IPA Provides Forum for Members to Learn, Share around COVID-19 Response

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus has pulled the rug out from under communities across the country and turned the term “new normal” into a household phrase. But as individuals face questions about homeschooling and social distancing, philanthropy had its own question to answer—How can philanthropy best respond to this global crisis?

In order to help address a question that had never been answered before, Indiana Philanthropy Alliance (IPA) convened its first-ever series of all-member calls to provide a space for members to learn from some of the early movers in the philanthropic community and to provide an opportunity to collaborate across sectors. 

The three all-member calls to-date have demonstrated the breadth of information that must be covered in order to develop a holistic response to this crisis. The first call featured a diverse group of five of IPA’s members who shared their initial response efforts with the rest of IPA’s membership. The second call included representatives from congressional offices, the Governor’s office, and state and federal agencies to discuss resources available to IPA’s members to mitigate some of the worst economic effects of the COVID-19 crisis. Finally, the third call focused on the national perspective, including emphasis on new disaster relief legislation, as well as an overview on trust-based philanthropy. The diversity of topics displayed on these three calls represent not only the far-reaching effects of this outbreak, but also the flexibility and expertise philanthropy has in order to address these impacts. 

As IPA organizes these calls, we will continue to look for additional opportunities to support the responses of our members and the rest of the philanthropic community. It is the support of our members that allows us to develop our COVID-19 Resource Hub, convene meaningful calls with our members, and cut through the noise and clutter of new information to find the most impactful resources for our members.

Thank you to our members who have renewed their membership, especially amid this outbreak, and those who contributed to our Leadership Circle for providing us with the support needed to continue these important services. 

IPA’s fourth all-member call will be held on Thursday, April 9th, at 10:00 AM. The featured speaker for IPA members is Senator Todd Young, who will outline the federal response to the COVID-19 crisis. Members will also have the opportunity to hear from experts on how foundations can change their spending policies to meet the growing need of their communities as well as hear expert analysis from IPA staff on some of the growing trends around the COVID-19 response.