REMOTE OPERATIONS
FPLG COVID-19 RESPONSE
REMOTE OPERATIONS
[UPDATE: May 26, 2020]
Nonprofits are generally adapting to the use of telecommunications for their business operations as well as for meetings, programs, and events. It’s an open question if organizations will choose to continue remote operations will continue, in whole or in part, when the pandemic subsides.
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[April 6, 2020]
While moving towards a remote workforce may have been an option a month ago, many nonprofits that don’t conduct “essential services” have now been required to move entirely offsite and online.
This sudden shift raises enormous operational and technological challenges. Happily, many service providers and consultants are offering temporary free information, advice, and platforms to get hooked up virtually.
There are other new challenges: first, creating or adapting telecommuting policies to fit these extraordinary circumstances, and second, defending against cyber attacks and other breaches of data privacy and security, as well as the threat of internal wrongdoing like embezzlement.
We have shifted to digital-mediated interactions for almost everything in our lives. In the virtual workplace, being on video conference meetings and communicating via online collaboration platforms takes more energy than working face-to-face. Virtual work can easily zap our energy and drain our emotions bringing on a type of malaise called “Virtual or Zoom Fatigue.”
— Beth Kantor (4/30/20)
Emergencies can create scenarios where it is tempting to disregard fundamental internal controls …. A better approach is to carefully rethink internal controls and apply a reasonable, risk-based approach to financial activities that fits the situation…. If anything, crisis scenarios require more care with respect to internal controls as revenues may decrease and expenditures may increase.
— Wagenmaker & Oberly (3/20)
Malicious cyber actors could take advantage of public concern surrounding COVID-19 by conducting phishing attacks and emails. Phishing attacks often use a combination of emails and bogus websites to trick victims into revealing sensitive information.
— DHS, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
REFERENCES & RESOURCES
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Unanticipated Crisis Lessons: Nonprofit’s Pivot to Online Increases Participation (May 1, 2020) Julie Euber, The Nonprofit Quarterly
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Five Tips for Nonprofits to Avoid Virtual Fatigue (April 30, 2020) Beth Kantor, Beth’s Blog
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Who’s Zoomin’ Who? Dangers Lurk in Our Meeting Spaces (April 3, 2020) Carole Levine, The Nonprofit Quarterly
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The sgENGAGE Podcast Episode 140: Tips for Working Remotely Amidst COVID-19 (March 26, 2020) sgENGAGE Team
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Cybersecurity for a Remote Workforce (March 25, 2020) Lathrop GCM
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Remote Financial Operations and the Coronavirus Pandemic (March 19, 2020) Wagenmaker & Oberly
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CISA INSIGHTS Risk Management for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) (March 18, 2020) U.S. Department of Homeland Security, The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
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Resources to help your nonprofit navigate uncertainty ( March 2020) Google for Nonprofits
- Resources to help your nonprofit navigate uncertainty ( March 2020) Google for Nonprofits
- Nonprofit Work From Home Policy Template & Tips (March 2020) Megan Anhalt, Whole Whale
- Top Five Steps to Securely Work from Home (March 2020) SANS Security Awareness
- Nonprofit Work From Home Policy Template & Tips (March 2020) Megan Anhalt, Whole Whale
- Pivoting to Remote Work — COVID-19 Response Course Track for Nonprofit (March 2020), Tech Soup [free track of courses to help nonprofits quickly transition to remote work]
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