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.
