Non-Profits, Pandemics and Pivots

February 8, 2021 9:00 AM

Brought to you by the Professional Women’s Network of Barcelona.

We were doing so well.

We consistently hosted events twice a month. We had a bigger attendance than we had previously seen. Our team was stable and committed. Our members were engaged. We had just launched the fourth year of the mentoring program and it was set to be our strongest year to date. In short: PWN Barcelona was killing it (in a good way). We were doing so well.

And then, the pandemic hit.

Conditions around us changed overnight. It felt completely out of our control. The plans we had made for 2020 were under threat. What would we do?

Our model was based on hosting in-person workshops and networking events that gave the Barcelona corporate community the chance to connect and engage on all things diversity. If we couldn’t create an opportunity for people to meet, what value could we possibly bring? Why would corporate partners engage with us? What service could we offer? All these questions had to be answered if PWN Barcelona was to survive. As president, it was my responsibility to rally the troops and create a vision for what happens next; I refused to sit back and watch my organization grind to a halt.

It’s been almost a year since the pandemic started and I’m pleased to say that PWN Barcelona is still going. What did we learn about non-profit survival in a pandemic?

Allow Your Team to Grieve

We had to move fast to adapt to the changing conditions, but we also had to understand what we were dealing with. The pandemic touched everyone. Our team, our members, our mentors, our corporate partners, our mentees, the organizers of the event spaces we used—everyone. And all of those people needed time to come to grips with the upending of their lives. Many people started working from home full time. Some had to juggle working from home with child care and homeschooling. Others lost their jobs, or could see it on the horizon.

Given how much uncertainty we faced, we all needed time to come to terms with the challenges ahead, to make sense of it all and to figure things out for ourselves. With the added pressure that touched almost every part of their lives, I didn’t expect the people on my team to drop everything and think about PWN—an organization they were volunteering for. They had other things happening in their lives that needed to be addressed first.

And they did, as did I. At the same time, we also kept the bones of the organization moving. We let our members know we were still here. We replaced in-person events with online ones. We kept moving.

Believe in Your Team

Despite everything around them changing, everyone on my team delivered in their roles. They brought ideas on how we could adapt our services and events and still engage with our members. Our social media presence was maintained and engagement grew. We moved from physical space to Facebook Live (and Zoom, of course!) as a place to meet.

Our corporate partners were kept up-to-date with what was coming next and our mentoring program was also adapted so that mentors and mentees continued to receive the experience they signed up for. That being said, some team members decided to step away from their roles and focus on other things. Would that have happened if COVID-19 hadn’t hit? Probably. Departing team members meant we were thinner on the ground, but that didn’t make us any less of a force.

Looking back, I’m filled with pride at how our team rallied. Despite the many personal and professional challenges, everyone continued to deliver for our members, our partners and each other.

Support from Your Network

One of the biggest reasons why our members and partners work with PWN Barcelona is the power of our network. Whether you want to learn a new skill, make friends, find a job, share your expertise, work with a mentor or become one—the PWN can give you this. And it was this talented network that stepped up for us, too.

When we switched events from in-person to online, we needed some well-known brands to support us—these brands would help to get people in virtual seats to our events. SAP, ADP, Vista Print—to name a few—were the ones who said yes to our requests. They helped us promote events, provided speakers and co-hosted events for their employees.

The years of investment the PWN had made into our local network came back to us as a gift. We hosted a powerful event for International Women’s Day (this event has the highest attendance of all events in the year), talked about how to achieve diversity in tech and partnered with SAP to engage with people on developing your career during a pandemic. The speakers and opportunities to deliver for our community would not have happened if we hadn’t built a network that supported us.

The Future Belongs to Creatives

Of all the successes of 2020, there were some things we tried that simply didn’t work. Many people were tired of too much screen time, so attendance to some events was lower than we would have liked. Our member numbers didn’t grow as we had projected. And, at the level of PWN Global, we were not able to renew some corporate partner contracts.

The important lesson we learned as an organization is that you just have to keep moving and trying new things. If something doesn’t work, chalk it up to experience and start with the next thing. That’s how we survive. That’s the beauty of entering into unprecedented conditions—what you try isn’t guaranteed to work out, and this lesson is even louder when you don’t know what tomorrow will bring. In 2020, PWN Barcelona did exactly that—we got a little more creative with our service and adapted how we delivered that service to the environment as it changed.

Our team, our members, our network all came together to keep our organization moving. It wasn’t a linear path, but it was a testament to how impactful people can be when they believe in something.

You can learn more about the PWN Barcelona's events on the website at pwnbarcelona.net and follow the organization on Facebook @pwnbarcelona, Twitter @PWNBarcelona and LinkedIn.