A crisis can occur with little or no warning, anywhere, and at any time. Crisis management seeks to help organizations cope with specific, unexpected, and non-routine events that create high levels of uncertainty and threat. Although the crisis management literature is plentiful regarding the business sector, little has been written on this subject when it comes to nonprofit organizations (NPOs). This article aims to identify the level of crisis management preparedness and response of the North Portugal NPOs, in the context of COVID-19 pandemic, with enormous numbers of spread disease and deaths, mainly in the senior segment. A qualitative approach is developed with an exploratory and explanatory study based on six semi-structured interviews, carried on in May 2020. The findings of the study suggest that NPOs were not prepared or had any type of planning to face a crisis, and simply reacted following the guidelines of official bodies and creating contingency plans oriented by these entities. Further, 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. 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.
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