Building Communications Strategies for Uncertain Times

This case study explores a Strategic Communications Plan, developed for a foundation working across an eight-state region, to increase racial and economic justice. The foundation had reason to believe that it had strong audience and ecosystem trust, and wanted to work from that starting point to augment the adoption of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) as anchoring principles among other similarly situated foundations. Given the substantial shift in political and legal environment that came with the 2024 elections, they sought our guidance on how to understand the heightened risk, while supporting their grantees and staying true to their ambition of field building.

How was Wakeman’s Strategic Communications Support Essential for Navigating a Complex Context?

The foundation came to us with the belief that they were well-positioned among peer organizations and partners in their field to share their experience advancing JEDI efforts internally and through their grantmaking. However, they lacked evidence that their equity among other organizations in the sector was strong enough to drive communications decisions, and they were increasingly unsure how to deal with the quickly changing sociopolitical environment.

The situation was changing rapidly for both the Foundation itself, as well as for grantee partners. For example, the foundation wanted to continue to raise awareness about specific grantee partners’ work, but recognized that this tactic was now a major liability for people in those communities, with the proliferation of punitive action toward grassroots nonprofits. Our team carefully gathered data to make sense of the evolving environment and assessed the positioning of the foundation, while providing key strategic guidance. We formulated a plan, which helped the foundation through: 

• Audience and ecosystem research to test their understanding of their organizational positioning against data, allowing for a clearer strategic pathway to be formulated.
• Findings that supported a mandate to take action for the executive leadership’s desired positioning.
• Strategic counsel, creating an environment where leaders could think out loud about the unfolding events, and consider possible scenarios in collaboration with our team of seasoned social change communicators.

Based on these components, we created a roadmap tailored to the data and subsequent decisions of the executive team, to help the foundation implement key communications tactics specific to the new environment and in support of their objectives.

What is Included in a Strategic Communications Plan?

A Strategic Communications Plan is highly flexible to meet the needs of an organization in its particular context. It can include a range of components, but often includes some form of the following:

• Discovery research to identify the contours of the current context and the nature of the communications challenges at hand. This can be audience surveys, staff focus groups, ecosystem mapping, horizon scanning, or other forms of analysis, as needed.
• Strategic advisory and counsel on recommended tactics, in collaboration with the client’s team.
• A step-by-step plan, outlining key elements such as audience dynamics, primary objectives, and recommended tactics.
• Editorial or action calendars, recommendations of placement venues for thought leadership pieces, conference or speaking opportunities, and various types of content.
• Messaging creation, based on the needs of the client.

Strategic Communications Plans can also be essential tools for clients dealing with an active crisis. The flexibility in approach allows for the possibility of the rapid development of a strategy and shifting circumstances. For clients seeking ongoing support beyond the creation of the Communications Plan, there is the option of retaining our services to execute on the plan.

What Does a Strategic Communications Plan Look Like in Practice?

In this specific case, we recommended that the foundation put into place a two-pronged approach to field building: First, a communications campaign based on positioning the foundation for increased partnership and collaboration with other foundations and partners in the field. We developed a curated list of the most likely collaborators, shared strategies for engagement, and supported these connections through strategic counsel. From this, the foundation was able to establish one-on-one meetings, invite-only executive roundtable events, and other low-profile engagements with sector allies through back-channels and private communications.

Second, this was paired with our recommendation of a brand journalism approach to content creation. By developing content that blends journalistic techniques (e.g., research, investigation, storytelling, etc.), with brand messaging, brand journalism allows an organization to directly contribute to the narratives that are circulating about its issue area and provides greater leverage over audience awareness than is possible when depending on media placements in external outlets. In this way, the foundation could contribute more effectively to the set of stories and content that its audiences are encountering on a regular basis. Through this dual strategy, the foundation was able to:

• Advance its original objective of increasing buy-in among other foundations for JEDI supportive activity.
• Support their grantee partners in new ways, given the shifting environment, by publishing blog posts and newsletters that amplify stories countering dehumanizing and fear-based narratives. This is something that would have been unlikely to be picked up by traditional media outlets, given the chaos and decentralization of the present media landscape.
• Stand as a first line of defense for grantee organizations, to absorb risks while amplifying grantees’ key issues for additional audiences.
• Remain prepared but flexible in the face of historic challenges to the grassroots communities they support.

How did the Strategic Communications Plan Help?

The immediate value of the Strategic Communications Plan for this client was evident by their ability to fluidly navigate a highly unpredictable period for the sector and the foundation, while continuing to support their key objectives and maintaining audience trust.

The plan and our coaching allowed the foundation’s communications team to adopt two novel communications techniques—collaborative partnership engagement and brand journalism—and incorporate them into their ongoing communications work, with positive results over a 14-month period. In addition, going through the process with our team helped the client to better understand the ecosystem they are navigating and grow the muscles to make further strategic decisions with confidence as events continue to evolve.

How Long of an Engagement is Needed for a Strategic Communications Plan?

The timeframe is dependent on the complexity of the discovery process and the urgency of possible crisis situations, though most engagements of this kind are completed in three to four months, from discovery to delivery of final materials. We have developed communications plans for active crises in significantly shorter timeframes. As the example of this foundation demonstrates, a strong plan can help guide an organization for an extended period of time, even through unpredictable and evolving circumstances.

If you believe your organization could potentially benefit from a Strategic Communications Plan, contact us to schedule a confidential, exploratory consultation.