Okay, let’s not get into the politics of the Boy Scouts of America but they’ve taunted us with the trite but effective tag line “Be Prepared” for almost 100 years (not sure if they used if for the 100 years).
But when nonprofits are faced with a possible crisis situation that is a motto to live or die by. Okay, “to die for” may be a bit much but for some organizations, it might come to that.

You never know when you may be faced with a situation that puts your organizations’ reputation in jeopardy. So, you must be prepared. You should be proactive by arming yourself with some simple elements, right away.

 Train those answering phones about where to direct any crisis calls
 Establish a chain of command for reporting crisis events an directing media inquiries and train your managers
 Train managers on initial key message statements to media following and event
 Develop a calling-tree for notification of crisis communications team members
 Designate a crisis operation center where team members can meet
 Compile a list of operational and public information contacts in agencies related to possible crises
 Develop list of important media contacts
 Have a plan to keep these key contacts up-to-date and educated about your organization.
 Update your media kit and distribute to media on a regular basis – this enables control of the information they have for background and research data
 Make sure key members of the crisis team, including senior management, are known
members of the crisis team, including senior management, are known to the media

Be Prepared may be passe but it should be standard operating procedure for any nonprofit organization.

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