Are You Ready for an Emergency Campaign?

I can’t tell you how many times over the past years that I have been at direct-marketing and fundraising conferences and heard, “If only our organization had disaster or emergency response within our scope — we could raise big dollars too!”

Nonprofits of all sizes will, at some point, face some level of emergency. Those organizations that have proven and practiced plans in place before the fact, and act quickly to respond to issues in the media, will find fundraising success.

Take the example of a small organization that has worked on issues in the Middle East for more than 36 years. When fighting broke out last summer in Lebanon, leaving thousands homeless, hungry and without medical care, the organization followed its updated Emergency Fundraising Plan and purchased keywords on the Internet so that when people typed in “Lebanon,” the organization was listed as one of the agencies offering relief to that region.

Additionally, it immediately went out to its existing and lapsed donors with an emergency appeal in the mail and online. These prompt, dynamic actions resulted in a significant lift in the number and size of donations received both on and off line.

Or the example of a large international nonprofit that was unprepared for the onslaught of gifts around the 2005 Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina as the public looked for a way to support long-term, ongoing operations once the initial disaster had passed. As a result, systems were strained to the limit, with both new and existing donors not being cultivated for future emergency gifts.

In order to be prepared for the next emergency or disaster, the organization brought together all parties, including staff and vendors, to create a comprehensive plan defining detailed steps to be taken by all staff, from senior leadership on down. Included in the plan is running an annual mock emergency to test timing and systems — offering both much-needed practice and suggestions for updating the plan to meet changing organizational priorities and needs.

This process reminded me of when I was in college as a drama major and my acting professor continually told us, “The way you rehearse it … is the way you will perform it!”

The tsunami and 2005 hurricanes demonstrated the enormous power of the Internet, telemarketing and mail as viable fundraising vehicles for both low- and high-dollar donations. Literally billions of dollars, including record numbers of major gifts, were donated online, by phone and through the mail.

Few nonprofits — even veteran relief and disaster organizations — are truly prepared to raise as much money as possible during times of emergency. Mail, phone and online should work hand in hand with technical systems and caging operations, ensuring that you have the capacity required to process and timely acknowledge gifts when an emergency strikes.

So what is the key to successful emergency and disaster fundraising? Having a well-thought-out plan in place for both systems and fundraising strategies is the highest priority. Your plan needs to clearly outline your organization’s immediate response, covering internal and external communications, public outreach and fundraising.

A fundraising action plan needs to be fleshed out and incorporated into ongoing development strategies and planning in order to meet your organization’s needs and changing resource demands.

To get you started, I’ve listed here five essential elements to include in an emergency plan.

1. Test systems both in-house and with outside vendors to ensure the capacity to accept and process large volumes of donations via online, phone and mail.

2. Create templates and generic messaging for all direct-response vehicles and outbound communications.

3. Develop internal contact lists including key assignments and responsibilities for emergency campaign notification and immediate response.

4. Determine which staff members’ priorities will need to be reassigned while ensuring ongoing program fundraising needs are met.

5. Identify key staff assignments and responsibilities for emergency campaigns, including inbound and outbound communications, corporate partners, direct- response vehicles, major gifts, in-kind, United Way notification, foundations, third-party fundraisers, and planned giving.

Advance preparation, a clearly outlined plan and ensuring that all levels of your organization are familiar with the process should guarantee that you’ll be able to raise dollars around unexpected events. This process takes me back to my fundraising roots with the Boy Scouts of America, and its well-known motto - “Be Prepared!”

Just as no one anticipated 9/11 or the devastating natural disasters of 2005, you cannot anticipate when the next emergency that could put your organization into the media spotlight will occur — but you can be ready.

Sue Woodward is the founder of Woodward Associates. www.woodwardassoc.com