What would you do if you woke up, turned on your phone and saw your charity trending in social media? And not necessarily with a "good news" story.
While you may be tempted to roll over and pull the covers over your head, it's definitely not a long-term solution. Here are proactive actions you can take to prepare yourself and your organization for unexpected media attention.
The best offense is a good defense
Do you consider risk as part of your regular program review? "Risk" can be both physical and reputational. In developing your strategic plan and the resulting annual plan, it is important to include an assessment of risk as part of the planning. In addition, it is valuable to review risk every 3-4 months to make sure that you are on track.
Have your Board on board
While it is common advice to have a lawyer as well an accountant on your Board, it is wise to include a risk expert and someone who is an expert in communications or public relations. Volunteer expertise can help you identify possible risk situations and head off problems. In addition, your expert in communications will be invaluable should you end up in a difficult situation.
Be prepared with key messages
As part of your risk process you need to prepare key messages, in advance, for various operational issues. For example: overhead, the cost of fundraising, and CEO salaries are common topics of interest for the press on a slow news day. In addition to these items shared by all charities, there will be topics particular to your organization where you should also have key messages ready to go.
Get media trained
When the phone rings and there is a reporter on the other end, it is good to have practiced your interview skills. This training, along with your key messages, will prepare your spokesperson for most situations. In addition, have clear information about which members of the staff, or Board, can serve as spokespeople for your organization.
When all else fails, get help
When your reputation is on the line and your organization is all over social media, it's time to bring in professional help. There are consultants who specialize in dealing with negative publicity.
Reach out to your stakeholders
You want to be in touch with your most important people as quickly as possible when any story hits the news. This should include the people who use your charity, your staff, Board, volunteers, donors, and major funders. Talk to these people so that they hear about the situation directly from you instead of reading about it online or in the news.
The benefits of a short news cycle
If your charity does end up trending, or in the news, take some comfort that today's 24-hour news cycle means that the pain of this attention will be intense, but brief. The upside of our shorter attention spans is that things move out of the spotlight very quickly.
Ann Rosenfield, MBA, CFRE is the principal for Charitably Speaking. She is a working fundraiser and has weathered her share of charity news excitement.
Homepage photo by Lucas Hoang on Unsplash
