Charities and other voluntary organisations are in positions of trust. Safeguarding allegations and concerns are often shocking and can be devastating for the organisation regardless of whether they are true or not.
A safeguarding issue can affect the organisation's reputation and make it difficult to rebuild trust with their staff, volunteers and funders and the public.
You must be aware of the possible consequences to your organisation to make sure you prepare for the risks and manage them with care.
Your first thought must be about the people you need to keep safe. When you manage sharing information and engaging with the media must think first about how it will impact on those who have been hurt or are at risk of harm.
If you respond quickly and well to safeguarding concerns, your organisation has the best chance of keeping people safe. Dealing with queries as transparently as possible avoids loss of trust.
As CEO, you need to be in a position to respond quickly and decisively to a major safeguarding concern. Having a simple plan that outlines the actions you would take will help you manage the risks.
A ‘failure prevention analysis’ is a way to:
Once the media have become aware of a safeguarding concern you need to make sure that you, as CEO, and your trustees, are prepared before answering any questions from them.
It can be helpful to work with specialists in dealing with the media – your internal communications team should be involved. If you don’t have an internal team, then appointing a PR agency or consultant with experience in safeguarding can make sure you receive support and guidance.
Together you should:
Make sure all other staff know that they may not speak to the media or comment on social media. This can cause misinformation and potentially puts others at risk.
In a difficult situation, it’s key to look to others for help.
Below are some top tips to assist you with managing the communications:
Our guide to safeguarding for communications and marketing managers has a section focused on managing reputation risk.
Last reviewed: 06 December 2018
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