Does Your Nonprofit Have a Crisis Communications Plan?
Imagine this scenario...
You spend a few weeks working on a new social media campaign for your nonprofit.
The content has gone through all the proper channels and been approved by your entire team.
You get everything ready, finally hit “post,” and your organization is excited to see how it performs.
But then you see a negative comment come in. And then a few more. And then, before you know it, the entire post is flooded with them.
What do you do?
I’ve had to help my nonprofit clients with crisis management like this a few times throughout my career and I’ve found there are three common approaches when a post has gone awry.
The first most common approach is a panicked ask to delete the post.
Now, this is a totally understandable response; nobody likes getting negative feedback, and it’s easier to delete the post and try again another time.
But just because it’s an understandable response doesn’t mean it’s the right response or one that I recommend.
Deleting the post and ignoring the negative comments can make your community feel like their voices aren’t being heard or that their feedback isn’t important to you. This is a very fast way to erode your audience’s trust and once that trust is gone, it’s hard to build back up.
The second approach is to respond when we hear from higher-ups.
Some organizations know that they should address negative comments, so they start emailing or calling board members and executive staff asking for direction…
But then they get stuck waiting for responses that aren’t as fast as they need to be.
Of course, the right people need (and want) to be involved in crisis management… but waiting to get approvals or consensus on how to respond isn’t the most effective use of time. It’s a very reactive approach, and it can delay the response your community is waiting to hear.
The third approach is kicking off a pre-determined crisis communication plan.
This usually looks like sending out a quick response to the necessary team members (myself included) with a clear plan.
Everyone knows how they should respond, who should be writing and sending the responses, and it all goes off without a hitch.
This is the best approach. Comments get responded to with transparency and humility. The organization’s values are upheld through meaningful, on-brand responses. Every team member is confident in their role and how to execute it. And the board and executive team are kept in the loop the entire time. It’s easy, proactive, and communication-forward.
The reality is that a communications crisis can happen to any nonprofit.
Organizations that haven’t discussed a crisis communication plan with their board, executive team, or staff are the ones most at risk during these crises.
The way you respond to backlash (or your choice to stay silent) can quickly and easily hurt the donor and community relationships and you’ve spent too much time and effort building those relationships to let poor planning ruin them.
Creating a clear, easy-to-follow crisis management plan for crises both big and small is an important part of any nonprofit strategy, especially if you want to keep your supporters at the forefront of everything you do.
So, ask yourself:
- Is my staff clear on how to respond in a crisis?
- Do they know who should be the one responding?
- Are we all on the same page about not deleting posts?
- Have we already talked to the board and executives about this?
- Do we have documentation detailing this process, and where does it live?
And, if you can’t answer these easily and confidently, it’s time to start working on a stronger crisis communication plan.
Your nonprofit’s audience always deserves a response and a plan is how you deliver it.
See you in two weeks!
Catrina
