Nonprofits and Interest Groups in Crisis Management

Nonprofit organizations and interest groups play a significant role in supplementing, complementing, and carrying out crisis management activities worldwide. Prior to a crisis event, nonprofits and interest groups are valuable in disaster planning as they may have expertise in certain specialized areas, such as a diversity of substantive expertise, familiarity with local communities and their unique needs, the ability to represent and advocate for vulnerable populations, or the ability to compile resources needed to mitigate or prevent the most devastating consequences from crises. Once a crisis occurs, these groups are also valuable during acute responses because they may already be on site, may be more flexible and expeditious in mobilizing resources than public or private organizations, have the trust of the local community, and have the ability to draw from multiple sources of funding, including serving as intermediaries between survivors, volunteers, and other groups, catalyzing cross-sector collaboration. Finally, nonprofit organizations and interest groups play vital roles in crisis recovery processes, including coordinating services, providing case management, assisting with rebuilding and reconstruction, providing mental health support, and financial counseling. Their participation, however, is dependent upon a series of variables including organizational characteristics like size, structure, and capacity; areas of substantive expertise or mission focus; geographic jurisdiction; and the unique demands of the crisis. Despite their increasing involvement, it has been argued that nonprofit organizations and interest groups remain underutilized in crisis management as they often face barriers to effectively engaging and integrating in preparedness and response phases, achieving interorganizational coordination and collaboration, and creating trust, equity, and accountability in disaster recovery. Increasingly, crisis management is moving toward an “all-of-society” approach that includes community-based groups and individuals in planning for, responding to, and recovering from disaster events. More rigorous, comprehensive, and generalizable research is needed to build evidence-based practices to help overcome these known challenges to fully incorporating nonprofits and interest groups in crisis management to reduce disaster vulnerability and build community resiliency.