A backup you haven't restored is a guess.
Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity
One day, Chaosstops knocking and just kicks the door in. Ransomware locks your files. A volunteer deletes the wrong database. A storm takes out the office. The one staffer who held every password gives notice. It isn't if— it's when.
And here's the cruel part: The Mundaneset you up for it months earlier, whispering “your backups are probably fine” every time you thought about checking. Continuity planning is simply how your mission survives a bad day. IP Bot tests the restore before the disaster; Masked Crewsader keeps the mission moving while you recover. Let's make sure the bad day is survivable.
Disaster doesn't ask permission. But a team that's ready? It bends, it doesn't break. Your mission is too important to lose to one bad afternoon.
Two numbers run this chapter: how long you can be down (RTO) and how much data you can afford to lose (RPO). Pick them, then build backups that meet them — and test the restore. A backup you haven't restored is a guess. #AutomateThis!
Know your two numbers: RTO & RPO
RTO — Recovery Time Objective
How long can you be down? If your donation page or case database vanished, how many hours (or days) until you must be back? That target shapes how much you invest in fast recovery.
RPO — Recovery Point Objective
How much data can you afford to lose?If you back up nightly, a crash at 4pm loses a day's work. If that's too much, you back up more often. Your RPO sets your backup frequency.
The Crew's playbook: the continuity checklist
- 1
Follow the 3-2-1 rule
Three copies of your data, on two different kinds of storage, with one copy off-site (and ideally offline). It's the backup standard for a reason.
- 2
Test your restores quarterly
Actually pull data back from a backup four times a year. An untested backup is a hope, not a plan.
- 3
Document critical systems and owners
List the systems your mission can't run without, and name a person responsible for each. No mystery systems.
- 4
Keep an emergency contact tree
Who calls whom when something breaks — staff, board, key vendors, your bank. Stored somewhere reachable when the main systems are down.
- 5
Keep offline copies of key documents
Insurance, bylaws, vendor contracts, account recovery info — printed or on a drive that isn't dependent on the system that just failed.
- 6
Write an "if X goes down" runbook
Short, plain steps for the likely disasters: email down, website down, database lost, ransomware. Future-you will be grateful.
- 7
Plan for people, not just servers
Cross-train so no single person is the only one who can run payroll, the donation page, or the database.
Backups that actually work
The most expensive words in disaster recovery are “we thought we had a backup.” A backup isn't real until you've restored from it. Put a recurring reminder on the calendar, pull a file back from each backup, and confirm it opens. Do it quarterly. The day Chaos strikes is the wrong day to discover the backups were empty all along.
How Chaos & The Mundane win
- Backups that were set up once and never restored — and turn out to be empty when you need them.
- Single points of failure: one admin, one laptop, one person who knows the passwords.
- No plan for staff turnover, so knowledge walks out the door with the only person who had it.
- Assuming your SaaS vendor backs you up — many don't protect you from your own accidental deletions.
The next leg of the journey
Prefer a story? See these ideas play out in our comic-book field guide.
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