Crisis mapping in the “senses” arena narratives

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic is demonstrating the need for leaders to seek new solutions for supporting the pivotal role played by the non-profit context. The present paper is designed to investigate, in terms of crisis management and crisis communication, how non-profit organisations make sense through the mental map’s elements: sense-making, sense-giving, sense-breaking, and their outcomes on donors/volunteers’ intentions. Firstly, a semi-structured focus group was applied with the Federation of Three Children (OPOTTE) in Greece. Then, 36 semi-structured in depth-interviews proceeded, consisting of non-profit leaders that are managing branches of the Federation across Greece. Lastly, the “questerview “technique was used to enhance the credibility of the findings. The results revealed that Greek non-profit organisations are well-organized, as they are familiar with how to cope with an emergency. However, the reality of isolation was the only unfamiliar situation that had to be addressed. The crisis presents particular opportunities for future academic research and a basis for supporting policymakers, decision-makers, and non-profit leaders, grappling with an uncertain future.