August 2024, Volume 2 Issue 1
Crisis Communication:
Is your organization ready?

It isn’t fun learning from the school of hard knocks, but that is exactly the school I had lessons in this past year. I learned a great deal about how to navigate a trying time in terms of crisis communication. Upon reflection, I realized, I wasn’t alone, and it isn’t a matter of if a crisis will happen, but rather, when? This edition of Board Notes asks the critical question; are you ready? But perhaps more importantly, gives you a roadmap to handling a challenging situation. This edition of Board notes is a little on the longer side, but I believe it is critically important for non-profits to have a crisis communication plan in place and if we can help you do that, we will have achieved our goal for this edition. 
Karlene Grabner

According to Small Shop Strategies, the majority of crisis management for nonprofits is going to center around reputation management. (examples of this would be accusations of harassment or mismanagement of funds). I actually witnessed two examples years ago, when two different organizations faced embezzlement situations in the same year. 
Scenario #1

One of the organizations handled the situation with a solid plan, including transparency to their donors. Their leadership asked the Community Foundation to bring together the top five donors we worked with for this particular nonprofit. We understood this move required a great deal of trust on our part. We asked ourselves, “what were they going to do and say?” The nonprofit also brought their largest donors to the table (who were some of our biggest donors, as well) and presented their situation.

The first thing they did was explain the situation: a staff member had embezzled over $50,000 over the course of a few years. They were detailed in laying out how this happened. Next, they presented a clear new accounting plan, outlining the steps they would take for due diligence, and to ensure this would not happen again. Their plan illustrated to us and their donors they were taking responsibility for the situation, and how serious they understood it to be. They recognized the need for transparency, and also realized it was a risk for their organization to be so forthcoming to their largest donors. But, in their crisis plan, they opted to lead with the truth, which is always a good rule to follow. 

The Result?

After the meeting, the nonprofit leadership left the room, allowing their donors some time to digest the information they had received and to discuss amongst themselves what they had just learned. To the Foundation’s amazement, the group of donors increased their support to help the organization through the financial crisis. I was dumbstruck. Not only were the donors not angry, they doubled their normal contribution because they appreciated the integrity and honesty in which the nonprofit handled the situation. Many of them were businesspeople who acknowledged that theft and embezzlement is an ongoing problem and handling it properly is key.
Scenario #2

In an almost identical situation, another nonprofit we support spent over a year hiding what appeared to be a misuse of funds. They drew on their reserves to keep them afloat, as well as appealed to their core donors for additional funding, in an attempt to give the appearance that all was well. What was missing was transparency about their situation. It resulted in an even bigger crisis for the Executive Director, with half of their board of directors resigning. It took the organization years to fully recover and regain trust among their donors and rebuild the board.  

Two different approaches. Two vastly different outcomes. 
Our Scenario

More recently, we found ourselves in a situation we could not have imagined which then required crisis communication. Managing the crisis demanded strength and leadership from our board and staff. First and foremost, we needed to determine if we were fulfilling our mission.

Once we were in agreement that indeed we were adhering to our mission, our board made the decision to stay the course, but also understood the situation required delicacy. We opted to hire a professional firm to assist in our communication to the community and the press. We focused on being non-reactionary and staying consistent in our messaging.

We acknowledge that through the course of this crisis, while we stayed the course and remained true to our mission, we disappointed some people, but we also gained many more champions who believed in us and appreciated our steadfast leadership.

We also realized in the world of nonprofits, no one is perfect and whether you are a paid staff person or a volunteer, we are all working to improve our community. We are all showing up to do good work, and we need to keep showing up!

For those who do not have a communication plan in place for a crisis, here is a punch list of good practices you can build one around.

Crisis Communication 101

1. Pause and learn: Take a moment to understand the full extent of the crisis.
• Gather information and facts: how, and why did the crisis start in the first place?
• If there is time, have a conversations with a few trusted stakeholders and get their take
on the crisis.

2. Center your communication and approach around the people and values of the organization.
• Revisit your mission and values of your organization and make sure they are still being
met and at the forefront of the communication plans you develop.
• Establish a spokesperson who can respond with those values in mind.
• Develop a few key talking points, but they should not sound like a corporate response
or be filled with platitudes. Speak authentically and with compassion.

3. Use empathy and be brave when people disagree with you.
• Non-profits by virtue of what you do, inherently have a deep understanding of empathy.
Your response to a crisis needs empathy because at its core it understanding what
people are thinking and feeling.
• Dare to be vulnerable, stand in alignment with your values, and step into bravery when
people disagree with you.

4. Acknowledge you’re not an expert
• It’s OK not to know everything about a crisis, but it’s not OK to pretend to be an expert
when you are not. 
• Information can spread quickly on social media channels, and it is important to not
spread misinformation. This is why it is so important to gather facts and information on
the front end of a crisis. 

5. Take responsibility when you don’t get it right.
• You can take all the right steps, and have the best of intentions, and still not get it quite
right. That’s OK, you’re still human. When you know better, you will do better. 
• Be cautious about becoming defensive, even when you did not intend to do harm. 

6. After the crisis has passed.
• Asses and then consider what you would do differently. For example, does a policy or
need to be changed. Or does more research need to be done before a decision is made.

When surviving the storm of a crisis in your non-profit organization, it’s important to remember the work you are doing and the people you serve. The world and your community are a better place having your organization in it.
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Board Notes is a publication of the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation
230 Ohio Street, Suite 100, Oshkosh, WI 54902-5894