In the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Chandler Foundation has made several commitments to better support our program partners and the social change sector. We have signed the Council on Foundation’s Pledge of Action as well as the London Funders “We stand with the sector” funder response to COVID-19. We have also reached out to our program partners directly with the message below and have customized support to existing partners on a case-by-case basis.

Dear Program Partner,

Given the advent of COVID-19, we are writing to express our commitment to you in this unprecedented time. Our top priority is the role we must play to protect the collective health and safety of our staff, families, partners, communities, and those we all serve.

We at the Chandler Foundation recognize that the COVID-19 outbreak will have an impact on you, and we want to offer assurance that we stand with the sector and with you at this time. We want be as helpful as possible, and to live our values of servant-heartedness and humility as we seek to work alongside you in appropriate and productive ways.

We are committed to:

• Adapting activities:  We recognize that you may experience difficulties achieving key outputs or outcomes we earlier discussed and outlined. If this is the case, we commit to be reasonable and understanding in adjusting shared expectations. When the time is right, please have a conversation with us if you are affected in this way.
• Discussing timelines:  We do not want to add unnecessary pressure, so if you think you will struggle to meet a deadline, please, again, get in touch with us so we can agree to more realistic timelines wherever possible.
• Financial flexibility: We know you may need to use your funding more flexibly at this time to react to the various implications of COVID-19. Please reach out to us directly if it would be helpful to make our funding more flexible to address other priorities.
• Listening to you:  We are here if you want to talk about the situation you are facing, but we’ll wait for you to call us so that these conversations are at the right time for you.

As a part of our commitment, during this event, we stand in solidarity with you, the champions on the frontlines of impact, because without your resilience, commitment, intellect and partnership, we could not achieve our common goal of improving people’s lives. And, this work has never been more critical.

In solidarity and gratitude,

Tim (on behalf of the Chandler Foundation Team)