Creating a communications strategy that grows with the foundation

The team introduced this updated mission statement after 20 years of advancing positive change and two years of strategic racial equity work.

But to create this new mission – and to move forward and do the most good in the community – the team first needed to take a look at their existing communications and to create a new communications strategy, too.

That’s when they called Forthright! After sitting down with the JRE team to talk about their goals, challenges and vision for a brighter future, Forthright launched a targeted communications audit process:

• creating a plan to audit JRE’s communications materials, empowering our team to then build a communications strategy based on JRE’s initial goals, vision and of course communications best practices;

• engaging in 1:1 conversations with every JRE team member to learn more about the foundation’s communications activities – and their vision for future communications; and

• diving into JRE’s key documents, from the strategic roadmap and trust-based philanthropy overview to advocacy guidelines and RFP documents.

Forthright then used this data to create an interactive communications planning process, which included:

• big, bold prospective communications goals;

• guidance on selecting the right updated target audiences;

• recommendations focused on core messaging for how the foundation describes its work and impact; and

• year-by-year suggestions for partner-facing outreach, advocacy, branding, key documents and audience expansion.

JRE and Forthright worked together to create a strong foundation for the work moving forward – knowing the pieces would likely change and grow as the foundation updated the way it approaches the work.

Today, Forthright continues to partner with JRE, ensuring the foundation’s one person communications department (shoutout to JRE’s wonderful comms director, Irecka), has capacity and a second set of eyeballs when she 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!

Forthright partners on monthly meetings during which the teams discuss in-progress projects, JRE’s priorities for the coming month and how Forthright can best support the team.

Our goal? Thinking through JRE’s “if only we had capacity for this” wishlist – and then helping make it happen.