Crisis innovation loop in charities: how to keep the clever fixes
- Helen Vaterlaws
- May 6, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 2
Ever noticed how your team finds its smartest ideas when something breaks and then the idea disappears once the panic is over?
That’s the crisis innovation loop. Charities are great at adapting under pressure, but the fix often isn’t captured, tested or shared. So the next time the same problem shows up… you’re starting from zero again. This mini-guide is about keeping those people-tested solutions so they become part of your playbook, not just a Friday-afternoon rescue.
What’s actually happening?
When a volunteer drops out, a delivery changes or demand spikes, someone on the front line quietly makes it work. Maybe they borrow a rota from another team, maybe they create a “holiday home” version of a service, maybe they tweak the comms so people turn up. It works and everyone is relieved. You go back to “normal” and the fix vanishes, until the next crisis. That is the crisis innovation loop that happens regularly in charities.
Why this matters
Those scrappy fixes are real operational intelligence. They’re shaped by your context, your people and your beneficiaries which makes them more valuable than a generic best-practice PDF. If you can see them, you can test them, standardise them and use them.
Three light-touch ways to do it
1. Run an “innovation spotlight”
Once a month ask teams to share: Problem → Fix → Result. Keep it mobile-friendly so volunteers can join in. This turns a workaround into a mini case study, ready for when the next crisis hits.
2. Nominate 1–2 “fix spotters” per team
Pick the curious volunteer or coordinator who always knows what actually happened. Their job is just to send in clever frontline fixes; one person to collate with a shared template and internal contact to own reviewing and implementing any valuable ideas.
3. Start a “fixes we want to keep” space
Miro board, Teams channel, noticeboard, anywhere visible. If you name the workaround (“the holiday home model”), it stops being a one-off and becomes something you can repeat.
What to watch for
Keep it light: this is not a new reporting system.
Have a staff member review anything volunteers document, so it stays safe and aligned.
Tag fixes by service/team so you can spot patterns later.
Link good fixes back to training or onboarding so new people don’t have to reinvent them.
Change doesn’t start with a workshop; it starts with one honest conversation.
Note: Examples are for illustrative purposes only; no official affiliation with the organisations or tools mentioned is claimed. AI systems can be unpredictable, so always keep personal or sensitive data out of third-party tools and ensure your implementation follows your own organisation’s data protection policies.
