Nonprofit capacities and emergency management during the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from a Taiwan-based international nonprofit organization.

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, some nonprofit organizations (NPOs) have been struggling to maintain their operations, while others are able to coordinate with partners to provide programs and services locally and globally. This study explores how NPOs are able to survive and actively engage in local and global COVID-19 responses by investigating the organizational capacities of the Tzu Chi Foundation, a Taiwan-based international NPO. This study employs interview data and secondary data from a variety of sources to answer the research questions. Through this case study, we find that Tzu Chi Foundation's capacity to coordinate local and global COVID-19 issues quickly, broadly, and effectively can be attributed to three main factors: (1) clear mission and charismatic leadership, (2) rich experience of disaster relief and recovery strategies, and (3) committed and active volunteers. Moreover, we find that financial management capacity and adaptive capacity are two crucial kinds of capacity for enabling the Tzu Chi Foundation to survive and continuously engage in emergency responses during the pandemic. We conclude with implications for future nonprofit capacity and emergency management research.