2020 Year in Review
Looking Back and Gazing Forward
2020 was truly a year like no other. It was a time to rapidly adapt everything and simultaneously take pause to reflect, as we collectively faced the COVID-19 pandemic that uprooted life worldwide. It also underscored the pressing need for transparent and accountable governments, especially during this once-in-a-lifetime crisis.
Despite the major shift from being a buzzing, dynamic in-person meeting place to an online one, we stayed very busy throughout 2020 here at OGH. Here’s a recap of what we did this year, what we learned along the way, and what we look forward to in 2021!
2020 HIGHLIGHTS: WHAT WE DID
Responded to COVID-19 by temporarily reducing operations at our coworking space, offering member discounts, introducing a comprehensive 25-page Back to Office/Reopening Plan in June (see our summary infographic), and significantly ramping up our remote support to our members and their critical and innovative work through the pandemic – with virtual trainings, events, and resources, and other new remote member benefits.
Expanded our Global Affiliate Hubs program to the largest-ever cohort of 13 hubs across 5 continents, who we have been coaching and offering a variety of peer learning activities for (including a very well-received two-week Virtual Global Retreat this summer).
Launched our new Media Lab - which is both a physical A/V studio as well as a dedicated program to encourage more creative, engaging audio/visual storytelling about the amazing work being done in our sector and the leaders within it.
Completed an unprecedented Member Outreach process - interviewing all 50 of our member organizations twice this year, and using the interview data to make 50+ new connections across our network, matching the practical needs of some members with the offers of support from others, using a new, concerted professional matchmaking process and dashboard.
Launched our first-ever online course for members, in partnership with Columbia University: How to Design and Deliver Effective Virtual Trainings (this was in response to the #1 shared challenge our members faced in light of the pandemic: how to adapt their in-person trainings and workshops to go online).
Joined various organizations in making a statement condemning racial injustice in the wake of George Floyd’s death. As a part of our reflection and commitment, we went beyond the starting point of expressing solidarity to demanding change in the name of anti-racism and democratic values. We also organized a Hub Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force, to bring together representatives across organizations to consider how we can all better advocate for racial justice as individuals, organizations, and as a collective network.
Organized 100+ events for 1000+ people (with about 70% for just our members). We engaged on many levels: from social gatherings and reflective spaces, to practical trainings and collaborative discussions with Hub organizations and key partners. Many of these events were linked to our 2020 Programming Themes of Anti-corruption, Depolarization, and Locally-led development – as well as the emerging impact of COVID-19. The live discussions brought together academics and activists — alongside many NGO practitioners — to an impactful nexus of social movements and policy change (one emblematic example: BLM roundtable). Along the way, we learned how to make on-screen gatherings work by adapting from in-person to virtual events and workshops. Here are some helpful tips, in our 3-part, “On-Screen Gatherings” blog series.
Reflected on and compiled resources to address unprecedented democratic challenges in the United States leading up to the 2020 elections by organizing a 3-part event series, publishing op-eds, speaking at various events, compiling a new Resource Guide: “What You Can Do: Resources to Uphold our Democracy Before, During and After Election Day,” and help directly advise some domestic organizations on how they might learn from other countries’ challenges and successes fighting for democracy – all building on and continuing our Defending Democracy work. It was a critical reminder that democracy truly always needs defending (even in the world’s oldest democracy). And there’s a great opportunity -- now more than ever -- to share lessons in our ongoing struggles to preserve and perfect our democracies around the world.
Collaborated with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to publish a timely global research report, to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the ability of civil society leaders to work together to fight corruption and promote open government, in a time when it’s needed most: Is the Coronavirus Catalyzing New Civic Collaborations for Open Government?
Grew our membership network to 50 member organizations and well over 300 people this year.
EVENT SERIES SPOTLIGHT | POLARIZED: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS | FALL 2020
Check out our YouTube Channel for both full and edited footage of many virtual events this year, including this 8-video playlist from our election event series, “Polarized: US Democracy in Crisis.”
SNAPSHOTS OF OUR IMPACT
OGH facilitates the "Vegas Collective," an Executive Directors' peer learning/support group (one of four such groups at the Hub). It has active participation from about 15 different Executive Directors of Hub member organizations, who have been advising each other on how to lead their mission-driven organizations through this once-in-a-lifetime crisis (sharing tips on everything from scenario planning to apply for PPP to maintain staff morale and more).
For many years, the OGH team has been facilitating targeted introductions between members in the network who can help each other (aka professional "matchmaking"). Our 1:1 member provided rich data, which we used to build a new platform and make 50+ "matches" for giving and getting help across our network.
The OGH team developed a comprehensive, 25-page Back-to-Office/Reopening Plan in May, summarizing the latest industry developments in new health and safety office procedures and establishing clear guidelines. In addition to establishing new protocols for a safer coworking environment, this guide helped members continue to focus on their work and not have to spend precious hours creating their own detailed COVID workplace adaptation plans.
Most importantly, we are so proud to report that even though very few people have been using our coworking space for most of this year due to COVID-19, all 50 organizations have stayed with OGH as active members through 2020, even 9+ months into the pandemic! We think this is the biggest achievement and such a strong testament to how much more OGH is than just a coworking space for our members, and illustrates the true connectedness of our mission-driven community, which has stayed together through this crisis.
2021: LOOKING FORWARD
OUR NEW PROGRAM THEMES
Resilience and Restoring Livelihoods: Global communities building back better together through and beyond COVID-19
Reversing Democratic Backsliding: What America and other countries can learn from each other to continually work toward responsive and representative political systems
Information for Accountability: Fighting corruption with open data, open information, and civic engagement
As we gear up for 2020 to finally be over (!), we look forward to several things in the new year:
Facilitating joint work across various networks we are part of, to help seize the new window of opportunity to strengthen democracy at home and abroad, with the start of the new Biden Administration
Continuing to convening timely conversations around shared social global challenges, especially around our 3 new event themes for 2021 (listed above).
Settling in to new, hybrid ways of working that we expect will remain longer term post-COVID-19 - a hybrid of both in-office and at-home working, plus a hybrid of both in-person and virtual events, workshops, and gatherings of all types.
And finally, OGH will have big news to share early in 2021 about the next phase in our evolution and growth. Stay tuned!
HUBBER TESTIMONIALS
