Decide who, besides the key person, may legally sign, spend, and bind the organization in an emergency, and turn those decisions into valid, on-file authority.
In Secure Authority and Access, after the inventory, and with your board, because granting authority is a board act.
For each authority only one person holds today, name the backup and any limit.
| Authority | Backup person and role | Limit or condition (for example, second signer above a dollar amount) |
|---|---|---|
Check each off as it is done. Do not rely on a backup authority until its box is checked.
Making backup authority legally valid is work for a nonprofit attorney, and setting up authorized signers is work with your bank. An arrangement you have not confirmed is legally real is the same as no arrangement when the crisis comes. Confirm it.
If the board will not authorize any backup authority, stop here on this piece and route the board question to board governance and development, because only the board can grant it.
When every critical authority has a backup whose box in Part B is checked, the organization can legally keep operating if a key person is gone. Any unchecked box is still a live single point of failure, even if you have decided who the backup is. Feeds the Emergency Succession Plan.
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