3. What’s the smallest change that’s had the greatest impact?
Moving to online meeting platforms! We used to promote the idea that meetings needed to be face-to-face for people to feel truly connected and collaborative. What we learned is that meeting online provides new and different opportunities for people to feel part of their team or the wider organisation as a whole.

4. What’s been your biggest learning?
That the world wouldn’t have ended if I didn’t work as hard as I did through Alert Levels 3 and 4. As I look back, conscious that I ultimately set the pace of the organisation, I would do things differently if I had the chance to do it again. What is the sweet spot between looking after an organisation and its people at times like this, and looking after ourselves?

5. What have you been surprised by?
I have realised how much I do actually need human contact and connection to feel my best. I didn’t realise this until I returned to the office and started to have those water cooler conversations again.

6. What’s the biggest opportunity lockdown has created for your organisation?
We were forced to think about things differently, questioning our taken-for-granted assumptions about the best or only ways to do things and giving ourselves space and permission to create and innovate. The challenge is holding onto this as life returns to something more like ‘normal’.

7. What are you most proud of?
That the strength and resilience of the team enabled us to continue to provide important programmes and services to the community through Alert Levels 3 and 4.

8. Have you implemented any changes that you will keep post-lockdown?
We have allowed people to keep working from home one day a week if their roles allow it while we keep exploring potential for flexible working into the future.

9. The future of the non-profit sector is…
Bright! We make such an important contribution to the well-being of New Zealand. We need to be nimble and responsive, getting better at the telling our success stories and increasing the level of consciousness as to what life could be like without the important (often life-saving) work of NFPs.

Bonnie Robinson, CEO, HBH Senior Living

1. What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given recently?
   Changing your mind when making decisions is okay. This advice stood me in good stead during lockdown as we were having to make decisions at speed and then as new information came to hand, modify them. Being agile and adapting as the situation changed is always the basis for good decision-making, but with COVID-19 this mattered tenfold.
2. What’s been the most challenging part of the lockdown journey?
   There were three main challenges. Firstly, as the CEO of an aged care facility, my main responsibility was to continue delivery of our service of caring for vulnerable people and this meant keeping COVID-19 out of the facility come what may. We achieved this and I am incredibly proud of HBH, particularly the staff for achieving this.The second challenge was managing the plethora of information – which either came too fast or too slow! Wading through the information to find the specific parts relevant to us was a challenge. We adopted the ‘Single Source of Truth’ approach and agreed that the Ministry of Health would be our external single source of truth. Internally I formed a team of three, led by me, as our internal single source of truth. For managers and staff this provided clarity; it didn’t matter what they’d heard elsewhere as they knew to refer to the one single source of truth. Lastly, as an essential service we needed to maintain a workforce to uphold the quality of care we provide residents. However, a number of staff couldn’t work due to their own health and there were no agency staff available unless they were employed full-time. There was a lot of juggling and temporary changing of roles to make it work which we managed to do. While it was difficult, the loyalty and flexibility of the team was outstanding.
3. What’s the smallest change that’s had the greatest impact?
   One of the first things we did was setup a framework for decision-making. As a values-led organisation, our values always guide our decisions but with COVID we prioritised them and adopted the top three values. These ensured we made decisions that protected the general public, kept our residents safe and well, and ensured we remained viable. This framework, along with the single point of truth, streamlined our process and meant we were able to make decisions responsibly and consistently.The second small change that had impact was making better use of technology. We had it and were using it, but not as well as we could have until COVID-19. There was a mindset that unless you met in person you didn’t value the relationship. Using technology to serve us better, to extend our reach and to connect residents with family members living around the world will now be a part of how we do things going forward and that has been an extremely positive outcome.
4. What’s been your biggest learning?
   The power of a single, unifying goal. This was something I already knew and understood, but it was absolutely reinforced during lockdown. Across the organisation, everyone knew our number one goal was to keep COVID-19 out of HBH and achieving this relied on their respective commitment and contribution. Now that we are back to ordinary life, my challenge is to harness that same commitment to achieving our future goals.
5. What have you been surprised by?
   Our clients (residents) coped better than I thought they would. As older people, they had experienced many challenging times and were very philosophical about the situation. They were great. Secondly the staff, who adapted to new roles, new ways of working, including using technology which many said they found challenging, and they did it extremely well.
6. What’s the biggest opportunity lockdown has created for your organisation?
   A greater awareness of the power of technology and how it can open up our services to reach more people beyond our current locations. We not only used it to connect residents with families, but also to deliver some of our community services which was extremely successful.
7. What are you most proud of?
   That we kept COVID-19 out of HBH and the commitment of my staff – many of whom turned up for work even though they were scared and worried.
8. Have you implemented any changes that you will keep post lockdown?
   Two immediate changes have been made. Residents and staff enjoyed the quieter pace during lockdown – life slowed down and it wasn’t all bad. An immediate change we’ve made is to keep visiting to either side of lunchtime based on residents saying they’d rather not be rushed if someone came to visit during mealtimes. And secondly, staff now have more flexibility to work from home if they can and wish to. Many staff found working from home more productive with fewer interruptions and wish to continue to do so for a part of their working week.
9. The future of the non-profit sector is…
   I think this depends on which part of the sector you operate in. Those who are heavily reliant on fundraising may find that it will get harder before it gets easier, depending on when the borders reopen and the economic recovery time. However, the sector, by its very nature, is nimble so in that respect it’s well placed to manage an event like COVID-19.Finally, we are fortunate in situations like these to be in values-based organisations, where we can make decisions based on our values for the good of others rather than on commercial gain.
10. Final thoughts
    It was a true test of leadership. We often didn’t have the information we needed to make a well-informed decision so for me, having a clear set of personal values and organisational values was essential and guided every decision I made. The question of how the organisation wishes to be seen in the future was in the back of my mind throughout and I feel we have grown and landed in a very positive place.