A natural disaster can wreak havoc on your nonprofit — but cyberattacks, pandemics, financial meltdowns, and other calamities can disrupt your mission-driven work, too. But, whatever the disaster, you still have a community that’s counting on you.
That’s why it’s essential for nonprofits of all sizes to develop a business continuity plan: A “break glass in case of emergency” strategy that outlines how you’ll keep your doors open and your mission up and running in the event of a crisis.
Creating and updating a business continuity plan can be an opportunity for your team, your board, your senior leadership, and your legal counsel to set your priorities, identify which services and operations are the most important to your nonprofit, and come up with a plan for how you’ll continue to provide them if you face a major disruption.
Some questions you may consider:
- Where will you operate if your facilities are damaged or unusable for an extended period of time?
- What do leadership roles look like in an emergency? What is your chain of command?
- Has everyone been trained to know what to do?
- Which critical services are most important? Which should be restored first?
- What services can be run lean? Which ones can be paused?
- What is the minimum number of people (staff, volunteers, etc.) needed to safely perform certain tasks?
- Are your important documents (contact information, insurance and bank account information, etc.) accessible and secure — or at least recoverable?
- How will you communicate with your community, your board, and your team?
- Can your nonprofit handle a disruption in transportation?
- What is the best way to manage your normal risks in a crisis? What new risks may arise in an emergency, and is your team prepared?
With a business continuity plan in place, you can give yourself the best chance to make it through bad times and emerge with your mission intact.
Being prepared for the worst will help your organization bounce back when disaster strikes.
Regular practice is crucial:
Creating a business continuity plan is a great step, but you’re not finished — now you’ve got to make sure your team knows how to actually use it.
When an emergency happens, you want your plan to be enacted as smoothly as possible, which means your team needs to know the details of the plan, the desired goals and outcomes, and how their skills and expertise fit into that.
Schedule dedicated practice sessions at least once per year. Doing this can give you and your team time to practice your business continuity plan, review any changes/updates, and provide your team with the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback in a low-stakes scenario.
Remember, having a plan is good, but if your team doesn’t know how to use it, it’s unlikely to do you (or the community) much good.
Resources:
To help you learn more about creating a business continuity plan, or how to prepare when faced with disaster, see the following resources:
- How to Create a Business Continuity Plan (Nonprofit Risk Management Center)
- Underappreciated Elements of Nonprofit Disaster Preparedness Planning (National Council of Nonprofits)
- Planting the Seeds for Recovery: Disaster and Pandemic Planning for Nonprofits (California Office of Emergency Services)
- Facility Agility: Planning for Facility Emergencies (Nonprofit Risk Management Center)
