Being that Susan G. Komen is a non-profit organization that relies heavily on their public image for a majority of their funding, they should hire a crisis communication team to develop a crisis management plan of which would guide the organization when facing a future crisis. Depending on the crisis, the plan for addressing the situation will vary.
Susan G. Komen should have anticipated that the decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood would have negative ramifications. When making any decision, The crisis communication team will scrutinize every part of organization to determine all consequences of that decision. Every decision that has broader ramifications must undergo a rigorous, disciplined …show more content…
Which is why it is important that a crisis communication team is hired to train nonprofit staff members and the board of directors on crisis management ahead of time. When a crisis occurs the crisis communication team’s plan should be to lessen damage and end the crisis. In order for this to happen, all staff members needs to know how to identify when a crisis is happening and the appropriate actions that need to follow. The crisis communication team would also inform the employees of when the company is experiencing a crisis and how to communicate to the …show more content…
Komen for the Cure stopping its funding of Planned Parenthood, the public’s information of the situation was based only on Planned Parenthood’s side of the story. Planned Parenthood utilized its crisis communication plan and quickly took to mass media and social media to criticize Susan G. Komen. The decision to stop funding to Planned Parenthood was, in fact, justifiable by Susan G. Komen, as the controversy over Planned Parenthood’s federal investigation presented a real threat to other organizations like SGK that were associated with it. The way Komen thought that they could avoid any backlash by not issuing any press release and remaining mute for days after the story broke shows incompetence at the highest levels of Komen’s organization. Transparency and openness in the form of an initial press release, a justification of the decision, and participation in the ongoing coverage of the decision would have gone further to maintain the organization’s