Open in Case of Emergency (or Sooner!)

This is a summary of a chapter from Ben Delaney’s Nonprofit Marketing Handbook. You can request a free copy of the full chapter here: http://www.nonprofitmarketingbook.com/crisiscomms

It’s bound to happen. One of your major funders cuts you off. Your ED is accused of sexual harassment. The CFO makes off with your bank account. There’s a fire in your office. You’ve been hacked and your client records are exposed. Your reputation is at stake. Your funding is at stake. What are you going to do? What are your going to say?

Nearly every nonprofit will have to deal with problems like these at some time. How you deal with them can make a substantial difference in the health of your organization, and possibly, whether or not your organization even survives.

Dealing with situations like these is called Crisis Management. How you handle a crisis is vitally important. Every member of the leadership team needs to be aware and involved, and those in Marketing and Communications can be vital to a successful resolution of the situation. Here are a few tips on managing communications during crisis.

Don’t wait for an emergency.

“You have to anticipate a crisis in order to deal with it when it comes.”
Daniel Kennedy, PR and MarCom authority

One of the most important aspects of dealing with a crisis is being ready for it. It is far easier to think about your emergency response in the calm before the storm.

An organizational crisis management plan should be prepared by every nonprofit. Developing this plan should be a collaborative effort involving your leadership team, the Board of Directors and other key stakeholders in your organization. The plan should include what to do in various types of emergencies, such as a fire, an earthquake, a tornado, a serious injury, a broken pipe or a heart attack, as well as unexpected media coverage or allegations about the organization, whether true or not. It should include a list of contact information for the people who may need to be reached in case of emergencies, such as the police, the fire department, your landlord, your insurance broker and others. Your plan should include managing clients at your site, evacuation procedures (and what triggers them), and other aspects of likely, and unlikely, events at your organization. Of course, you want to be certain that your overall crisis management plan recognizes the differing requirements of various situations and addresses them.

Your crisis management plan should be easily accessible and should be reviewed at least once a year to make sure that it is still up-to-date and appropriate. In the case of some types of emergencies you will want to have periodic drills to help the staff understand how to respond in various situations.

Every comprehensive crisis management plan should include a crisis communications section. It’s important to coordinate with your leadership team to make sure that communications efforts align with and augment the crisis management plans that have been adopted. It’s also vital that you are prepared to defend your reputation and to show that you are handling the situation well.

Your Crisis Communications Plan

Your organization needs a Crisis Communication Checklist, including both general and specific plans for various types of foreseeable and unforeseeable situations. It lists the people/roles responsible for specific actions in case of an emergency or slow-moving crisis. It designates who is responsible for public announcements and dealing with the press. And it includes the people and organizations that need to be kept in the loop when something unexpected happens. Make your plan as comprehensive as you can, but keep in mind that real life rarely follows your plans. Be ready to improvise and plan for when your plan might not apply.

When the unexpected occurs

You will be ready to act, thanks to your pre-crisis planning. Your communications plan gives you a head start on how you will be communicating in the event of a crisis. However, it’s hard to preplan what you’re going to say.

Regardless of the situation, there are a few actions that you will always take. These include:

• Get the facts. Then act thoughtfully.

• Identify the people who are directly affected by the situation.

• Get expert help from friends and trusted advisors.

• Work with your board and the other people directly involved to arrive at a consensus on messaging. Then, craft a statement that you will use consistently to explain the situation.

• Roll out your message to your Board, your staff, your key funders, and all your affected stakeholders.

• Be alert and be nimble. Things can change fast and you need to anticipate and react quickly.

After the storm has passed

After your crisis has passed, you need to mop up. Contact your press list and other stakeholders again with information that summarizes what happened, who was affected, and how the organization dealt with the issues. Talk about measures put in place to prevent such a situation from happening again, or how the organization will be better prepared to deal with it in the future. Remember to include your staff, so that they understand what happened.

Finally, debrief with your leadership team and Board to examine how well your planning worked. Make the necessary changes to your overall crisis management plan and to your crisis communications plan. And remember – review these documents at least annually.

When all this is done, you’ve earned a time to relax and unwind. But don’t get complacent. It could all happen again tomorrow.

This is a summary of a chapter from Ben Delaney’s Nonprofit Marketing Handbook. You can request a free copy of the full chapter here: http://www.nonprofitmarketingbook.com/crisiscomms