This is true. I'm certainly not against the use of an external company. I think it can be a good move for all sorts of reasons. But the original post amounted to a suggestion that small nonprofits who weren't capable of recognizing issues with some fairly basic operating procedures could overcome that by contracting out.
Even the natural disaster scenario does not automatically mean you need to pay an external organization to store your data. Especially when the advice to do so doesn't touch on evaluating the physical location of the storage facilities (which, if you're dealing with a smaller, local company, are often in nearby bank vaults or safes at the local collocation center).
It's perfectly possible for an organization to send away annual or monthly backups (encrypted, of course) to, for instance, a sister nonprofit in another state, or a geographically distant board member. They might need to develop some protocols to ensure they can rely on being able to get at the data when they need it and that they are comfortable with security arrangements at the other site. But it's the physical location of the backup that mitigates this risk, not the need to bring in a "professional" company.
With the scenarios given (and even the natural disaster one you give) just outsourcing isn't going to do it. You have to know why you're outsourcing, so you can make sure you outsource to an appropriate partner and put in place the procedures internally that support business continuity as whole.
To stick with the Katrina example, I recall that a number of nursing homes had outsourced the evacuation of their patients to the same transportation company - with tragic results when the transportation company was overwhelmed. While the transportation company should never have taken on all those contracts, the nursing homes themselves were negligent in not exercising due diligence over the contracts and insisting on knowing how the transport company planned to meet its obligations.
When you get to the operational aspect of an organization - to run well you need management who understand what is happening and why, regardless of who is executing. There's no way around it in the long run.
end of rant for today 
Helen
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>>;Deborah's scenarios *are* mostly improbably, but there's one big one that isn't: a natural disaster, like Hurricane Katrina.>>
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