During March 2020, at the peak of springtime flowering, following a winter blessed with abundant rain, the pandemic spread throughout the entire world and turned our lives upside down.

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The COVID-19 pandemic caught us during a challenging and difficult period financially, following three consecutive elections, a transition government, and no national budget. The COVID-19 crisis led to cancellation of many activities, conferences and international events and the climate march. We also had to cancel hospitality and tourism activities in our field schools, educational and recreational hikes and activities in nature.

 

At the intra-organizational level, the COVID-19 restrictions dramatically reduced physical meetings and forced us to transition immediately to distance working. SPNI is a very diverse organization and geographically decentralized; this reality creates an organizational and management challenge during routine times, and all the more so under COVID-19 restrictions.

 

Nevertheless, the COVID-19 crisis also created quite a few opportunities: the increasing demand for domestic tourism and hiking in Israel, the rapid transfer to digital platforms that exposed us to new audiences, and Zoom meetings that allowed greater numbers of us to meet up, albeit virtually.

 

At the time of writing this annual report, the vaccination campaign is at its peak, and we can see the light on the horizon for returning to regular life. We’ll all be happy to explore Israel’s beautiful, diverse nature, without restrictions, and leave behind the lockdowns, isolation, and other COVID-19 limitations. However, we must assume that some of the COVID-19 habits that we were forced to adopt will continue to accompany us, voluntarily, in the future as well.

 

So what happened to us during COVID-19?

 

We fought to be able to spend time in nature

From the initial lockdown, and throughout the past year, we ran an ongoing campaign with the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians, to enable and even encourage the safest of all activities: spending time in nature. As part of this campaign, we approached decision makers, appeared in Knesset discussions, and expressed our opinions on this topic in detail on social media and through other communication modes. Together, with the Israel Summer Camps organization, we submitted an appeal to the High Court of Justice at the beginning of the summer, demanding to reverse the government decision to ban scouting activities, summer camps, and day camps for children and youth, as part of the COVID-19 restrictions. To provide context, we note that many appeals had been submitted against government decisions concerning COVID-19 restrictions, and nearly all of them were rejected, either outright or after consideration. The appeal that we submitted was among the few that led to a significant change in the restrictions.Over 10,000 people signed the petition to encourage spending time in open spaces.

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We operated Corona Hotels

The Hermon, Achziv, and Alon Tavor Field Schools joined the national effort during the COVID-19 period and hosted three cycles of recovering COVID-19 patients. The complex operation, in collaboration with the Home Front Command and the Ministry of Health, was a great success.

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The operation of COVID-19 hotels required complex and unprecedented logistical preparation: dealing with our staff members’ exposure to health hazards, being available 24/7 to provide solutions for the complex needs of recovering patients, adapting the field schools at short notice for the unique needs of the recovering patients, and dealing with strict regulatory requirements.

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The operation of COVID-19 hotels created significant, touching connections with the ultra-orthodox community, a sector that we have difficulty connecting with during routine times. The thank-you letters that our dedicated staff members and managers received brought tears to our eyes. During the first cycle, our field schools were already ranked first among recovering patients for satisfaction, far more than other much more exclusive facilities.

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As part of our professional, committed hospitality, we offered our patients content and activities, including both games and educational activities for children, as well as lectures and instructional classes, led by employees from our nature conservation and education divisions. Despite all the necessary social distancing rules, these events were important and meaningful to the patients!

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We spoke online with the public

COVID-19 forced us to transition from natural expanses to virtual spaces, for prolonged periods. It was a challenge making SPNI’s content accessible to the general public in a new, original way, that stands out from among the myriad content and activities offered by many companies and organizations across the internet today. Highlights included live webinars in Hebrew and English to share our knowledge and love of nature with audiences at home and as far away as Australia.

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By using content branding such as SPNI LIVE, engaging internet users through platforms such as 100 nature photos, and providing accessible content of national relevance, we created a new, updated image for SPNI, and informed the general public of our diverse activities. We created a new section on the SPNI website, called Nature at Home, especially for the COVID-10 period; it brings together digital content, quizzes, and activities for the whole family.

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We have made every effort to stick together

Throughout this challenging period, we have made every effort to keep in touch and feel close even when we are physically distant. We held a number of open meetings (in Zoom…) for all the organization’s employees, in order to share challenges, coping methods, and plans for the future. We maintained an ongoing, continuous connection with representatives of the employee committee; we also held a number of light-hearted enrichment meetings in Zoom, and significant celebrations and events throughout the year, such as toasts. When it was possible, we ran a number of hikes for the families of the organization’s employees on the Great Dune in Ashdod, in Gazelle Valley, and more.

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As well as dealing with COVID-19 challenges, we continued to build our infrastructure for future growth:

• We re-built our system for recruiting and selecting ”shinshinim” gap year volunteers, and we continued operating it in accordance within COVID-19 restrictions.

• We built an organization-wide program for training managers. Training began in late December and will continue into the first quarter of 2021.

Following conversations and meetings with employees, we set up joint work teams for employees and board members to examine important issues together. Within the context of COVID-19, our goals included thinking together “outside the box”, that is, connecting different perspectives and searching intensely for the best solutions, as one organization. The teams operated in the following fields: nature conservation messages, educational activities during and after the pandemic, fundraising and partnerships during COVID-19, a projects’ club, and staying close even during periods of social distancing. During the epidemic, we implemented some of the results from the meetings, such as adapting nature conservation messages to our times, and we are implementing some of the programs at present, including installing solar panels at field schools (initiated by the projects club) and training employees for fundraising (initiated by the fundraising team).

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The transition to digital platforms

The COVID-19 crisis accelerated innovative processes, streamlining, and the use of digital platforms. Aside from streamlining and innovating, these processes allow us to reach new audiences and expand our public audience. We note that, along with the advantages of these systems, they are very demanding, and require 24/7 availability to rapidly respond to requests and adapt at short notice.

Here are some of the accomplishments that were implemented this year:

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The transition to digital green:

The plastic-wrapped paper booklets that we previously mailed out became an adaptable, up-to-date, and accessible digital platform, with beautiful graphics and rich, diverse content. We transitioned to using the “eventbuzz” system for booking hikes, improving efficiency and flexibility, and allowing for the rapid establishment of an entire set of hiking trips for the general public throughout the period, particularly during Chanukah.

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Completing the incorporation of a new hospitality management system:

A new system replaced an outdated management system at our Network of Field Schools. This was a long, complex process, requiring adjustment to our unique circumstances, and adaptations to other systems already in use, such as those for accounting management. The new operating system was designed to give us a good springboard to connecting to the other systems that we intend to implement.

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Field schools on Booking.com:

It appears simple, but it’s really not… and yet, just before the third lockdown, our field schools were uploaded to the booking.com website, through which guest rooms can be reserved. We are still learning how to use the system, but have already received praise and high ratings, which is especially heart-warming, coming from a new audience that did not know of us in the past.

Online map sales: We began selling our trail maps through eventbuzz and the WallaShops platform. Here too, the transition to the digital venue exposed us to new audiences, with consequent social and economic benefit.