When your organization finds itself in the middle of a breaking news story, how do you quickly and accurately respond in a way that leaves you better positioned for the future?

THE CHALLENGE
Turning on the news, or opening the morning paper to find your organization in the center of a breaking news story is not something that most organizations will ever have to experience. However, it’s not out of the range of possibility. No one can predict when a certain product will experience a recall, and how that might send shockwaves through an entire industry; or when a celebrity spokesperson’s personal life becomes front page news, leaving corporate sponsors to respond; or – in the case of the January 12 earthquake – when a natural disaster will leave an entire country in need of emergency support. Preparing for a crisis must begin long before the crisis takes place. With over 50 years of experience in international relief, CHF knows this well. It has detailed plans for communicating with internal staff and its Board in the time of crisis, but up until mid-2009, the nonprofit organization had not invested any time or resources into making sure its public response plans were also ready.

1. Understand the risks in each region of the world (where might natural disasters strike, where could post-conflict issues surface, where might global health concerns or microfinance issues make headlines?)
   
   • Working closely with CHF’s internal staff, we identified the countries where certain risks were higher, and developed messaging to address each one.
2. Create a strong messaging platform that could be adapted quickly and easily in a crisis situation.
   • Over the course of several weeks, we interviewed many of CHF’s Vice Presidents and Country Directors to determine the messages currently in use, and identify windows of opportunity to strengthen the messaging platform. Once final, the comprehensive messaging document was distributed to all potential spokespeople. It is now updated on a regular basis.
3. Properly prepare and train key spokespeople on how to incorporate the revised messaging platform into their conversations with media and key stakeholders.
   • Just weeks before the Haiti earthquake, C.Fox conducted an intense half-day media training session with key spokespeople reinforcing key messaging, and setting up “practice crisis scenarios”. While we could not have predicted what was to come just a few short weeks later, this session greatly helped key leadership prepare for national and international interviews, and served as a model for the media training sessions that would be conducted with Haiti-based spokespeople in the days following the earthquake.
4. Develop a plan that would allow the internal and external communications team the ability to quickly respond, starting with an initial public statement and including who would conduct live interviews and who would manage ongoing social media updates.
   • On the morning following the earthquake, C.Fox had a high level plan in place to direct all media activities for the coming days. While first priority was on the safety of all CHF staff, actions were started to distribute a first update on CHF’s work in the area, prepping the spokespeople on the ground and ensuring that they had a safe place to communicate with CHF and with the media.

Once the above steps were in place, we felt confident in actively engaging the media and the public with details regarding CHF’s role in the Haiti recovery efforts:

THE IMPORTANCE OF A STRONG CORE MESSAGE:
Thanks to a speedy public response following the earthquake, media quickly began seeking out CHF spokespeople and incorporating their work, and their survival stories into their reporting. Not only was CHF being mentioned, but their key messages were being incorporated as well. Each news release led with the fact that CHF had been “undertaking one of the largest US-funded infrastructure and employment creation programs in Haiti since 2006”, which soon began showing up in news stories as well.

EVALUATING OUR CAMPAIGN:
The key to CHF’s success in navigating responding effectively to the crisis was in the communication team’s ability to quickly connect with its on-ground spokespeople and receive internal approvals on press materials. After an immediate public response following the earthquake, media quickly began seeking out CHF spokespeople and incorporating their efforts, and their survival stories into their reporting, imbuing these with our key messages. Since the earthquake, the number of organizations and press referencing this international mission-driven organization as an expert in long term development has increased significantly. The organization was featured in several “Where To Donate Lists”, and continues to be called upon for comment and insight on the recovery efforts from some of the world’s top news outlets. Additionally, CHF’s Facebook fans, Twitter followers and web traffic spiked to record levels during the Haiti response campaign. A mix of national and international online, broadcast and radio coverage were secured for CHF over the course of the year, including BusinessWeek, Dan Rather Reports, BBC, CNN, Bloomberg TV, NPR and The LA Times, TIME, Associated Press and FOX among others26. An audience of approximately 5,500 combined people was reached directly through the “Helping Shelter Haiti” exhibit and another 470 million through print, broadcast and online media coverage surrounding the program –the largest prolonged, high quality media exposure for this organization in its 50-plus year history. CHF directly attributes PR efforts with a significant increase in private donations over the course of the Haiti crisis campaign, topping $1 million – record-setting for an organization that had not previously put an emphasis on individual donors. An additional $23 million was awarded by the U.S. government, following the initial award of $21 million, to continue the shelter development, rubble removal and recycling programs that were being featured in the press.