Shining a National Light on Child Poverty in the United States with Children’s Defense Fund
Client
Children’s Defense Fund
Services
Campaigns, strategic communications planning, capacity building, digital and social media
“When we discovered it had been more than 20 years since a question about child poverty had been asked in a presidential debate, we asked Forthright Advising to help us launch a campaign to change that. Forthright helped us build our campaign plan, refine our messaging, start a Change.org petition, and tailor our media outreach. They were a critical partner in getting the launch of our effort covered in the New York Times.”
- Emily Gardner, Former Communications Director, Children’s Defense Fund
The Brief
The Background
Doing better for our nation’s youth – specifically children living in poverty, children of color and those with disabilities – has motivated the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) since Marian Wright Edelman founded the nonprofit in 1973. When the team uncovered that child poverty hadn’t been a topic in presidential debates in 20 years, they set their sights on a challenging goal: placing a question about child poverty in the Democratic presidential debate.
The Challenge
The team knew a televised political conversation by the country’s progressive leadership was a prime opportunity to elevate the issue to a national level — and ensure our top candidates had thoughtful policy positions. But getting a question into a national political debate? Not an easy feat. Change doesn’t happen by chance, and ending child poverty is no exception. To pull this off, CDF partnered with Forthright Advising, adding strategic capacity for the nonprofit.
Our Solution
Forthright hopped on board with CDF’s talented national team to fill in any capacity gaps and assist them in reaching their goal.
Here’s how we tackled it together.
First up: the backbone of any winning campaign – a rock solid, research-backed communications strategy. Forthright provided guidance to CDF on framing language to place the question in the debate, helping craft a Change.org petition and the overall core messaging for the initiative.
When it came to creating public momentum to drive the campaign forward, social media played a key role. For example, Forthright and CDF worked through details such as how to show which candidates answered/had not yet answered the Change.org petition.
Forthright also developed a framework for best advertising practices for social media, and strategized with the CDF team on target audiences, how to find them on social channels, which filters to use, timing and length of ad periods.
An article in the New York Times gave the campaign – and the issue of child poverty – a publicity (and credibility) boost.
Our Results
Besides collecting more than 79,000 signatures of support, the Change.org petition also inspired direct responses from nearly 10 candidates, including Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker. This collaborative campaign garnered the targeted attention CDF sought – from the public, media outlets and most importantly, the political candidates – to move toward a better life for every child in the United States.