What Not to do When Responding to a Disaster

A standard element in a company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) is disaster response. Disaster response varies in helpfulness, though. Fortunately, experts suggest that avoiding a few common mistakes will help ensure that your company’s disaster response is truly helpful:

• Operating without a plan. Effective disaster response starts well before disaster strikes in the form of a plan. For guidance on developing one, see a prior post.
  
• Making unhelpful donations. Donating the wrong in-kind products or volunteer help can do more damage than good by taking up valuable time in those delivering assistance. Donate only what respected organizations suggest and remember that the most effective donation immediately after a disaster is almost always cash.
  
• Overpromising. Minimize the risk of good intentions leading to promises that your company can’t keep by committing only what you’ve establish as feasible (ideally in the disaster response plan, per bullet one).
  
• Short-termism. Disaster recovery lasts years. The most effective assistance, therefore, does as well.

In summary, whether your company is responding to earthquakes in Europe, floods in South America or famine in Africa, try to start with a plan, donate what is known to be helpful, commit only what you can deliver and remain involved long-term. These tips will help your companies CSR be truly helpful. As always, feel free to contact us for further assistance.