Crisis, pandemic, and beyond: nonprofits and the adaptive capability of communities

Crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS, the global financial crisis, and natural disasters pose a seismic threat to the institutions of society. Unfolding at individual, organizational, and societal levels, crises cross sectoral boundaries, involving multiple institutions and a high volume of people and resources (Jarzabkowski, Bednarek, Chalkias, & Cacciatori, 2019). The global scale of these crises highlights their complexity in terms of the economic, social, political, and environmental impacts (Therrien, Normandin, & Denis, 2017). As discrete events and parts of larger processes, crises can be a function of the external environment but carry significant implications for organizations (Bundy, Pfarrer, Short, & Coombs, 2017). Posing large-scale challenges with a strong social, environmental, and economic component, crises encompass intractable, enduring problems (George, Howard-Grenville, & Joshi, 2016). Across local, regional, national, and global contexts, crises—due to their scale and severity—wreak havoc on communities and the health and well-being of people. Crises also threaten the nonprofit organizations that support the functioning of society.