Navigating the Storm: Crisis Communications Every Nonprofit Needs

By Jeannette O’Connor

When a crisis hits, it rarely sends a calendar invite. For nonprofits, the stakes are especially high: a single misstep can threaten your mission, your funding, and the trust you’ve built over decades.

Organizations can find themselves navigating everything from leadership scandals to funding cliffs. The details may differ, but the lessons are remarkably consistent: how you communicate in a crisis can protect—or permanently damage—your ability to serve your community.

What We’ve Learned

Don’t press the panic button too quickly. Not every bump rises to the level of a crisis. The red flag is when outside attention builds—social media chatter, funder concerns, or press calls—and multiple stakeholders feel the ripple.

Your stakeholders aren’t all the same. Board members expect a phone call. Funders often require a written update. Government partners may mandate formal notice. Staff and members deserve face-to-face conversations and follow-up emails. Treating everyone with the same boilerplate message is a quick way to erode trust.

Your team needs a game plan. A strong crisis team includes the communications lead, executive leadership, key operational staff, and your legal team. Everyone should know: Who decides? Who speaks? Who keeps the trains running? Without clarity, even small issues can spiral out of control.

Five Pillars We Rely On

1. Speed with Accuracy — Acknowledge the situation quickly, but don’t guess. It’s important to be right, or you’ll just dig a deeper hole.

2. Radical Transparency — Admit mistakes and share corrective steps. Cover-ups collapse trust.

3. Mission-Centered Messaging — Keep the focus on why your work matters and how you’re protecting it.

4. Authentic Leadership Voice — No legalese or corporate-speak. Stakeholders need humanity, and they need to hear directly from leadership.

5. Action-Oriented Solutions — Don’t just say you care—show what you’re doing, with timelines and concrete steps.

Where Many Nonprofits Stumble

One of the biggest gaps we see is internal communication. Your staff, board, members, and volunteers are your frontline ambassadors. If they’re confused or blindsided, they can unintentionally fuel the fire. Keep them informed early and often.

Another common gap is donor relationships. Major donors should never read about a crisis in the press before hearing from you. Even a quick personal call—“we wanted you to hear it from us first”—can make the difference between loyalty and doubt.

The Long View

A crisis doesn’t end when the headlines fade. Recovery is about proving you’ve learned and adapted. We encourage every client to conduct a post-crisis review—not just to improve protocols, but to demonstrate maturity and accountability.

And here’s the good news: handled with integrity, a crisis can actually deepen stakeholder trust. Some of the most loyal supporters we’ve seen are the ones who watched an organization weather a storm with honesty and courage.

Ready Before You Need It

The best time to prepare for a crisis was yesterday. The second-best time is today. At Woodside Park Strategies, we help nonprofits and foundations pressure-test crisis plans, train spokespeople, and create playbooks that can be activated within hours.

Because the question isn’t if your organization will face a crisis—but how well you’ll communicate when it does.