They say a little planning goes a long way. Raise your hand if your nonprofit organization had a pre-pandemic business continuity plan in place. If your hand is in the air, excellent. Keep up the good work and go find something more fun to read. 🙂
I’ll admit it. I’m guilty of thinking nothing like the current COVID-19 pandemic could ever happen in my lifetime. Maybe my brain has been numbed by watching too many disaster movies, or maybe it’s just a byproduct of living in the United States, where we are lucky beyond belief when it comes to so many aspects of life.
I feel great empathy for nonprofit organizations during this crisis. Having worked at and with nonprofits for over 20 years, I know how fragile funding streams can be and how lean they are staffed. Many nonprofits were not in a position to take the kind of closures that are happening around the world right now. The other thing I know for sure is that nonprofit services will be more needed than ever, both during and in the aftermath of the pandemic.
If your organization does not have a business continuity plan in place, now is a great time to start working on one. Maybe you’ve put it off because your organization is constantly too busy to work on one. Maybe now, if you and your staff are stuck working from home, it’s time to have a conversation about getting started.
Here’s an article that outlines the seven key elements of a business continuity plan: https://wsvma.site-ym.com/page/695/Seven-Key-Elements-of-Business-Continuity-Planning.htm.
A savvy nonprofit may be able to accomplish this kind of project in-house, but if you need a consultant to help you with this process, I’m available to help you. Please feel free to get in touch any time.
