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Part Two: External Relations
Presenter:
MICHAEL SMITH, PHD
The Nonprofit Center at La Salle University
Working together
Operating
Reserves
External
Relations
Advocacy

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Where we’re
headed today--
Pre-Crisis: Planning
and action
Responding to crisis:
Strategy and tools
After the crisis:
Recovering trust and
taking action
Pre-Crisis: Planning and Action
 Two responses in any emergency:
 Operational Response: What you’re doing to
address the problem
 Communication Response: What you say
about what you’re doing (and who you are).
 Preplanning helps you determine the
operational response

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Planning
 Assemble a team
 Your staff (talk to yourself?)
 Your contacts at the land management
agencies
 Anyone who might help out
 Board members (so you’re on the
same page)
 Make decisions before the
emergency
Planning
 Determine what happens when
something happens
 Immediate steps
 Business continuity plans
 Operational reserves
 Employee layoff/furloughs
○ Write this down somewhere
 Customer/Member programs
Planning
 Remember who you are
 Mission, history and values are a key part of
the message
○ Mission: Defining your relationship with
agencies and government
○ History: Your story, you want to remind people
of (we’ve been here for you)
○ Values: Hopefully include things your publics
feel strongly about (customer service, love of
the site, etc.)

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Planning
 Determine who needs to hear you—and
what they need to hear about
 Staff
 Volunteers
 Customers/Patrons/Members
 Donors
 Sponsors/Partners
 Prepare for LOTS of communication
Action
 Meet with the team
 Determine operational responses
 Determine communication responses
 Announcements
 Background info
 Advocacy, if any
 Write it down
 Practice it

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Responding to Crisis:
Communication Strategy and Tools
 Strategy: What you say and do
 What’s happening
 Your story
 Answers to constituent questions
 Tools: The channels you use to say it
 News media
 Your media (newsletter, web site)
 Social media
 Interpersonal
Strategy
 What’s happening: “The shutdown has forced us to cancel
our educational tours until the site reopens. We are not
certain. It will take us a day after the shutdown is over…”
 Our story: “We are a nonprofit that exists to support this
site we love. We have provided uninterrupted educational
services for x years. We are not responsible for the
shutdown, but are affected just like our loyal guests.”
 Values: “We have always been committed to our
educational mission and those who book with us. We will
remain committed to that once the shutdown is over.”
Tools
 News media: Answers about operational
response and reaction
 Organizational Media: Newsletters, email blasts,
Web site
 Social Media: Dialogues, diatribes, debate
 Interpersonal: Brief front line volunteers and staff
on what to say
 Strategy is similar across all platforms

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Principles of Crisis Communication
 Be quick
 Stand-by Statements
 Dark web sites
 Be accurate and don’t speculate
 One “voice”: spokesperson
 One direction
 Tools work together to point people to information
 Have someone watch the media
Sample Stand-by Statement
At (time) officials at (institution's name) were
advised that (description of the event).
Based on this information, (institution's name)
initiated its (disaster/crisis
communication/business continuity plan).
Media statements will be issued every hour on the
half hour, and a press center has been created in
(identify location of press center). Visit
www.yourorg.org page
Sample “hold” page

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Action and Trust Building
 Action:
 Let people know as things come back on line
 Encourage people to be advocates with you
 Use challenge as fundraising opportunity
 Trust takes awhile, but…
 Remind audiences of shared values
 Keep your promises if you can
 Revisit your networks of support

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Presented by
The Association of Partners
for Public Lands
In partnership with
The Nonprofit Center at LaSalle University
Michael Smith, PhD.
msmith@lasalle.edumsmith@lasalle.edu