May 2020 Survey Results: Understanding the Impact of COVID-19 on 2020 Census Funders & Grantees
The Census Bureau began mailing 2020 Census invitations to a majority of households in mid-March, right when the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a global pandemic and social distancing and shelter-in-place orders were implemented in states and communities across the country. As a result, funders and their grantees needed to adjust years’ worth of planning to prioritize the health and safety of their staff and communities since they could not execute census engagement — like in-person events, questionnaire assistance, and door-to-door canvassing — as originally envisioned. At the same time, the Census Bureau announced operational adjustments of its own to comply with federal, state, and local guidance.
It was during this initial adjustment period that the Census Subgroup and Funders Census Initiative developed and distributed a survey to their funder networks to capture and understand how philanthropic institutions and the organizations they support were adjusting their work in response to the pandemic.
FCI then developed a report based on the survey results, which is available here: