NICVA Covid-19 Impact Survey 2020

Voluntary and community organisations have responded to a NICVA survey issued this week to gather information on the impacts being felt by organisations due to the Covid-19 crisis and the support and guidance organisations are seeking.  

Almost all respondents (98.3%) indicated that the crisis was impacting their organisation. Based on 576 responses, organisations indicated that they had to cancel events (81.9%) and stop services/activities (80.2%), while a further 13% reported they were likely to stop their services/activities. Over 43% reported that managing their staff, volunteers, and activities was posing major challenges, while over half (53.6%) that funding/income was likely to be lost, and over a third (33.7%) indicated that funding had already been lost. Nearly one in four said that the survival of their organisation was threatened.

The survey also highlighted the extent to which those that use and depend on the services and activities of voluntary and community organisations are being affected. Based on responses from 456 organisations, almost half (45%) reported they had already stopped services and activities affecting over 100 service users per week.  

Based on responses from 544 organisations, more than one in six respondents reported they had no more than 5 weeks worth of reserves to sustain them through the Covid-19 crisis, while over two-thirds (68.4%) reported they had no more than 20 weeks reserves.

When asked what support their organization needed in the current crisis the top five most sought after support needs were (based on 536 responses) –

  1. ‘Financial/funding support to sustain the organisation’s staff and work’ (66.2%)
  2. ‘Flexibility with/Changes to normal rules and restrictions (e.g. to enable support for local communities)’ (47.8%)
  3. ‘Representation of our concerns to government/statutory bodies’ (46.3%)
  4. ‘Advice and guidance on how to support local communities safely’ (45.1%)
  5. ‘Co-ordination by and collaboration with government/statutory bodies (39.9%)

Other key areas of support sought after were ‘Advice and guidance on managing staff and volunteers (29.7%)’ and Equipment/clothing to enable our staff/volunteers to support communities safely (28.2%).

In addition, the survey has gathered substantial data on the actions and plans organisations are implementing to respond the current crisis and the areas of advice and guidance they are seeking. NICVA will be analysing this data to inform how we represent key concerns to government, and our communications to the sector and others.

Share your COVID-19 support service

Organisations providing support to people and communities can share their service information here

> Share your support

Find more coronavirus information from NICVA

Not a NICVA member yet?

Save time, money and energy. Join NICVA and you’ll be connecting in to a strong network of local organisations focused on voluntary and community activity.

Join Us

NICVA now welcomes all small groups for free.