Many grant-making foundations are already involved and feel that they have an increased responsibility to support their grantees in this exceptional situation. SwissFoundations invites all Swiss grant-making foundations to act in a non-bureaucratic way, responding rapidly and with flexibility to the needs of the grantees and to follow this recommendation.
This recommendation foresees that:
- Donations already pledged to non-profit organizations shall be paid even if the planned activity is cancelled or postponed, and there shall be no request to return funds already paid;
- Donations already pledged to non-profit organizations are paid even if the agreed milestones and objectives cannot be achieved due to the crisis CODIV-19;
- Foundations encourage their grantees to find alternative solutions for cancelled events or projects and support them in this process;
- Foundations show flexibility in the reporting requirements, including in terms of content and forms;
- Foundations are prepared to examine, in accordance with legal obligations and on a case-by-case basis, whether requirements on project-related funding can be loosen or eliminated allowing grantees maximum flexibility to respond to the crisis;
- If their financial resources allow, foundations should provide further funds to their grantees, in addition to the support already committed;
- Foundations should be attentive to the needs and fears of their grantees and be able to explore tailored solutions to their problems.
More information on the work of foundations in this time of crisis can be found at swissfoundations.ch/covid-19.
