How to Message When the Crisis Keeps Coming

The disruption isn’t slowing down, is it? In just the last week we’ve woken up to headlines about natural disasters, AI, policy changes, funding disruption and more. Even more frustrating is the politicization of nearly everything. For many years, community issues were seen as (mostly) neutral ground, and nonprofit messaging largely unifying – particularly in times of crisis. 

But how do we message when it feels like the crises won’t stop coming? 

The Good News
Here’s the good news (yes, there is still good news!) This report released last week shows that 57% of Americans still view nonprofits as highly trustworthy and ethical – a number that outpaces every other institution measured, including business, foundations, corporations, media and government (coming in at just 18%!). This is largely due to the accountability and oversight naturally built into the nonprofit model, along with the deep community roots most nonprofits foster. 

This means that as a nonprofit leader, your voice is a trusted community authority. 

When disruption happens, people look to those they trust to help make sense of what is happening – and to figure out what they can do about it. When natural disaster struck in Texas earlier this month, the scenes were gut-wrenching and so many of us felt helpless. In the unfolding crisis, it was nonprofits on the ground that most people looked to for information or to make a donation of money or supplies. 

And while the community challenges many of us work on are less acute, they are just as critical – and nearly every organization I know is currently faced with communicating through challenging times. Here are three ways nonprofit and community leaders can communicate well through any crisis: 

Be a voice of hope and stability.
Gallup’s recent Global Leadership Report found that globally, 56% of people need hope from their leaders. This far outnumbered the other primary needs of trust (33%), compassion (7%) and stability (4%). Leaders who can demonstrate a hopeful or optimistic outlook can inspire and motivate people to action. I want to be clear – I’m not talking about toxic positivity or a tone-deaf response to the very real challenges facing many of our communities. But nonprofits are still largely perceived as hopeful, inspirational institutions – leaving nonprofit leaders well-positioned to offer messages of hope that both resonate and motivate.

Be human.
In the age of AI, human-centered communication stands out more than ever, especially when the world feels complicated. In times of crisis, we look for frequent, two-way communication that is honest, transparent and human.  When crisis strikes, the tendency is often to batten down and keep quiet as you figure out what’s next, but social media and the pace of communication is making this approach obsolete. You don’t have to have all the answers – just show up as your authentic self.

Help people ‘do something.’
This is the nonprofit’s superpower. When we feel disrupted, most people have a very human instinct to ‘do something’ to help – but we often don’t know what that is. Once people decide they want to engage, nonprofits have the valuable opportunity to move them to action – to engage them your work through donations, volunteering or advocacy. Nonprofits who can effectively offer ‘calls-to-action’ that motivate will reap the benefits in the form of stakeholders who are ready to get to work. This hinges on knowing your value proposition and your audiences – and what motivates them. The best calls-to-action are specific, meaningful, and make it easy to say ‘yes.’ 

When things feel disruptive, one of the most important things we can do is to help people engage in the work that will keep making our communities better, little by little. Let’s keep doing the work of helping people show up – together.