COMMUNICATIONS

COMMUNICATIONS PLANNING

Strategic Communications Audits
An important part of communications planning is making sure that an organization can carry out planned strategies. This working brief by the Harvard Family Research Project for the Media Evaluation Project of the Communications Consortium Media Center focuses on helping non profits assess their capacity.

Spitfire Strategies Smart Chart 3.0
The Spitfire Strategies Smart Chart is a step-by-step guide to building a successful communications campaign. The report comes complete with a communications planning tool you can fill in as you go. Available in Spanish and english.

Communications Toolkit - a Guide to Navigating Communications for the Nonprofit World
This tool-kit by Cause Communications offers practical information in every area, including developing and budgeting a communications plan and identifying tools to raise awareness. Resources include an event checklist, sample audience survey, photo/video release forms and sample design style guide.

Strategic Communications Planning
This interactive tool from the SPIN project provides a pyramid model for communications planning and a worksheet to help nonprofit agencies think through media strategies. Guidelines for developing messages, choosing spokespersons and evaluating efforts are also discussed.

The Seven Doors Social Marketing Approach
This social marketing approach, developed by Les Robinson at Social Change Media, looks at the obstacles audiences must overcome before social change is achieved. The article encourages communicators to think of communications strategy as clearing away obstacles rather than awareness building, and to think of communicators as "door openers" rather than "font of ultimate truth."

MESSAGE DEVELOPMENT

Talking Early Child Development and Exploring the Consequences of Frame Choices: A Frameworks Message Memo
This publication from Frameworks consolidates the past four years of their research projects on how the public views early childhood issues. The memo discusses how their findings can be applied in the work of community-based organizations.

Making the Case for Early Care and Education: A Message Development Guide for Advocates
The Berkeley Media Studies Group presents a practical guide to messages and communications strategies that help activate public support for early childhood care and education.

Framing the Birth to Three Agenda: Lessons Learned from Pre-K Campaigns
This report by Cultural Logic for the Zero to Three Policy Center examines the current messages about universal pre-kindergarten. The report provides recommendations for framing pre-k programs in ways that will "lift all boats."

Ohio Message Chart
This message chart was developed by Murphy Epson, an Ohio-based communications consultant working on behalf of the Build Ohio initiative. The chart describes the overarching message for Build Ohio and how that message should be delivered to business, elementary education and early learning audiences.

Framing Public Issues
This toolkit from the Frameworks Institute helps communicators think through the framing of their messages for better public understanding and engagement using strategic frame analysis.

AUDIENCES AND MESSENGERS

Moving Beyond the Usual Suspects: Developing New Allies to Invest in School Readiness
This monograph by the Child and Family Policy Center for the State Early Childhood Policy Technical Assistance Network (SECPTAN) encourages the recruitment of new and non-traditional early childhood messengers. The report outlines strategies for targeting potential allies and suggests ways to frame messages.

Audience-Based Communications Strategies
In this PowerPoint presentation for the Brookings Institution, the Sutton Group breaks down the process of analyzing your audience as you develop, implement and evaluate communications strategies.

Turning Point: Engaging the Public on Behalf of Children
This public opinion study by the Ad Council reveals dramatic shifts in the public's view of children, their sense of responsibility for all children, and their willingness to help.

TECHNOLOGY TOOLS

Using the Internet for Effective Grassroots Advocacy: Strategies, Tools and Approaches for Inspiring Constituents to Take Action
This handbook by Convio discusses the fundamentals of online advocacy and how to develop and execute online campaigns that engage targeted audiences.

Convio
Convio serves organizations with a complete online solution that includes effective software for fundraising and advocacy backed by a knowledgeable team dedicated to your online success. It's a proven solution that has helped hundreds of organizations build and foster constituent relationships while raising money and driving action.

LOW-BUDGET COMMUNICATIONS

Communications Consortium Media Center
Communications Consortium Media Center is a public interest media center dedicated to helping nonprofit organizations use media and new technologies as tools for policy change. Our mission is to use communications strategies for policy change.  CCMC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Earned Media Coverage
One of the most effective and cost-efficient ways to reach a large audience is through "earned media." These tips from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration explain how to get positive media coverage that reaches the target audience with the right message.

EVALUATION

Guidelines for Evaluating Non-Profit Communications Efforts
This publication by the Harvard Family Research Project for the Media Evaluation Project of the Communications Consortium Media Center summarizes four working papers on communications evaluation and offers guidelines for the evaluation of nonprofit communications efforts.

Survey Monkey
Survey Monkey provides tools for creating professional online surveys quickly and easily. Surveys with limited features are free, and surveys with advanced features cost a small monthly fee.

ARCHIVED COMMUNICATIONS MATERIALS

Analysis of the Messages of the Early Childhood Movement
This report by the Annenberg School of Communications presents a list of state and national organizations engaged in early childhood education.

Hearts Souls and Minds: An Analysis of Qualitative Research Regarding Communicating School Readiness and Other Child
Development Policies
This research analysis by Meg Bostrom of Public Knowledge looks at messages used to engage the public in a conversation about policies affecting the youngest children, age birth to three. Recommendations for framing early childhood issues are included in the report.

An Analysis of U.S. Newspaper Coverage of Early Childhood Education
The media is both an audience and a messenger for early learning so it is important to understand how journalists react to the issue. This study by the University of Maryland for the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media looked at a national sample of more than a thousand newspaper stories from 2002-2003 to profile typical coverage of early education issues.

What Grown-Ups Understand About Child Development: A National Benchmark Survey
One of the challenges in early care and education public awareness is to develop a public understanding of the importance and nature of child development. Three-thousand adults and parents were interviewed for the survey which also sought to understand what the general public thinks about selected policies that impact children and families.

Connecticut Strategic Communications Briefing
This briefing paper documents the progress of early childhood outreach in Connecticut and provides an example of how one state developed a message and strategies, and their early lessons learned in implementation.