ABSTRACTNonprofits provide an important societal role by fulfilling community needs for goods, services, and resources–particularly during times of crisis, when needs are most urgent. However, increases in community demands are not always equally matched by increases in nonprofits’ financial and human resources. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a setting for investigating how nonprofits respond to crises, we examine the attributes of nonprofits that respond most quickly, in the quarter immediately following the declaration of an international health emergency. Our most robust finding is that early responders are better governed, whereas some evidence also suggests that they have more financial resources relative to nonresponders. Further, we find governance and financial resources complement each other in ensuring a timely response and that donors reward these early responders with higher donations.Data Availability: All data are publicly available.JEL Classifications: L30; L31; H12.
