Abstract:

Unfortunate, unpredictable, and catastrophic events can happen and nonprofit organizations (NPOs) are not immune. Crisis management seeks to help organizations, in general, to cope with these events, and although it continues to be a hot topic in public relations literature, there has been little attention paid to crisis response strategies in one of the largest sectors that continues to play an increasingly influential role in social and economic life: NPOs. This study uses the context of the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and its spread disease (Covid-19), to identify the level of crisis management preparedness of the North Portugal NPOs, in response to an actual infectious disease pandemic, with enormous numbers of spread disease and deaths, mainly in their senior segment. Considering the topic of research, a qualitative approach is developed with an exploratory and explanatory study based on six semi-structured interviews. The results of this study demonstrate that NPOs were not prepared or had any type of planning to face a pandemic crisis, such as the Covid-19. The study adds to previous research on crisis management on NPOs, by proposing the identification and exploration of a set of activities that accurately enables the assessment of crisis management strategies within the context of NPOs, on an emergency event. This study argues that NPOs need to actively engage in everyday maintenance and updating to prevent crisis activities to build organizational security, transparency, and accountability.