June 17, 2025

COVID, Five Years On: Lessons in Crisis, Culture, and Capacity

58 minutes

Five years after the world stopped, what has the nonprofit sector actually learned?

In this episode of Frontier.FM, Naomi Perks and Wes Moon speak with Kirk Schmidt, Chief Advisor of Operations at the Alberta Cancer Foundation, about the messy realities of crisis response, the limits of planning, and what COVID uncovered about nonprofit culture and capacity.

From making decisions without enough data to building flexible frameworks that can bend but not break, Kirk brings both practical wisdom and post-crisis clarity. Together, we explore what needs to change—structurally and culturally—so that nonprofits can lead through future disruptions with more confidence and less chaos.

You'll want to hear this episode if you're interested in…

Why emergency plans often fail when they're needed most
The importance of decision-making frameworks over fixed strategies
How to lead when you don't have all the information (and never will)
Organizational inertia vs. agility: what shifted, what didn't
Cultural humility and listening beyond your bubble
What resilience really looks like in a nonprofit context

Episode Timestamps

(00:00:00) Meet Kirk and Wes: Punches, Plans & Pandemic Chaos (00:03:20) Planning Between Crises: Why We Always Wait Too Long (00:06:40) Leading Through Uncertainty: Making Decisions with Missing Info (00:10:45) It's Not the Plan—It's the Process (and the Structure) (00:14:55) Organizational Culture Shifts: Listening, Inclusion & Evolving (00:18:15) Are We Better Off Now? Lessons We're Still Learning (00:22:30) Wrap-Up: Building Real Capacity Before the Next Disruption

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