Nonprofit crisis communications is the planned, two-way exchange of information with staff, donors, clients, partners and the press before, during and after an event that threatens your mission, money or reputation. The organizations that come through well do five things before anything goes wrong: they name a small crisis team, choose one decision-maker, train one or two spokespeople, write holding statements, and decide who hears the news first. This article walks through each of them, then through the first 48 hours and the recovery that follows.
TL;DR
- A nonprofit lives on public trust, so a crisis that damages trust can damage funding, volunteers and services all at once.
- Build the plan in calm weather: a small team, one decision-maker, one or two trained spokespeople, and a first response kit.
- In the moment, verify facts, tell your own people first, speak with one voice, and never say "no comment."
- Afterward, debrief, repair trust with visible action rather than words alone, and update the plan.
Table of Contents
- Why nonprofits are exposed in a way businesses are not
- Communication plan or management plan?
- Build the team before you need it
- The first response kit
- The first 48 hours
- After the storm: debrief and rebuild
- Perspective: what thirty years of crisis work teaches
- Getting help with your plan
- FAQ
- Sources
Why nonprofits are exposed in a way businesses are not
A company can lose a customer and still sell to the next one. A nonprofit that loses credibility loses several things at once. Julie Kennon of Charity Engine describes nonprofits as especially vulnerable because their success rests on public trust, voluntary giving, government and corporate support, a committed staff and board, and often a volunteer base. A crisis can erode any one of those pillars, and the pillars lean on each other.
What counts as a crisis? The National Council of Nonprofits' 2026 guidance points to social-media pushback, politically motivated investigations, and allegations of fraud or illicit activity as realistic examples. To that list most leaders could add a data breach, a leadership scandal, a program failure, a harassment complaint or a sudden funding loss. The common thread is that something threatens operations or legitimacy faster than your normal communications rhythm can handle.
The research frames this as more than image protection. A 2021 literature review by Brittany Haupt and Lauren Azevedo found that proactive planning helps nonprofits address varied crises, limit operational and reputational effects, keep essential services running and preserve organizational stability. Communication, in other words, is part of keeping the doors open for the people you serve.
Communication plan or management plan?
The two are related but not identical. Kennon draws the line this way: the communication plan covers how you will talk in a crisis, while the management plan covers how you will respond to it. You need both, and they should be written to fit together. If you are starting from the communications side, our guide to what a crisis communication plan should include goes deeper, and our piece on a crisis management framework covers the response side.
Build the team before you need it
Most nonprofit crises are made worse by confusion about who decides. The fix is simple and has to be done in advance.
A small team and a single decision-maker
The National Council of Nonprofits' guidance tells organizations to name a small crisis team and a single decision-maker before a crisis. ASU's Lodestar center suggests the team be a few trusted people: the executive director, a board member, and whoever handles communications. The Center for Disaster Philanthropy adds communications and IT staff, and recommends giving each member clear immediate responsibilities and a timeline.
Small organizations often ask whether they have enough people for this. You do. A team of three with written roles and current phone numbers beats a committee of ten that has never met.
What the board should do, and not do
The board's job in a crisis is oversight and discipline, not improvisation. Board members should know who the spokesperson is, and they should refer every inquiry to that person rather than commenting on their own. Decide in advance how the chair alerts the executive committee and how the remaining members get updates, so that no trustee learns about the problem from a reporter. Our crisis communications policy guide covers how to put these rules in writing.
Spokespeople
Choose one or two and train them. The NEA's media toolkit describes the person you want as fully knowledgeable, at ease in front of an audience, comfortable with reporters and aware of deadlines. The person you do not want is juggling too many tasks or gets nervous talking to a reporter. That description often points away from the executive director by default, so decide on skill rather than title.
The Insurance for Nonprofits e-book adds practical points: name primary and secondary spokespeople, make sure every employee and volunteer knows who they are, arrange 24-hour media access, and set a policy for how staff and volunteers deal with the press, on site and off. See also our guide to spokesperson training.
The first response kit
The single most useful document you can write this month is a first response kit. The National Council of Nonprofits describes it as containing a holding statement, a short description of your organization, and answers to your hardest questions, such as funding, salaries and politics. Write those answers while nobody is angry. Then ask a colleague outside the team to read them and tell you where they sound defensive.
A holding statement does three jobs: it acknowledges the situation, it commits to transparency, and it promises an update, without guessing at facts you do not yet have. Kennon's advice on controlling the narrative is the same: keep the facts close to your team, acknowledge what is happening, and hold the details until you are ready, while still pledging openness.
Scenario plans
The 2026 National Council of Nonprofits guidance describes scenario plans with a description, an approach, key decision-makers, key questions, specific actions, draft media and social statements, and after-scenario actions. You do not need to cover every possibility. Pick the three or four your organization is most likely to face and write those. A tabletop exercise is the cheapest way to test them, and our list of tabletop exercise scenarios gives nine to start with.
Keep the lights on
A communications plan assumes you can still send an email or update your website. Think about what happens if your systems are down, and make sure your team has a backup way to reach staff, donors and the public. Understanding the difference between business continuity and disaster recovery helps you decide which functions must keep running and how quickly the rest must return. The Center for Disaster Philanthropy's toolkit likewise calls for backup communication methods.
The first 48 hours
When the call comes, the sequence matters more than the polish. The National Council of Nonprofits lays out the order: collect and verify the available information, gather the team, activate the plan, monitor developments and update communications continuously.
Facts before words
Ask what you know, what you do not know, and who needs to know first. Do not fill gaps with assumptions. The Global Impact Investing playbook for funders advises that statements stick closely to confirmed facts, and that the organization speaks with one voice, with a tone that shows seriousness without conveying vulnerability.
Your own people first
The Lodestar guidance recommends listing your audiences in the order that matters most, with staff told before a public statement goes out. Staff and volunteers are your most credible messengers, and they are the people your neighbors will ask. If they learn the news from the evening broadcast, you have lost them as allies on day one.
A reasonable order for most organizations looks like this, told as a story rather than a checklist: leadership and the board hear first, then staff and volunteers, then major funders and partners, then the clients or beneficiaries who are affected, and then the public and press. Adjust the order to fit the facts. If beneficiaries are in danger, they come first.
Dealing with the press
The Insurance for Nonprofits e-book recommends being the first to break the news about how you are responding, beginning with full disclosure, treating nothing as off the record, and always responding to media requests. A related eight-step plan for PR crises from The Credit Union Connection also cautions against ever saying "no comment". If you cannot answer, say what you are doing to find out and when you will get back to them, then do it.
Transparency and privacy
Crises force a balance between openness and protecting people. Beneficiary, donor and employee information is not yours to release. The National Council of Nonprofits' data privacy guidance recommends explaining how data is used, stored and protected, collecting only what is needed and honoring your privacy policies. If a matter may involve legal exposure, bring in counsel early, so the message and the legal position point in the same direction.
Keep monitoring
Watch social media and local coverage as the story moves. The Insurance for Nonprofits e-book recommends continuously monitoring online and offline conversations and continuing to communicate with key audiences until the crisis has passed. A crisis rarely ends when the headlines do.
After the storm: debrief and rebuild
Once the pressure drops, resist the urge to move on. The National Council of Nonprofits instructs organizations to debrief, evaluate the response, capture lessons learned and strengthen future preparedness. Hold the debrief within a couple of weeks, while memories are fresh. Ask what the team knew, when they knew it, where the plan helped and where people improvised.
Then turn to trust. Words repair very little on their own. Donors, partners and the public watch what you change: a new policy, an independent review, a board committee with real authority, a clear report back to the people you serve. Our guide to reputation rebuilding takes this up in detail, and reputation risk mitigation shows how to spot the next problem before it grows.
Finally, update the plan. Kennon calls it a living document. Review it on a regular schedule, refresh contact lists whenever staff change, and fold in what the last event taught you.
Perspective: what thirty years of crisis work teaches
Over three decades of advising organizations, I have noticed that the crisis itself is rarely what does the most damage. The damage comes from the gap between what leaders say and what people can see them doing.
Think of a crisis response as a relay race. The baton is trust, and it passes from your board to your executive team, to your spokesperson, to your staff, and finally to the donors and neighbors who decide whether to keep believing in you. A dropped baton usually happens at a handoff nobody rehearsed.
That is why we combine preparation with real-time response. A plan written in advance gives your people something to hold when the pressure arrives. Our counsel, and a network of experts we can bring in, then helps you adjust the plan to the facts as they develop. And when the immediate danger passes, we focus on credible action, because that is what turns a hard season into a case for your organization's integrity.
Nonprofits do not need a bigger budget to do this well. They need clarity about roles, a few good drafts, and the habit of practicing.
Mark
Getting help with your plan
If your board has asked for a crisis plan, or something is already unfolding, outside counsel can save time. Mark Brown Strategies offers crisis management and communications, crisis readiness assessments, reputation management and recovery, community relations and litigation support, drawing on more than 30 years of experience. We build tailored plans for organizations that want to prepare, and we work alongside leaders in real time when a situation breaks.
To discuss a readiness assessment or a response already in motion, contact Mark Brown Strategies.
FAQ
What should a nonprofit crisis communications plan include?
At minimum: guiding principles, a response command structure, an internal communications approach and scenario plans, according to the National Council of Nonprofits. Add a first response kit with a holding statement, an organization description and tough-question answers. Include current contact details for the team and your key audiences.
Who should speak for the nonprofit during a PR crisis?
Choose one or two trained spokespeople in advance, and name a backup. Pick people who know the subject, stay calm with reporters and understand deadlines, as the NEA toolkit describes. Everyone else, including board members, refers inquiries to them.
Who do we tell first?
Usually your own people. Staff, volunteers and the board should hear before the public statement, so they are not blindsided. The exception is when clients or beneficiaries are at risk. They come first, and the facts should set the order.
How often should we update the plan?
Review it on a regular schedule and after every real incident or drill. Update contact lists whenever roles change, since a plan with outdated phone numbers fails at the first call.
Sources
- Crisis Response Guidance, National Council of Nonprofits
- Crisis communication planning and nonprofit organizations, Haupt and Azevedo
- A Nonprofit's Guide to Crisis Communications, Charity Engine
- Nonprofit Crisis Communication Planning: Getting Ready, ASU Lodestar Center
- Crisis Communications Toolkit for Philanthropy, Center for Disaster Philanthropy
- Working with the Media toolkit, National Endowment for the Arts
- Surviving a Crisis: Practical Strategies for Nonprofit Organizations
- Crisis and Issues Management Playbook for Funders, GIH
- 8-Step Plan for Handling a PR Crisis, The Credit Union Connection
- Earning trust: the imperative of data privacy for nonprofits, National Council of Nonprofits