When Tina Nash walked into her new job, it was just as the island was about to go into a second Covid-19 lockdown.

Her new team at WindReach Bermuda had been furloughed, there was a skeleton staff and the “animals were free on the property”.

“It was the best job ever, it was like the Garden of Eden,” she said. “It was an exciting time and a frightening time to start work at a non-profit because everyone was in transition and not really understanding what was going on. It was a scary time for all of us.”

Ms Nash announced this month that she was stepping down as the charity’s executive director after just over three years in the role.

She began at WindReach after finishing her work with the Third Sector Coordinated Crisis Response Effort, established when the Covid pandemic first hit to ensure that critically needed charitable services continued.

It included groups such as the Bermuda Community Foundation, the Bank of Bermuda Foundation, the Bermuda Health Council and Age Concern Bermuda.

“After the CCRE closed down, and it was only ever meant to be a project, the position at WindReach came up. I remember when I first came here there was a lot of work to do.”

She joined WindReach at “a really stressful time”, policies needed putting into place about Covid, donors were considering how they were going to be able to meet and funds were not really available in the community for non-profits.

“There was a lot of angst in the non-profit sector and I remember coming home to my husband and saying ‘WindReach will not close under my watch, whatever it takes’.”

Ms Nash added: “But this is an incredible team here, they are professional and hard working and one of the best teams I have ever worked with. We just continued to pivot and pivot and we are in a really great place now.”

A highlight of her time at WindReach was when the island went into the second Covid lockdown.

“The Government told us we had three days before the island was going back into lockdown, we sat down as a team and called an emergency meeting via Zoom as we could not meet in person.

“By Monday morning 100 per cent of our WindReach participants had packages enabling them to remotely do their programmes and have some semblance of continuity. It was an alternative WindReach experience in their own environment.”

As an example, Ms Nash cited having Zoom sessions where staff were seen with a horse. “It was still an interactive session without being physically there.”

Asked about any lingering effects of Covid, such as fundraising, Ms Nash said: “Everything has got back to normal and better. We are in a really great place. We worked really hard to make sure the community knew our value.”

However, she added: “A lot of non-profits closed, or are still struggling but when I look at the ones that made it out, they are stronger and they too continuously sent a message about their value to the community.

“There is no doubt about it that the pandemic meant that we really had to rethink how we do business.

“Long gone are those days when you meet, go to a committee and a cheque is written. Donors want outcomes now, evidence. It holds us to a better standard.

“Non-profits who rely on donations and community support, for ever we will have to show and demonstrate relevance and rightfully so, because if you are not doing what you are meant to be doing and you are not responding well to community needs, why should you exist?

“Some non-profits struggled through Covid-19, some closed, but sometimes it is good.

“My mother used to say that a hurricane is like Nature’s pitchfork, it comes, trees get destroyed and it looks rough but it allows new growth.

“Sometimes there are non-profits who, maybe, their work is not needed any more, or maybe their population can be better served somewhere else, or maybe it is time for two or three non-profits to think how they can serve a specific part of the population rather than work in silos.

“There is competition, you are competing for funds, you are trying to show your relevance.

“Donors have every right to decide who they want to donate to and donors are so savvy now. We really have to step up our game, and donors are requiring it.”

On the future for non-profits, she added: “I feel strongly that the non-profit sector is going to come out on top.”

The work of the Non-profit Alliance of Bermuda, formerly known as the Inter Agency Committee, will, she believes, be important.

“It is helping in terms of professional development, developing policies and procedures. I think the non-profit sector is in good hands.”

Ms Nash, a keen walker and a former national director of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards and executive director of Raleigh Bermuda, said her whole career had been about working with young people.

“This has been the highlight of my career. This is a dream job and I am not leaving for other reason than this is my time for retirement.”