7 Components of a Disaster Recovery Plan for Non-profits

Backup & Disaster Recovery

Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP): What Is It and Why Is It Important?

           Disaster recovery is duplicating the IT infrastructure of your non-profit in a different location. As a result, in the event of a disaster, the secondary site will take over as the production site, allowing non-profits to continue operating.

           It was estimated that 43% of companies will shut down after a substantial data loss in the absence of a proper Disaster Recovery Plan. A DRP includes clear instructions to return to normalcy after a disaster and to minimize delays. Disaster Recovery is a part of the BCP as it offers complete IT recovery and prevents data loss.

7 Components of A Disaster Recovery Plan for Non-profits:

Here are the seven components that every non-profit needs in its disaster recovery plan:

1. Forming a Disaster Recovery team:

• The Disaster Recovery Plan will be created, executed, and maintained by a DR team.
• A DRP ought to list the team members, describe their duties, and include their contact information.
• Everyone needs to be aware of the DRP, understand it, and know what must be done in the event of a crisis.

2. Determining and evaluating the Disaster risks:

• The risks pertaining to non-profits should be determined and evaluated by the disaster recovery team.
• Natural disasters, man-made disasters, and technological incidents should all be included in this stage.
• This will help the disaster recovery team identify the resources and recovery techniques needed to recover your non-profit from disasters within a defined and reasonable timeframe.
• Organizations ought to think about creating both a DRP and an Incident Response Plan.
• IRPs are more concerned with quick action. However, if the attack worsens or becomes fatal, the process switches to disaster recovery and BCP.

3. Understanding the procedures that are essential to your success and why:

• Take note of key processes that are essential to your success. In addition, spend some time ranking them in ascending importance.
• Don't forget to take a close look at the outside operations that affect your non-profit, such as your supply chain, power, telecommunications, and logistics.

4. Providing instructions for off-site storage and backup:

• It is important to specify what must be backed up, who should do it, how to do it, where to put it, and how often.
• Backing up all essential software, hardware, and documents are advised.
• A copy of the DRP and other essential supplies needed for daily operations should be kept off-site.

5. Devising a proper communication plan:

• A non-profit must have a detailed plan in place for informing key stakeholders, such as management, employees, compliance officials, and the media, in the event of a crisis.
• Donors and other stakeholders will feel comforted and be more likely to continue associating with your organization when there is a clear channel of communication with them about an event.

6. Taking Recovery Objective Metrics into account:

• Non-profit organizations should develop a disaster recovery plan that considers Recovery Objective metrics.
• The time it takes for your non-profit to recover its IT and the amount of data you can lose without it impacting your organization are both specified by the recovery objective metrics.
• They will also assist in pinpointing the amount of information and time needed to resume normal operations following a disaster.

7. Testing and updating the Disaster Recovery Plan:

• Since threats from emergencies and disasters are constantly changing, disaster recovery planning must be a continuous process.
• Non-profits are advised to evaluate their DRP on a regular basis to determine the applicability and efficiency of the methods indicated in the plan.

 

Summary:

A Non-profit’s overall business continuity plan must include a carefully thought-out disaster recovery plan. Nobody likes to think about disasters, but the worst-case scenario is being unprepared in a high-stress circumstance when a community, employees, and volunteers depend on you for support.

Fourth Dimension Technologies tackles all underlying IT infrastructure challenges with a single interface called "IT Infra In A Box", like business continuity, security and compliance, managed services, and more. Contact us today to get started.