Developing an Ecosystem of Strategic Communications for a Global Organization

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Nonprofit organizations working toward equitable social change are confronting a wide range of issues, and often simultaneously:

• Misinformation and disinformation about their sector, perhaps even about their organization’s work.
• The rise of AI technology and its impact on staff and communications processes, while also ensuring and maintaining trust through communications with key audiences.
• Uncertainty in how to best communicate about fundraising, given the economic climate and funding loss impacting the overall sector.
• Regressive philanthropic efforts to undo the gains of the past six decades through sophisticated communications campaigns that are winning adherents who may have been open to more progressive calls to action.
• New coalitions and behind-the-scenes field-building that are essential for the sector’s survival, but that also draw attention, resources, and time from the already stretched capacity of communications teams.

A strategic communications approach can help your organization take these dynamics into account from an overarching perspective. For example, considering how they impact each other, what sequencing should be used in addressing these dynamics, and how to assess the urgency of each challenge. As trusted experts in the field of social change communications, The Wakeman Agency works with nonprofits, foundations, and socially responsible companies to address these evolving issues. We help establish plans and accompanying pathways for organizations to reimagine their nonprofit’s positioning in the marketplace.

Our strategy guidance is based on deep knowledge of the social change sector and in-depth research aligned closely to our clients’ needs.  Our work centers the dignity and agency of people in ways that advance narrative justice, no matter the topic, and that support narrative resilience in the long term. 

The value of this type of investment is clearly observed in the case of one of our recent clients, Echoing Green (EG). Well respected for advancing the field of social innovation, EG invested deeply in the sector, but was considered a best-kept secret. They retained The Wakeman Agency to help reimagine their communications practices in order to amplify the organization’s work, their funded Fellows around the world, and the larger sector. Over a multi-year, multi-phased engagement against the backdrop of the pandemic, racial reckoning, and other profound social shifts, we served as a thought partner, designing and executing strategic communications to meet the moment and maturity of the organization.

The Wakeman Agency executed a strategic communications approach based on key themes identified that would guide EG through periods of growth. In thinking about where the organization was positioned in the sector, we also wanted to leverage their thought leadership to showcase their powerful global impact.

Our counsel and tactical support helped EG successfully and consistently navigate the following communications challenges: 

1. The organization provides unique support to its Fellows and the field of social innovation, but many audience members were unaware of the breadth and longevity of its impact.
   • Our team developed messaging and provided narrative insight for a range of audiences, specific to particular programs, as well as the introduction of new and innovative services unknown to their sector.
   • We landed a robust variety of earned media placements, generating opportunities for the organization, as well as individual leaders, to amplify the impact of EG. This included developing relationships with editors and writers for positioning of the organization and its Fellows throughout the length of our engagement.
2. The EG Fellows are some of the best-placed spokespeople for the organization as a whole because they embody the incredible investment by the organization, and the unique capacity of social innovators to think outside of the box to resolve long-standing challenges. However, they sometimes lack the opportunity to develop media expertise, or to engage in media coaching.
   • With that in mind, we provided communications training and media relations support for 15 Fellows, working in areas such as criminal justice, health equity, education, and climate.
   • Our team members also served as the point of contact for the shepherding of media engagements.
3. Recognizing the expertise within the organization, there was a significant opportunity to further build out a thought leadership platform.
   • We helped support the existing infrastructure through the creation of a speakers bureau, which developed and oriented staff toward representing the organization consistently and cohesively. 
   • In addition, we identified key speaking engagement opportunities for team members, recommended narrative themes according to specific venues, and prepared materials to position the organization in field-building efforts and sector networking.
   • We provided communications planning, including the development of communications infrastructure, as well as the creation of editorial and external speaking opportunity calendars. This ensured the organization was not just responding reactively to media stories. Rather, it was proactively setting the agenda for the way EG’s audiences encounter its work. 
   • As the organization grew, so did the need to maintain consistency in how spokespeople represented it. Our team developed messaging toolkits and recommended narrative themes to support amplification of EG’s mission and vision.
4. Our foresight provided the organization the ability to proactively and reactively prepare for emerging communications activities. This enhanced their internal team’s ability to anticipate communications challenges and to prepare accordingly.
   • In quickly evolving scenarios, our team provided rapid response research and development of audience-specific messaging, deployed through varying cadences. 
   • We developed monthly media digests. By supporting the elaboration of procedures to simplify the communications process, this also prepared the organization more effectively to manage future crisis communications scenarios. 
   • As external conditions for social innovation fluctuated, we advised on assessing risk. This included helping the organizational leadership determine best practices as they shifted in their risk appetite and began to orient more attention to field building. 
   • Additionally, we set up and maintained a robust system for monitoring key risk factors, according to organizational priorities. 
5. Throughout the engagement, our team represented EG’s interests from a communications perspective when collaborating with global partners within the social innovation sector for research initiatives, program launches, and other collaborations.
    

Each of these strategic communications tactics helped to strengthen the organization’s internal infrastructure, fostering increased capacity to address and manage crisis scenarios, shifts in communication strategy based on funding changes, and the uncertainty of the national climate toward nonprofits today. 

Our efforts achieved: 

• 160 media placements for EG and its Fellows in national, local, and international media outlets.
• An expanded presence at key conferences and convenings to share thought leadership.  
• Distilled messaging and positioning of the organization within the sector and beyond.   
• Consistent targeted communications to internal and external audiences, keeping them apprised of organizational changes and developments. 

In a rapidly shifting political and social climate, this partnership ensured that every communication decision aligned with organizational goals and advanced EG’s mission in a cadence that strengthened its infrastructure. This created an amplification of EG’s contribution to the field of social innovation while elevating the work of the global class of Fellows.