PLANNING FOR THE UNEXPECTED:   A Workshop in Business Continuity Planning for Not-For-Profits

Who are we?

But we’re not social service providers! People have many needs in times of difficulty or emergency.

“ They were very keen to get back to playing and just being able to forget about things for a while. Doing something that they loved doing with their friends and just making music is a very powerful healer for children, for everybody, for our adults as well.” Celia, School of Music

“ A lot of anxious people wanted to be around other people and the comfort. And then just to start to focus on something that was a known quantity and a routine, and something would actually grow, a sense of hope and stability.” Cathy & team, New Brighton Community Gardens

“A lot of people seemed to turn to their ancestors at the time of the earth-quakes. There was almost a period of reflection that they required. Suddenly it became a very important social need.” Alexandra, Friends of Linwood Cemetery

Regional Risks and Hazards No matter which region we’re from, we’re all vulnerable to hazards, but these hazards can differ from region to region. So for example ….

Auckland’s hazards

Canterbury’s hazards

Finding your region’s hazards www.civildefence.govt.nz/find- your-civil-defence-group/ Emergency management is organised regionally. 16 regional groups, find them at http://www.civildefence.govt.nz/find-your-civil-defence-group/ Each group required to identify and prioritise the hazards in their region. Each region’s website and each region’s plan is different, may need to hunt around a bit on the website to find the plan.

What would this mean for your organisation? Need to look at what role you’d have, how able your organisation is to be up and running.

Select two or three high priority and /or high likelihood events What impact would each have on: Your clients, members or the community you work with? Your volunteers and paid staff? Your facilities, resources and records?

What is Business Continuity Planning?

Business continuity planning should cover the following steps: Identify what your core activity or service really is – what are the most important things that you do? What are your vulnerabilities? What could go wrong?

Identify the things most needed for your organisation to keep operating. What are the essential tasks needed to deliver your core activities? Do any of these rely on special skills, qualifications or licences?

Do any of these rely on a single person? Who could step in to help?

Identify the tools, equipment, software, facilities and other things (resources, supplies etc.) needed to deliver your core activities or service. How could you get hold of replacements if these were lost? Are there alternatives you could use instead? Where can necessary resources be obtained if your usual sources become unavailable?

Identify relocation options if you have to move. Is there another organisation you could share facilities with for a while? Have a chat to them and see if they want to have a reciprocal arrangement. Could your organisation operate without a base? Think about how this might work.

Spend time exploring your insurance needs where appropriate, follow through by securing the right insurance for your organisation. Set up a system for delegated authority. If the key decision maker becomes unavailable, there is a system and process to enable someone else to step into that role to make key decisions such as paying staff and bills, securing new premises etc.

Put together a list of all your key stakeholders and their contact details in one accessible location. Include paid staff, governance members, volunteers, the key people and organisations that you network with, and all the people and places you identified as alternative resources in the processes above.

Ensure that your records are backed up. Think about the information and records your organisation has and how this is stored. What information do you only store in hard copy? What information you would miss most of it was lost through fire, flood, earthquake etc. Decide what needs to be backed up digitally and plan to action this. Think about the digital back up system that will work best for you in emergency AND put a plan in place to action any changes or upgrades.

Once you have a plan, keep it somewhere accessible, and review it regularly.  

Encourage your team to do some emergency planning for themselves at home

Being a resilient organisation

Resources Household planning: https://www.happens.nz/ ‘Shut Happens’ small business resilience guide: https://www.resorgs.org.nz/wp- content/uploads/2017/07/Resilient_Organisat ions_Shut_Happens_online_version.pdf Small business/organisation planning: https://www.getprepared.nz/organisations/ Help and advice: Sharon: Sharon@sewn.org.nz, ph 03 366 2050