When the worst happens: a disaster readiness guide for nonprofits

Why this matters

A disaster plan does not need to be long. Its job is to keep the few things that cannot stop running, and to bring everything else back in an orderly way. One afternoon of planning now saves weeks of scrambling later.

A useful way to think about any event is to ask four questions. Does it damage the place, or does it keep people away? Does it hit only you, or the whole community? Do you stay, or do you leave? Will you have warning, or none at all? A hurricane, a fire and a pandemic land in very different places on those four questions, and your plan should cover each kind.

Before: build the plan in three steps

Name a small planning team (a board member, the executive director or a lead volunteer, and someone who knows your technology) and give it a start date and a finish date. Put the plan on a board agenda once a year, and review it before each storm season.

Step 1: Write down what you have and who you need

• Contact lists for staff, board, volunteers, key donors, your insurance agent, your landlord, your bank, your technology provider and your main partners. Include cell numbers and an emergency contact for each person.
• A contact tree, so each person calls or texts two or three others and no single person has to reach everyone.
• An inventory of equipment, computers, software and online subscriptions, vehicles and buildings. The fastest way is to walk through your space recording a video, then save it somewhere off site.
• Partners and alternate sites: who could lend you space, supplies or volunteers, and where you could work if your building is closed.

Step 2: Gather your go kit of key documents

Keep a paper copy in two safe places with two different people who live in different parts of town (often the executive director and the board chair), and a digital copy in a shared online folder that a few leaders can open from anywhere.

• Organizational: articles of incorporation, bylaws, IRS determination letter, most recent Form 990, most recent audit or review, current budget.
• Administrative: insurance policies with policy numbers, leases or deeds, grants and contracts, agreements with partners, personnel policies.
• Financial: current financial statements, bank and investment account details, chart of accounts, vendor list.

Step 3: Think it through in advance

Planners call this a continuity of operations plan. Yours can be a few pages.

• By task. List the work you do daily, weekly and monthly in finance, people, technology, communications, fundraising and programs. For each task, write the longest it can wait (payroll may be one day; the newsletter may be a month). Sort the list, then for the urgent tasks write who does it, who backs them up, and how it gets done if the office is closed.
• By scenario. Pick your most likely disaster and tell the story: what happens to your building, your people, your clients, your suppliers and your partners, and what you do in the first two days and the weeks after. Direct service organizations, such as food pantries and shelters, should plan for more demand, not less, and for clients who cannot reach them.
• Look beyond your own street. A storm in the next county can cut off your suppliers, send evacuees along your road, or keep your volunteers home.

The essentials to have in place

• People first. Encourage every staff member and volunteer to have a family plan and a home emergency kit; people who know their families are safe can come back to work. Set a chain of command for when your leader cannot be reached, give everyone a clear role, and cross-train so no task lives in one person's head.
• Money. Keep a cash reserve if you can, plus a card and a little cash for emergencies. Agree in advance how much the person in charge may spend without a board vote, and record every emergency expense. Run payroll and pay bills early when a storm is coming, and make sure at least two people can reach the bank online.
• Insurance. Review your coverage with your agent before you need it: property or renters, business interruption (lost income and the cost of a temporary location), general liability, directors and officers, auto, and volunteer coverage, including whether walk-in volunteers are covered. Flood is often excluded from standard policies, so ask about it directly. Keep policy numbers and claim phone numbers in your go kit.
• Technology and records. Back up your files automatically to the cloud, keep passwords in a shared password manager rather than in one person's memory, write down how to reach email and voicemail remotely, and use organization email addresses rather than personal ones. Keep chargers and cords with the laptops.
• Communications. Prepare short message templates for staff, clients, donors and the public, and know who can update the website and social media. Choose one spokesperson. Have a backup way to reach people if phones are down, such as text messages or a meeting point.
• Facilities. Mark the gas and water shut-offs and keep the tools nearby, secure heavy furniture and equipment, keep exits clear, use surge protectors on important electronics, and post evacuation maps and emergency numbers.
• Clients. Know how you will check on the people you serve, how you will reach them, what special needs they have (language, mobility, medicine, diet), and how you will protect their private information while you do it.
• Volunteers. Know which regular volunteers have useful skills such as first aid, and decide in advance what walk-in volunteers may and may not do, who supervises them, and whether your insurance covers them.

When you have warning

• About three days out: review the plan, remind everyone of the check-in system and your policy on coming to work, confirm plans with your landlord and partners, check that the go kit and online files are complete, and stock water, food, fuel, batteries and cash for anyone who will keep serving through the storm.
• One day out: have staff take what they need to work from home, protect equipment, and finish payroll and bill payments.
• The day of: lock up, change the phone greeting, post a notice with contact information on the door, and take the key documents with you.

After: recovery

• Wait for the official all clear before going back. Check on every staff member and volunteer before checking on the building.
• Photograph and record all damage before cleaning up, and call your insurance agent early.
• Restore the essentials in order: communications, then data and key systems, then the programs on your must-do list.
• Give people time. Staff and volunteers may be dealing with damage at home, and recovery work is draining. Keep expectations realistic and check in often.
• Look into assistance. Federal disaster help starts at DisasterAssistance.gov and FEMA, and your county emergency management office can point you to local programs and funders.
• When things settle, hold a short review: what worked, what did not, and what to change in the plan.

If you raise money or give aid for disaster relief

Many organizations step up after a disaster even when relief is not their usual work. The IRS explains the rules in Publication 3833, "Disaster Relief: Providing Assistance Through Charitable Organizations", listed on its disaster relief resources page. In general terms:

• An existing 501(c)(3) can take on disaster relief without asking the IRS first, but it reports the new activity on its annual return.
• Help must go to a broad or open-ended group of people (the IRS calls this a charitable class), not to a few people chosen in advance. Donors may give for "hurricane relief", but they cannot direct a gift to a specific person or family.
• Immediate help such as meals, blankets, water or crisis counseling can be given without checking anyone's finances. Longer-term help, such as several months of rent, requires an assessment of each person's need.
• Keep records. For short-term aid, record what you gave, when, where, roughly how many people, and what it cost. For longer-term aid, also record who received it, how much, how recipients were chosen, and any relationship to your board, staff or major donors.
• If you tell donors their gifts are for a particular disaster, many states require that the money be used only for that purpose. Say so plainly in the appeal and keep the funds separate in your books.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Talk with your accountant or attorney before starting a relief fund.

Doing this in All In One Nonprofit

In Risk Management & Insurance Audit, the Disaster Readiness and Continuity Plan turns this guide into your own plan: who leads, your essential tasks with their backups, the contact tree, the go kit, the warning-time checklist and the reopening steps, ready to print, save as Word on your letterhead or keep in your Document Library. The Crisis Management Plan beside it covers who leads and who speaks in any crisis. For a key person who is suddenly unavailable, Board Management has a Continuity Plan, and Technology & Digital Services covers shared accounts and backups.

Further reading

• "Disaster Planning for Nonprofits", Nancy Bacon and Margaret Meps Schulte, The Nonprofit Learning Center, available from the Florida Nonprofit Alliance, with inventory, contact and continuity worksheets.
• "Community-Based Organization Disaster Response Preparedness Toolkit", Florida Nonprofit Alliance, adapted with permission from Mercy Corps Northwest and the Nonprofit Association of Oregon.
• "The Resilient Organization" guides on disaster preparedness, disaster recovery and staff and volunteer preparedness, TechSoup.
• "No Business Continuity Plan? Take These 4 Steps", Nonprofit Risk Management Center.
• "Surviving a Crisis: Practical Strategies for Nonprofit Organizations", Nonprofits Insurance Alliance.
• Publication 3833, "Disaster Relief: Providing Assistance Through Charitable Organizations", Internal Revenue Service.
• Ready.gov, the federal preparedness campaign (also en español), and the American Red Cross Ready Rating program.