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Our Community Matters • 8 •
How resilient is your not-for-profit in an emergency? The bushfire crisis has offered valuable lessons to all not-for-profits, including those not directly involved in the emergency response, according to social change consultant Rod Brooks, general manager at Wendy Brooks & Partners. Issues that not-for-profits commonly face when there is a spike in attention or giving include: • Lack of crisis management planning, leading to uncoordinated responses and threats to organisational resilience • Inability of websites to deal with increased traffic • Out-of-date websites and social media • Problems with the giving platform used (often caused by a sudden, unexpected spike in donations) • Difficulties managing and coordinating volunteers • Not being able to get goods and money to those who need them quickly enough • Slowness in thanking donors, especially major donors, causing stewardship problems • Difficulties keeping board members up to date with the situation on the ground • Less than ideal public relations and
Rod Brooks media relations because there is no designated media spokesperson. Wendy Brooks & Partners has produced a detailed checklist to future-proof your organisation and avoid these pitfalls in future crises. For the full version of this report, and to read the Wendy Brooks & Partners futureproofing checklist, follow this link to the website of the Funding Centre, an Our Community enterprise: fundingcentre.com. au/help/bushfire-fundraising.
