February 28, 2023 
Share This PostIs your charity ready to handle a crisis?
By planning ahead of time, your charity can effectively weather any storm, and even emerge stronger when it’s all over.
These 12 crisis tips for charities can help you before, during and after whatever crisis may come your way.
Read on to learn how you can best prepare your charity for a comms crisis.
1. Set up a Crisis Hub
Start with a list of all the important information, key contacts, links and workflows
that should sit within this and make sure everyone knows where it is.
2. Nominate the Crisis Team
Compile a list of the key people from legal, PR, marketing, and management along with their contact information and availability. Spell out their roles within the crisis event so everyone knows who is responsible for what.
3. Choose your tools
Include links to all social platforms, comms and admin apps, and logins. Use a password keeper!
4. Key messaging check
Keep your key messaging up to date, along with a brief guide to tone of voice and keywords to use (and not use). Don’t forget to adapt messaging for different channels.
5. Get to know your community
Keep lists of online advocates, celebrities, influencers and detractors within easy reach and up to date.
6. Take a stand
Record your positioning on known likely issues. Every charity will know what topics have the potential to cause conflict. Create fact-based education factsheets on key issues.
7. Words matter
The CEO statement should be reassuring rather than corporate. Empathise. Repeat the issue back and assure all that the CEO is personally invested in solving the issue.
8. Check the schedule
Review all planned content. Does posting need to stop for now?
9. Monitor live reaction
Set up an alert in your social media monitoring tool for relevant mentions and keywords related to the issue.
10. Team check in
Talk to the team on the ground and review cover required. It may be time to activate other people in your organisation to help. Keep shifts dealing with negativity online short and make it clear that support is available.
11. Communication is key
Open a dedicated comms channel for the team to use to guide their work. (Microsoft Teams, Slack or an internal tool.)
12. The aftermath
Review the event and update your processes accordingly. Learn and be agile.
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Looking for support with your charity’s online presence, need a customised crisis management plan or something else? Get in touch today to find out how StrawberrySocial’s crisis support services can help you.