KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Monday was National Nonprofit Day. Nonprofits have taken a huge hit due to COVID-19, mainly because big fundraisers were either canceled or moved online.
"We have that perfect storm of an increase in need and demand coupled with a decline of fundraising revenue," said Brewton Couch with United Way of Greater Knoxville.
Nonprofits across East Tennessee are doing their best to wade through the pandemic.
"We reported close to 13 million in lost revenue from the local nonprofits," said Couch.
The United Way of Greater Knoxville is just one example.
"At the start of the pandemic due to COVID and loss of funding, some of our partners have had to reduce their services they provide," she said.
Harmony Family Center in Knoxville is another..
"We've had to completely pivot away from what our typical fundraising event calendar would look like," said Hannah Brinson. Their annual mud run will be held online virtually.
Both have had to restructure imperative yearly fundraisers trying to keep the community's support to help with already growing needs.
"Need hasn't gone away because of COVID," said Dan Nelson with the Salvation Army. They're gearing up for their biggest events of the year, but it's going to be different.
"We're going to need to utilize digital platforms more and get our message out there even more digitally," said Nelson.
For all three, donations and support of any size is critical to keep services running.
"Right now this is when us as a non profit community are really stepping up and delivering services the most vulnerable folks need," said Couch.
They're grateful for the community's continuous support and want to keep providing as much as they can.
"It's key to continuing to build the kind of communities we want to live in," said Brinson.
Volunteers are a critical part for many nonprofits. A lot of those opportunities have been restructured to keep people socially distanced.
Right now, they said you can help the most by donating what you can.