Corporate Disaster Response Planning

CSR Role During Disaster

Although we never want to see disaster happen, every company needs to plan for it. The unexpected news of a disaster occurring can disrupt the communities that businesses serve and where their employees and customers work and live in. All over the world, we see natural catastrophes come unpredictably, from flooding and hurricanes to ice storms and wildfires.

$520 billion

Yearly cost to the global economy from natural disasters 1

~26 million

Yearly number of people pushed into poverty from natural disasters1

2/3

Number of Americans living paycheck to paycheck with no cushion to rebuild.2

Corporate social responsibility touches on all areas of business when a disaster response plan is in motion. Should disaster strike, communities and employees expect support, non-profit organizations and charities need funding, and people ultimately want to know how they can help. When it comes to proactive planning, companies can go above and beyond to ensure resources will be available to keep their employees safe, protect their facilities, and perform recoveries during a disaster response.  

Building Resilient Communities

Disaster looks different to everyone. The death of a family member, house fire, sudden illness or accident could happen at any time, to any of your employees. During the pandemic CSR leaders became hyper aware of the needs their community, and own employees. Businesses can be leaders in helping the whole community mitigate risk to bounce back faster and decrease overall costs and disruptions from disasters.

Learn more in this blog which provides an overview of the content within our disaster response checklist.

  • 1

    Risk Assessment

  • 2

    Identify Stakeholders

  • 3

    Identify Business Resources

  • 4

    Prepare Employees

  • 5

    Connect and Collaborate

Disaster Response Checklist and Evaluation Criteria

While it is important to help as many victims of disasters as possible, there are certain budgetary and resource limitations that you’ll have to work within. Understanding what your company is able to give and how you’ll decide to utilize those resources will be key to your strategy.

Using CSRconnect for Disaster Campaigns

Our customer success team provides standard design support and resources for quickly launching a program to support disasters. The standard design support includes the content needed to launch a Standard Engagement Element in CSRconnect.

Splash Page copy and images for the Engagement Element

A list of organizations supporting the cause including the EIN number and YC Charity ID as well as a link to the charity website.

*Organizations are curated for CSR admins to review and verify they meet internal guidelines before highlighting them in CSRconnect.

Program resources for disaster relief are accessible via The Blackbaud Community. If you are a current YourCause client, contact your customer success manager for the invite link to join the Blackbaud Community. From the CSRconnect community, click on the disaster response category.