Are you prepared for a disaster?

“Nonprofits are in a sticky situation,” Robinson affirms. “They don’t necessarily have a lot of revenue to devote to this, and if they completely get blindsided, they’re sunk.”

In his book, Robinson cites the horrific case study of Helen Keller International, which was destroyed by debris from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. The cost to rebuild was in excess of $4 million, and all records, databases and archives were lost. According to Alec Rowe, a spokesman for Helen Keller International, everyone in the building escaped safely that day.