COVID-19 Response Resources
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, the CFC Media Lab is supporting its community of emerging digital content creators, digital media practitioners, women entrepreneurs, service-based companies and community allies by providing an ongoing resource for the latest insights, tools and support information.
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INSIGHTS
7 tricks for making good decisions in times of crisis. (Fast Company)
How COVID-19 may change the future for VR and AR, from Tim Merel, Digi-Capital’s Founder and Managing Director. (Venture Beat)
How to build trust with investors during the global pandemic. (GAN)
Boston Consulting Group’s COVID-19 Investor Pulse Check report, with useful insights on trends in investor perspectives in this rapidly changing environment. (Boston Consulting Group)
3 proactive response strategies to COVID-19 business challenges. (MIT Sloan Management Review)
How a feminist's response to the COVID-19 pandemic can lead us into a new world, from Petra Kassun-Mutch, Executive Entrepreneur-in-Residence for CFC Media Lab’s Fifth Wave Initiative. (Petra Kassun-Mutch)
An exploration of lasting consumer beliefs and behaviour shifts from the crisis, along with 8 measures that companies can take to sense, exploit and shape their post-COVID-19 reality. (Boston Consulting Group)
7 ways to develop your organization’s capacity for imagination. With imagination, we can thrive by shaping a new environment, instead of simply adapting to one. (Harvard Business Review)
5 ideas about how to stimulate cash flow in a downturn (Harvard Business Review)
4 possible post-pandemic scenarios to plan for, and questions for business leaders to consider, with inputs from some of the world’s top scenario thinkers. (Deloitte & Salesforce)
Insight on the psychology of founders who win in downturns (James Currier, Managing Partner at NFX)
Suggestions on how to be an inclusive leader during the crisis (Harvard Business Review)
Get inspired by how small business owners survived the Great Recession (The Hustle)
Perspectives on the new and existing businesses that will grow in the entertainment industry’s ‘new normal (The Hollywood Reporter)
Steps that organizations can take to inject long-term thinking into the short-term crisis recovery (The Correspondent)
Perspectives on best practices for founders in the wake of COVID-19, assembled via several venture partners.
Direct advice on how to keep your startup alive during the pandemic (CoinDesk)
Lessons on resiliency from Bob Moore (First Round Review)
Perspective on necessary public and private responses to the pandemic (CIGI Online)
Business Strategies to Help Endure COVID-19 (Warren Coughlin, Fifth Wave and IDEABOOST Mentor)
COVID-19: Briefing Materials (McKinsey & Company)
Survival Strategy for Startups and Small Businesses (Steve Blank)
Responsibilities of Leaders and Institutions - A Time for National Mobilization (Karim Bardeesy, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Ryerson Leadership Lab, Ryerson University)
Traps to Avoid When Negotiating in a Crisis (Harvard Business Review)
A Crowd-sourced List of 190 Investors Still Actively Investing (Laurent Grill)
TOOLS
- Resources available from the government of Canada to support Canadians’ mental health (Government of Canada)
- A list of free tools available, such as for collaboration and productivity, to help companies during the pandemic.(Entrepreneur)
- A playbook for how to manage your brand during the pandemic. (Church + State)
- #zoom=40 (Accenture)
- Insights into the benefits of building brand trust during the pandemic, based on 12,000 respondents. (Edelman)
- A checklist of ways to maintain customer loyalty and trust, during times of uncertainty. (Deloitte)
- A roadmap template, paired with ideas on how to harness product and strategy in times of change. (Craig Follett)
- Canada Media Fund’s Assistance Program Directory (CMF)
- Useful data showcasing how COVID-19 has impacted media consumption by generation (Visual Capitalist)
- The Founder's Field Guide for Navigating This Crisis (First Round Review)
- Nine areas of focus for COVID-19 crisis management - a diagnostic tool (EY)
- A guide for managing cash flow in a crisis (Deloitte)
- Warren Coughlin’s Cashflow Projection Tool, as highlighted during CFC Media Lab’s 3-Part Webinar Series - Navigating the New Normal: Part 2 (Warren Coughlin)
- How to communicate in turbulent times (Ogilvy)
- A guide to support confronting uncertainty through scenario thinking (Deloitte)
- Enterprise Resiliency Client Discussion Guide (EY)
- A playbook for how leaders should focus efforts over the next 7, 30 and 100 days (Level 5 Strategy)
- A roadmap to developing an Elastic Digital Workplace across six key dimensions (Accenture)
- The complete Don't Panic, The Essential Work from Home Field Guide(Maren Kate)
- Canada Media Fund’s Program Budget and Guidelines for 2020-2021
- The Toronto Arts Foundation in partnership with the Toronto Arts Council has launched the TOArtist COVID-19 Response Fund
- Information for Canadian Heritage Grants and Contributions Recipients Related to COVID-19
- A list of active equity funders, lenders and government funders in Canada, compiled by Hockeystick
- Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan
- A summary of national and provincial personal benefit sources, created by Dr. Jennifer Robson from Carleton University
FROM OUR COMMUNITY
Leaders in our community are stepping up to respond to the implications of COVID-19. Here are a few ways that they are helping:
IDEABOOST Network Connect company Open Screenplay has launched their 2020 contest list as part of a #WriteABetterWorld campaign, which includes contests on topics such as “The World After COVID-19” and “How I Survived Social Distancing.”
IDEABOOST Network Connect company Cream Digital has developed new remote production techniques that modified their digital human technology in order to continue to produce VR content. They also developed an innovative remote VR production framework that is aiding in the creation of VR training demonstrations.
IDEABOOST Cohort 5 company SAM is helping the world’s largest social, tech, public and aviation sector clients stay one step ahead of the pandemic with crisis alerts that notify of new and emerging developments, such as lockdowns, closures, evacuations and unexpected risks related to COVID-19 on an extremely granular level.
Fifth Wave Labs Cohort 1 company AVA Animation & Visual Arts is participating in an international campaign with other leading projection mapping artists from around the world, to encourage people to stay together and stay home. Their 3D animations are combined into a video that is being projected on the façades of buildings all over the world, and shared live on social media so that audiences can watch from home.
Fifth Wave Connect member and founder of the FitIn app has enhanced their new FitIn.Live offering with a mental health channel, focused on helping people deal with the emotional impacts of COVID-19 and isolation. They also recently launched a $35 pass for unlimited classes for the week.
Fifth Wave Labs Cohort 1 company Driftscape is piloting a new use for their platform, which was originally a recommender tool for local events. The pilot will offer communities a neighbourhood scavenger hunt where residents can uncover local businesses and special offers.
Fifth Wave Labs Cohort 1 company Sarah Selecky Writing School has opened a free ‘Writing Through Uncertainty’ space for participants to meet for daily freewriting and connection.
IDEABOOST alumni company Tribe of Pan is using their 3D printer to produce PPE face shield frames for healthcare professionals. Help them reach their fundraising goal.
Save Small Business, along with the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas, submitted a proposal for a rent abatement strategy. Help them amplify their call for action by sharing this CBC article with your networks using the hashtag #RentSupportNow.
Fifth Wave Connect company NeedsList has a plan for how we can join together to build a resilient response network to tackle COVID-19.
Fifth Wave Labs Cohort 1 company EssayJack is extending their free trial so that secondary and post-secondary learners and educators (or their parents) can easily sign up and write English-language academic texts with their patented and award-winning structural support. Read more on EssayJack's response to COVID-19.
IDEABOOST Cohort 7 company The Discourse is planning to amplify stories happening in communities across Canada that are not making it into our national media, such as how resilient organizations and communities are finding creative solutions that make our world better in these uncertain times. Help them by answering this survey to share valuable insights into what kind of news media you want to see more of, and how you like to consume it.
Fifth Wave Connect member Hermine Mbondo of b4Brand has published advice about how to be a small business superhero with support from home.
Fifth Wave Connect member and founder of the FitIn app, Catherine Chan, has launched a new platform this week, in response to the impact of the pandemic on independent fitness instructors. FitIn Live offers full day access to its growing amount of fitness, kids and mental health channels, and daily profits are shared with all participating experts.
IDEABOOST Cohort 8 company The Logic is offering complimentary access to their award-winning reporting, with useful insights already published that range from 34 things Canada’s innovators think the government should do to help the economy through the COVID-19 crisis, to Breaking down Ottawa’s new measures to help small businesses with COVID-19. SIGN-UP HERE.
IDEABOOST Cohort 6 company, Little Robot Friends, has had to suspend all their upcoming coding classes and camps. They are now piloting online classes for kids with plans to then scale up later. They are also staying in touch with their community by serving them a free daily STEAM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Art, and Math) challenges which parents and kids can try at home. The content is being offered for kids age 7-12.
Vivian Ngai has created an amalgamation of resources for mental health. It includes resources from community support tools, to which premium apps have unlocked fitness content for free.
Canada Learning Code is offering free live online workshops for kids and adults.
Centre for Mindfulness Studies has developed a mental health toolkit in response to the pandemic.
Email medialab@cfccreates.com to tell us what your company is doing!