COVID-19 ORGANIZATIONAL CRISIS PREPARATION
BE PREPARED FOR DISRUPTIONS AND MISTAKES

WHAT TO DO AND WHAT NOT TO DO

Andrea McManus, ViTreo Group Inc
March 18th 2020

Preparation. It’s a word we use all the time. In a crisis, it’s THE word.

We are in a crisis, for which most of us were unprepared. It’s too late to do anything about that now. But we can learn from it and be prepared for what comes next. Each organization will feel the impact differently. And we must be ready to manage those situations as they arise.

Supplies may run out; employees can become ill leaving your organization too shorthanded to operate; someone, somewhere in your organization may make a mistake. Or an external event (caused by the pandemic) will have a dramatic impact on your nonprofit. Everyone is under higher levels of stress, dealing with the impact of COVID-19 not just in the workplace, but at home, with extended family and friends. The pandemic’s reach is being felt by many on multiple levels.

In Calgary (AB), this happened on Tuesday: Calgary Food Bank closes temporarily. But the Calgary Food Bank had a pandemic plan in place, so the close was temporary in order to implement different food handling protocols.

Breaking news for the Calgary Food Bank: The Hamper Request Line will re-open on Wednesday, March 18 and emergency hamper distribution will officially start on Thursday, March 19. Go to the website for more information. 

Without a plan in place, the wait could have been much longer for a vulnerable population.

“Calgary Food Bank CEO James McAra said the food bank has had a pandemic plan in place since the SARS outbreak in 2004.”

- CTV News, Shelters, Food Bank Scrambling To Cope With COVID-19 Pandemic, Kevin Green, March 17 2020

What may be a crisis today may not be a crisis tomorrow. Sometimes mistakes will be minor; at other times they may mean your organization and its key stakeholders are threatened. If this occurs, and has the potential to be a reputation-damaging and/or an ongoing crisis situation, please follow these initial guidelines. They are considered industry best practice and are tried and true.

These should not take the place of a comprehensive crisis communications plan. If your organization does not have one, now would be the time to develop it — although this is somewhat along the lines of “that ship has already sailed”. We will continue to experience significant major issues which may blossom into other critical, crisis-type events that could threaten each of our organizations as this pandemic plays out.

Please feel free to reach out to ViTreo at any time for support if you are facing or anticipate a crisis situation. We have resources in place and have developed strategic partnerships with professionals who can help you in the event of a crisis situation or help you to prepare for a potential one.

Normally, I would talk about What To Do first. Staying positive and all that! However, it’s critical in a crisis not to accelerate the situation, so let’s go over What Not To Do and then move on. If your organization has never experienced a crisis, read this first.

WHAT NOT TO DO — DON’T BE REACTIVE

1. Take a deep breath. Do not make sudden reactive decisions that cannot be altered. Do NOT panic. Panic is never helpful.

2. Do not make any public statements until you have informed key stakeholders — your Executive Director, CEO, board and employees. In the case of a true emergency, government and regulatory bodies should be contacted immediately.

3. Do not speak to the media before informing all key stakeholders. The dedicated spokesperson should be the only point of contact with media.

WHAT TO DO —  BE PROACTIVE

If you are concerned your organization could be vulnerable, brainstorm potential crisis situations in the coming days. This can alleviate some potential issues because you may be able to simply modify existing methods to avert problems. Implementing the steps below ahead of time can make a difficult time more manageable.

1. Consider possible threats and responses — this will be less stressful than when you are in the midst of an organizational crisis.

2. Identify and train a media spokesperson — this should be someone who is comfortable in front of a camera and has the skills and knowledge to speak on behalf of your organization.

3. Establish a Crisis Communications Team and develop a plan. TODAY. This should include your CEO or Executive Director and senior management team members, as well as a communications team member if one exists.

4. Ensure there is a central list of internal key stakeholders that is easily accessed and that you have systems in place to reach them immediately. For external key stakeholders, consider the use of technology to reach everyone quickly.

5. Begin to develop key messaging and holding statements in the event a crisis situation unfolds.

Remember this, we are all fundraisers. We are in the business of selling hope. We are resilient. Our organizations are resilient. This will get us through the COVID-19 crisis. Hope, resiliency and reaching out to help one another.

The ViTreo Group team is here for you and your organization. We are prepared with resources and with experts who can assist you to ensure you remain sustainable. Reach out to us at any time at 403.210.3157 or by email at info@vitreogroup.ca.

Instead of our regularly scheduled Tuesday blog posts, over the upcoming days we will instead publish our advice and best practices to help you get through the immediate concerns with decision-making around events and other fundraising efforts, and proposed solutions. As our world changes minute by minute, what we publish may also shift as we monitor the situation and deliver what in our experience is most needed in that day.

If there are specific topics you would like to see addressed, please let us know. We will do our best to address them.

Leaders in our sector have pulled together and developed some amazing resources. You can find links to these resources on our website at this link: Fundraising in the time of COVID-19: Advice from leaders in the sector.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrea McManus, Chair, Board of Directors, Partner
ViTreo Group Inc

Andrea McManus is a Partner with ViTreo with over 30 years’ experience in fund development, marketing, sponsorship and nonprofit management. A highly strategic thinker and change maker, Andrea has worked with organizations that span the nonprofit sector with particular focus on building long-term and sustainable capacity.