By Jared Sindt, Reporter
In-person events haven’t seen the light of day since COVID hit, and with the cancellation of these events comes the struggling of programs that rely on in person fundraising.
The Cornhusker Cosmopolitan hosted their first in person event of the year this past week and organizers said it was a success. This is one of the few events they’ve been allowed to have during COVID times and one of the few ways they can raise money.
Fundraising post-COVID has been tricky, but organizations have been trying to get back off the ground through events such as these.
The Cornhusker Cosmopolitan Club president, Todd Wilson, shared his thoughts on how COVID has affected their program, and the strategies they’ve used to stay alive.
“COVID’s basically shut us down, bought right now the only thing we’re able to get money from is TAGG together greater good,” Wilson said. “So really, COVID has really kind of hurt us.”
TAGG is a new way donors can support nonprofits, schools, and teams. Donors can show their support by submitting a photo of your receipt at any participating business.
Other charities have struggled from the loss of fundraising as well, Lindsey Rai Kortan is the Chief executive officer at the Ronald McDonald house in Omaha. She says that COVID has done more to their organization than just hurting their income.
“So much more than just a dollar amount of that gap that needs to be filled and things like that because we relied so heavily, we have 2,600 volunteers in a non-COVID world who help us do a majority of the heavy lifting in a lot of different ways,” Kortan said.
The House released a statement saying that COVID had caused them to shut down many in person events, and they were unable to accept new families. They also stated that they could only accept half the families they were expecting for 2020. Kortan says the community was the main reason the House was able to stay afloat.
“Absolutely, the community stepped up and was able to support us and is continuing to support us now, we are really putting focus into the families that we have now since we can’t add accept any new ones,” Kortan said.
Kortan said that the House also had to tap into resources they’d never thought of using before such as government funding. This along with community support allowed for their large organization to keep supporting their families
COVID had made these fundraising programs have to think outside the box and get creative to survive during these times. After COVID is over the fundraising programs hope to continue to explore the new ways they have found and hope to see greater results than even before COVID hit.
COVID has seemingly strengthened the bond between the community and these programs. The Ronald McDonald house received a check for a little more than $27,000 on Oct. 1, showing the community is continuing to support their program.
