KNOW YOUR CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS PLAN

A nonprofit organization needs a communication plan to operate normally. Its communication plan guides the messaging and marketing that keeps the public informed and engaged. During a time of crisis, the planning is especially necessary. A nonprofit organization may want to adopt a crisis communication plan independently of a disaster preparedness plan because some crisis are not necessarily disasters – though they are usually critical. A crisis plan should certainly come to use during a disaster.

Crisis communication plan should consider the different priorities and needs of the various relationships the nonprofit maintains from staff and their families, volunteers and board members, to clients and members, to funders and key business and community partners, to the media and general public.

A crisis communication plan should aim to take immediate action by:

• Defining the message to be communicated and whom to contact for additional information

• Make personal phone calls, whenever possible, to staff and their families, the board of directors, and key donors and community partners

• Send email alerts to all other audiences

• Post press releases or other messages on the nonprofit’s website and social media platforms

• Use the website for calls to action, mobilizing responses, coordinating activity

• Send press releases via email to media outlets

(Source, Standards for Excellence, Crisis and Disaster Planning Policy Sample, Copyright, 2014, used with permission)

The crisis communication plan should also reiterate the agency’s commitment to public transparency and open and honest communication regarding the release of information. However, the release of communication should be appropriately timed and coordinated so as to ensure accuracy and consistency in its messages. The plan should establish

• Who can discuss the situation with the media, donors, and stakeholders

• How information will be released and on what platforms

• How the Response Team will decide the audiences and messages for its releases.

Your organization may want to include its social media policy as part of the disaster/crisis communications plan so that everyone working on the response to an emergency maintains consistency with the agency’s social media policy. For a current version of a social media policy, refer to the Standards for Excellence flash drive or contact someone at the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits.