diff --git a/opentech/storage_backends.py b/opentech/storage_backends.py
index 8dfa86cc69011d05be9b9ff1e8c1402cb83be1ae..3039cd5d0d6aec1e3c57d8944d50bbb087d13fed 100644
--- a/opentech/storage_backends.py
+++ b/opentech/storage_backends.py
@@ -3,15 +3,19 @@ from storages.backends.s3boto3 import S3Boto3Storage
 
 
 class PublicMediaStorage(S3Boto3Storage):
-    bucket_name = settings.AWS_PUBLIC_BUCKET_NAME
+    if hasattr(settings, 'AWS_PUBLIC_BUCKET_NAME'):
+        bucket_name = settings.AWS_PUBLIC_BUCKET_NAME
+
     file_overwrite = False
     querystring_auth = False
     url_protocol = 'https:'
 
 
 class PrivateMediaStorage(S3Boto3Storage):
+    if hasattr(settings, 'AWS_PRIVATE_BUCKET_NAME'):
+        bucket_name = settings.AWS_PRIVATE_BUCKET_NAME
+
     bucket_acl = 'private'
-    bucket_name = settings.AWS_PRIVATE_BUCKET_NAME
     custom_domain = False
     default_acl = 'private'
     encryption = True