Stepping in to keep JRE on track: serving as interim communications director and adding capacity, too
Client
John Rex Endowment
Services
Interim communications director support, capacity building, website, messaging
“Wow! You all are just awesome keeping everything moving. Forthright is invaluable during reorganizations, staff transitions and parental leaves. Your services have been very helpful to keep our comms seamless in these circumstances. You make it so easy. Thank you!”
-Kellan Moore, John Rex Endowment president & CEO
The Brief
The Background
It’s not just you. From foundations to nonprofits to associations, no organization is immune to communications staffing changes and challenges. As a matter of fact, recent data tells us that about 50 percent of people are considering leaving their jobs – even more than during the “great resignation” of 2020.
The Challenge
Like many organizations, JRE faced a gap in communications leadership during their search for a new communications director. They needed experienced support to manage ongoing communications, guide the hiring process and ensure the new hire was set up for success. And since one person can’t do it all, they needed an extra set of hands (known as “capacity building”) to ensure they could accomplish all their goals!
Our Solution
Here’s how we were able to dive right in and support the team:
Interim communications director services. From managing day-to-day communications – think everything from running social media channels and drafting/loading the monthly newsletter, to providing strategic guidance – we ensured JRE’s communications remained consistent and effective. (Even without an in-house communications director!)
Hiring partnership. Expertise, passion, team chemistry. It’s all important when hiring a new communications director. We helped JRE develop the job description, interview questions and assessment. We even interviewed candidates! Our team offered insights based on our expertise in communications leadership. We then played a crucial role in the onboarding process, taking some of the load of onboarding off the internal team’s plate. This approach meant JRE could land the right person in the role, ready to get to work.
Ongoing communications support. Today, Forthright continues partnering with JRE, ensuring the foundation’s one-person communications department has additional resources and a second set of eyeballs when JRE needs it. Why? Because we all know the truth: moving mountains takes a team. And there’s simply not enough coffee to do it all alone! From creating JRE’s new website to leading the charge on their anniversary messaging, newsletter design and more, we’ve worked together to help them do it all!
Our Results
JRE successfully navigated the transition in their communications department with seamless interim leadership. We increased their social media reach (quadrupling JRE’s average impressions with our most successful posts) and newsletter engagement during the process. And we built a brand-new website while we were at it! In the meantime, JRE hired and onboarded a new director who is now effectively leading their communications, supported by our ongoing expertise.