It could be a punishing snowstorm that brings down power for weeks. It could be a hacker that vandalizes your website. Or a war-torn country that inhibits communication with your team. It might even be as simple as a data backup that stops running for some reason. Running an organization with an online element is inherently risky, yet few leaders think seriously about what those risks might be and how they might affect day-to-day operations.

Earlier this month in the blog, we talked about how non-profits should think about IT risk management when they have an online element to their organization.

But how do you create an IT risk management plan? Start with these four steps:

1.     Identify possible risks.

First think of all the forms of electronic communication you use, and brainstorm together some worst case scenarios. What could possibly go wrong? Write them down.

2.     Categorize and prioritize.

Now look at your list and decide which is the most potentially damaging. You might rank the risks by Low, Medium and High, so you can decide where to put your most careful plan.

3.     Determine plausibility.

Some of the items on your list are more likely to happen than others, even if they’re damaging. An earthquake might flatten your off-site storage facility, but is it likely to happen in the middle of Utah? Rank your items based on plausibility: Possible, Probable and Likely are helpful labels.

4.     Make your plan.

Now you have a good idea of what could go wrong and the likelihood it will. Think through each item and plot out what you would do in case it happens. Will your web project manager quit?  Have a good staffing agency on call. Did you delete your website’s homepage? Have your web host on speed dial so they can revert to the latest backup. Write down every step so anyone can pick up the plan and know what to do.

Educated plans are the best, so don’t shy from asking others what they might do. Plan within your department, and call in colleagues and other professionals for their advice.

Your turn: do you assess risk? Let us know in our poll if you have a risk management plan for your organization. We’ll share the results in our next newsletter. Take the poll!

[This appeared in our February newsletter. Wanna subscribe? Do it now!]

The most surprising thing about the iPad is how quickly and seamlessly it has nestled into the working and daily life of so many people. Gartner reported that Apple will sell 19.5 million units by the end of 2010 – way more, way faster than the iPhone.

Even if you’re not thinking about creating an iPad app for your non-profit (it’s not a bad idea, by the way), you minimally should be thinking about how your website looks on an iPad. A good chunk of your supporters may already be looking you up from their tablet, but according to the report from Gartner, the market is going to blossom with media tablets: 54.8 million units in 2011, up 181 percent from 2010. That means your constituency is likely to be moving to a handheld unit.

You should know minimally that if you’re using Flash, it’s not showing up at all on an iPad. But how about the rest of your site? How many of you have thought about how your site looks and performs on an iPad? Weigh in on our poll, and then check back in coming weeks as we report on our findings and give you tips on how to make your web project perfect on the most popular viewing devices.

It’s happening ever so slowly, but more and more synagogues are beginning to experiment with Twitter. Check out who’s there now by going to http://twitter.com/synagogue. Churches and non-profits have cottoned on to Twitter a while ago (check out this recent article from Time magazine), but it’s been moving much slower and with more contention in the Jewish sphere.

Twitter, for those of you who haven’t yet decided to fiddle with it yet, is a utility that lets you send a 140-character message to your community of subscribers. It’s a bit like how Reuters news service delivers stories to newspapers around the country, but you’re the Reuters, and the newspapers around the country are anybody in the world who’s interested in what you have to say. If you want to see it in action, you can follow Talance at http://twitter.com/talance or @talance.

Like any social media tool, Twitter can be useful as long as you think carefully about how you’re going to use it and work it into your overall communication plan. You can find it’s useful for attracting volunteers or promoting events.

We’re wondering how many of you synagogues have thought about how you’re using Twitter, so we put together this poll. Take a few seconds (it’s super short) to answer why you’re using Twitter. We’ll post the results here when the poll is up.

If you’re NOT using Twitter, use the comments below to tell us why you’ve decided to give it a pass.