COVID-19 Pandemic: How Can I Help?

We are still in the throes of a global pandemic. Even as states and countries open up, the crisis reverberates and new hotspots emerge. Against this backdrop, the question for individual donors and institutional grantmakers alike is: How can I help?

Here you’ll find our team’s answer to that question. For weeks, we have been reviewing hundreds of sources of information — including reports from public health institutions; mainstream media; first responder accounts; relevant historical evidence from past pandemics and disasters; CHIP’s network of grantmakers, nonprofits, and intermediaries; and real-time surveys, modeling, and data by academics and practitioners — to provide answers to that question. Our answers fall into the categories below.

COVID Response Dashboard

Explore the real-world grantmaking practices of 13 COVID response funds in southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey.

Effective Crisis-Response Giving & Grantmaking

In times of crisis, the ability to address needs as they emerge is critical. We look at strategies individual donors and institutional grantmakers can use to make the biggest impact at a time when every donation counts. Read more >> 

Urgent Needs & Nonprofits to Give to

COVID-19 is affecting the most basic human needs for health, food, and safe shelter. In the U.S., citizens are also looking for trusted, relevant local information on emerging solutions and resources. This section describes the most urgent needs and how nonprofits are working to fill them. Read more >>

List of Nonprofits, Funds & Resources

This section provides additional information on the nonprofits we mention in Urgent Needs & Nonprofits to Give to. We also provide information on the major, relevant national and global COVID-19 relief funds, as well as public sources of information you can use to conduct additional research. Read more >>

What’s Next: Beyond Immediate Needs

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to be far-reaching. Philanthropy has a critical role to play beyond the immediate, urgent needs. Here’s what our team is paying attention to so we can help you understand what’s next for how you can help.  Read more >>

Stay Updated

This guidance is based on the best information available as of April 15, 2020. We will continue to monitor developments and update these pages as we learn more. We are still in the fast-moving first stage of this crisis, and recovery will take a long time. The economic and mental health effects will be long term, and relief efforts will be needed in stages.

To be notified of updates, sign up for CHIP’s email list. Our understanding of how donors can help is informed by the collective wisdom of organizations and colleagues locally and around the globe. To join those discussions, follow us on social media at the bottom of this page.

Published April 15, 2020, updated July 9, 2020.

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News and Media

Supporting Mental Health in the Age of COVID: Panel for Donors

A panel of mental health funders highlighted how donors can have a bigger impact on the communities and individuals struggling with the stress of COVID-19...

CHIP Regional COVID Response Dashboard featured in Generocity

Last fall, CHIP analyzed grant award data totaling over $40 million from 13 regional COVID-19 relief funds and created the Regional COVID Response Dashboard...

CHIP featured on NPR: COVID-19 Giving

CHIP Executive Director Kat Rosqueta spoke with NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro about donating to nonprofits in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis....