Nonprofit Resilience in Polycrisis: Evidence from Czech NGOs Responding to the Ukrainian Refugee Crisis

Abstract In an era of polycrisis, where public health, migration, and geopolitical shocks increasingly overlap, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have become central actors in crisis governance. Yet we still know relatively little about how NGOs sustain resilience across overlapping crises. This study examines how Czech NGOs navigated the Ukrainian refugee crisis in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, situating their actions within governance systems characterized by fragmented state capacity and uneven institutional support. Based on a two-year mixed-methods study combining interviews with NGO leaders and a survey of 235 NGOs, we identify three resilience strategies: cross-organizational collaboration, mobilization of supporters, and direct service provision. The findings suggest that capacities developed during the pandemic were reactivated during the refugee response, enabling NGOs to rapidly expand services despite resource constraints. By tracing how these strategies evolved from early improvisation to more institutionalized coordination, the study conceptualizes NGO resilience as a dynamic and temporally layered process shaped by prior crisis experience and governance constraints. The findings highlight the need for policy frameworks that better recognize and support NGOs as essential partners in crisis governance.