Just received my February 2008 "Mal Warwick's Newsletter: Successful Direct Mail, Telephone and Online Fundraising (trademark symbol here). You can sign up for this free e-newsletter at:
http://ga1.org/malwarwick/join.html.
The article on crisis communications by Jerr Boschee, Executive Director, The Institute for Social Entrepreneurs, caught my eye as this is a topic nonprofit organizations hopefully don't get to practice much, if ever; but need to know and implement with ease and expertise. I appreciated the Four Cardinal Rules to remember when handling bad news that involves your agency:
- Tell the truth
- Take responsibility
- Don't delay
- Show them you care
The first three are excellent reminders about actions that should not be compromised in negative situations. The fourth, "show them you care," intrigued me. I read on. The article points out that "your stakeholders are less interested in what you know or what you did -- what they want to know first is whether you care. So acknowledge their pain or concern....Your response has to be genuine. You have to make a personal connection." Then this: "...if you have a loyal set of stakeholders, they'll give you the benefit of the doubt...(they are) your neighbor over the back fence, the guy on the bus, the teacher in your kids' school....they want you to get through this and maintain their confidence."
The Mal Warwick article goes on to offer some guidelines for creating a crisis communications plan. I've printed and filed it in my resources folder, along with others I've collected in my work as Bremer Nonprofit Resources Specialist.
Lois Schmidt, NRS, Willmar, Redwood Falls, Marshall
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