ABSTRACT
In March 2014, World Vision, a Christian humanitarian nonprofit organization (NPO) offering aid to children, families, and communities in more than 100 countries, jumped feet first into one of Christianity's most hotly debated issues of the 21st century: homosexuality. This chapter explores the interplay of nonprofit social media usage with crisis communication theories and models through an examination of World Vision's crisis preparation, response, and postcrisis discourse and actions. Since social media's inception, NPOs have recognized their communicative value in engaging publics. Although NPOs often include social media in their strategic and tactical campaigns, most continue to use the online communication channels primarily as information-dissemination tools. On March 24, 2014, World Vision president Richard Stearns gave an exclusive interview with popular Christian publication Christianity Today (CT) announcing the organization's decision to hire employees involved in legal, same-sex marriages. World Vision's crisis communication and limited postcrisis discourse reveal a naïve knowledge of stakeholder values.
