The challenge to an organization's resilience comes in many different shapes and forms and can be a threat to any or all of the three main components of an organization: People, Places (infrastructure) and Processes.
The effects of a destructive situation can last from hours to years regardless of the cause. Challenges to an organization's resilience can originate with people or nature, and be deliberate, accidental or random. Surveys tracking the long-term effects of crisis and disaster situations have observed that these events unfortunately can and often do lead to the complete demise of organizations.
'Resilience' has many definitions and has been applied in many fields. Although it has been used as an antonym to the concept of 'vulnerability', deeper examination reveals that the two are orthogonal to each other. While 'vulnerability' is often measured in cost ('how much will it cost to return to previous levels of functioning?'), resilience as it is applied to social/communal situations is more a measure of time ('how fast can we return to the previous level of functioning?'). When any organization faces a crisis, time is of the essence. When a community depends on an organization - as in the case of many nonprofit organizations - the resilience of the organization(s) often determines the fate of the community.
Organizations and their leaders differ with regard to their ethical orientation. Some organizations and leaders are utilitarian in nature (i.e. value an approach emphasizing a cost-benefit analysis). Other organizations are more ethical in orientation (i.e. value doing what is 'right' regardless of what it costs). Leaders who are moral and ethical know that prioritizing the funding, cultivation and implementation of resilience planning are not decisions based solely on urgency. Rather, they are based on importance. Being proactive in planning and preparing is not just the 'right thing to do,' it also results in fewer situations developing into crises and disasters. Moreover, in embarking on a process of enhancing resilience, organizations and their leaders learn a great deal about how to improve their internal and external processes and better meet the goals of their mission.
Many believe that not-for-profit organizations are the 'glue' that holds communities together. As the 'glue,' they are ethically and morally (let alone legally) obliged to create and implement resilience and preparedness plans that will ensure their ability to continue to provide their invaluable services. The consequence of lack of preparedness is not one that can be tolerated by many of the recipients of the services provided by these organizations. Failure to provide these services will lead to irreparable damage to the social fabric of the community and the community's own sense of resilience in the face of adversity.
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