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FACILITATOR’S GUIDE
HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR OWN STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PLAN ................................ 9
Organizational Goals and Communication Objectives: Defining Success................ 11
Situation Analysis: Organizational Background........................................................ 21
Situation Analysis: External or Public Environment ................................................. 27
Audiences and Messages............................................................................................ 31
Strategies and Tactics ................................................................................................ 39
Evaluation of Ideas for Strategies and Tactics .......................................................... 45
Implementation Budget .............................................................................................. 49
Timing......................................................................................................................... 51
Timeline...................................................................................................................... 55
Implement the Plan! ................................................................................................... 59
Evaluate the Plan ....................................................................................................... 61
SUPPORT MATERIALS
HOW TO PLAN AND FACILITATE MEETINGS .................................................................... 65
Preparation ................................................................................................................ 65
Meeting Facilitation................................................................................................... 67
Follow-Up .................................................................................................................. 71
Meeting Checklist....................................................................................................... 72
HOW TO FACILITATE A CREATIVE BRAINSTORM ............................................................ 73
HOW TO FACILITATE A FOCUS GROUP ............................................................................ 75
SAMPLE COMMUNICATION PLANS — FOUR APPROACHES .............................................. 77
Eye Disease Education Program for People With Disabilities……………………. 77
Wisconsin Environmental Education Board……………………………………….. 89
Heart Health Partnership…………………………………………………………... 99
National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign……………………………………… 105
INTRODUCTION
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If you are still unconvinced that the time you will spend developing a communication
plan will be a good investment, consider the following reasons to invest in the process:
1. to proactively focus the activities of your not-for-profit organization where there
is the greatest potential for success;
2. to ensure your limited resources (time and financial) are most effectively applied;
3. to impose discipline and clear thinking about why it is in the best interest for your
not-for-profit organization to pursue certain communications initiatives;
4. to integrate all of your public relations efforts: media, government, donor,
corporate, etc.;
5. to ensure that everyone in your not-for-profit organization (staff, board,
volunteers) is “on the same page” and telling the same stories about your
organization; and
6. to achieve results that move you towards realizing your not-for-profit
organization’s goals; and
7. to encourage creative thinking about new ways to address old challenges.
With these common challenges faced by most not-for-profits, we set a goal to develop a
strategic communication planning model that could harness the enthusiasm of a few key
staff or volunteers in an organization and that would recognize and work around each of
the challenges noted above.
In our experience, not-for-profits have identified lack of time as the most common
impediment to their organization’s ability to develop a strategic communication plan.
Since communication planning is rarely written into anyone’s job description, it is an
easy target for never becoming an organizational priority. In many not-for-profit
organizations, communication planning is handed over to a volunteer board committee,
where the process often loses momentum.
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One of our objectives in developing this communication planning handbook was to create
a model that accommodates the very real time restrictions most not-for-profit
organizations have to do this planning.
The second impediment most not-for-profit organizations face when they consider
developing a communication plan is lack of experience in this specific area. Thus, our
second objective was to create a tool unlike any that we have seen: a communication
planning handbook that not only explains what areas of information need to be gathered
and evaluated, but one that also provides concrete suggestions for how to gather that
information.
The approach we have developed will require one person, either staff or volunteer, to
assume the role of the “Communication Plan Facilitator” or “Communication Plan
Manager.” The structure outlined in the following pages has been developed to move you
step-by-step through the whole process, with a time commitment of about four hours a
week, which, according to our research, is the average amount of time most people said
they could dedicate to this work. That said, a good part of the facilitator’s or manager’s
four hours a week will be spent getting others engaged in the process.
This serves our third objective: to engage as many people as possible in the process.
Why? Because staff, board and supporter buy-in is critical to the success of your plan —
especially if your planning process identifies success as being dependent on changes to
the status quo. Without full support from the people who will implement the strategies
and tactics that your communication plan identifies will lead you to success, the plan may
never be implemented. Without full support from the people who set your not-for-profit
organization’s policies and organizational direction, the plan may never be implemented.
Without full support from the people who financially support your not-for-profit
organization’s activities, the plan may never be implemented.
And so, rather than handing you a “cookie cutter” communication plan template that one
person from your not-for-profit organization could take away and stamp into a limited
variety of situations, we have provided you with a complete communication planning
cookbook.
The document has been divided into two distinct sections:
1. Facilitator’s Guide
2. Support Materials
Facilitator’s Guide
The Facilitator’s Guide in this handbook will provide you with all of the tools you
should need, to create a communication plan that is truly tailored to your not-for-profit
organization’s unique strengths, needs and challenges.
Support Materials
This handbook includes a variety of materials that will support you in the development
and implementation of your communication plan. This is a section that we hope you will
continue to add to, by sharing new information and resources with other not-for-profit
organizations.
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FACILITATOR’S GUIDE
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Stage One — complete all of these pieces before moving to Stage Two
Organizational Goals (Defining Success) (this should be the very first area you
address)
Communication Objectives (Defining Success)
Situation Analysis: Organizational Background
Situation Analysis: External Environment
Stage Two — complete both of these pieces before moving to Stage Three
Audiences (must be determined before you move to messages)
Messages
Stage Three — complete both of these pieces before moving to Stage Four
Strategies (must be determined before you move to tactics)
Tactics
Stage Four — complete all of these pieces before moving to Stage Five
Evaluation of Ideas for Strategies and Tactics
Implementation Budget (helpful to do before you invest time in developing the
timing and timeline sections, in case you identify certain strategies and tactics
require resources you don’t have access to)
Timing
Timeline
Stage Five
Implement the Plan
Evaluate the results
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Goal(s)
We have just
a few of these
Objectives
We have objectives to
support each of our goals
Strategies
Our strategies are developed to
ensure we achieve our objectives
Tactics
We have lots, perhaps dozens, of tactics. Each tactic
has been developed based on its ability to meet our
strategies, fulfill our objectives and ultimately
influence our ability to achieve our goal(s).
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Another way to visualize the relationship between goals, objectives, strategies and
tactics is like this: keep in mind that your objectives support your goals, your
strategies support your objectives and your tactics support your strategies.
GOAL(S)
Goal
What are your long-term achievements? What do you want to achieve to move
your not-for-profit organization closer to fulfilling its mission?
OBJECTIVE 1 OBJECTIVE 2
What concrete, measurable, specific and What concrete, measurable, specific and
achievable (within a certain timeframe) achievable (within a certain timeframe)
“targets” are you aiming at? These are “targets” are you aiming at? These are
shorter-term than your goals. shorter-term than your goals.
Tactic 1A-1 Tactic 1A-3 Tactic 1B-2 Tactic 2A-1 Tactic 2B-1
What What What What What
specific tools specific tools specific tools specific tools specific tools
will we use? will we use? will we use? will we use? will we use?
Tactic 1A-2 Tactic 1B-1 Tactic 1B-3 Tactic 2A-2 Tactic 2B-2
What What What What What
specific tools specific tools specific tools specific tools specific tools
will we use? will we use? will we use? will we use? will we use?
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For Example…
GOAL
To provide a free and nutritious hot lunch program
at the elementary school.
OBJECTIVE 1 OBJECTIVE 2
To enlist support of the school To develop relationships with possible
administration and the current cafeteria in-kind and cash supporters by
staff by Christmas break. Christmas break and secure adequate
support to begin new program for the
next school year.
Tactic 2A- Tactic 2A- Tactic 2A- Tactic 2A- Tactic 2A-
1 2 3 4 5
Undertake a Determine Figure out Get Create a 4-
shopper amount of how many testimonials page info
survey to weekly kids the from sheet about
determine “waste.” “waste” nutritionists. benefits of
support. could feed. participating.
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It is important to discuss and set success benchmarks for both your organizational
goals and your communication objectives. Unless organizations consider them both,
and develop distinct goals and concrete objectives, the two will likely remain
confused, making it difficult to establish accurate success measures. For instance,
confusing goals with objectives can lead an organization to conclude that one of their
goals is to have three stories about them appear in the local newspaper. Although
generating media coverage is not a goal, it can be a fine objective — as long as it is
understood that having a story appear in the paper serves to achieve some real change
in your organization, such as recruiting new volunteers, attracting new donors, or
attracting clients to a program.
Distinguishing between goals and objectives can be challenging because the terms are
often used interchangeably. However, they are not the same. Goals are
accomplishments that will make or leave some change in the world. One way to
define goals is to answer the question, “once we have achieved our goal(s), how will
the world look different?” Objectives are the smaller action items that naturally
develop from your goal-setting process. Well-defined objectives are ideally specific,
measurable, concrete and achievable within a specified time-frame.
So, if organizational goals and communication objectives are so different, why
address them at the same time? Simply, because most people don’t make the
distinction clearly in their own minds, they move quite fluidly from one to the other.
This is not a problem, as long as the facilitator has a clear sense of the difference
between the big-picture organizational goals and the communication objectives that
could ultimately assist your not-for-profit organization in achieving those goals.
Your organizations goals and objectives are also the two areas of a communication
plan that should include the entire board of directors and as many staff as possible in
their development. The decisions made while discussing goals and objectives could
have an impact at both an organizational policy level (typically a board responsibility)
and on project implementation (typically a staff responsibility).
This piece of work may require two or three meetings of a couple of hours each. The
agenda that follows is for a three-hour session — the maximum length of time we
believe you can spend working effectively on these two topics at one sitting. If you
feel at the end of the three hours that there is still more discussion to be had, schedule
a second meeting. You could either ask the same group of people to come back to
continue the discussion (and perhaps invite others if you believe they could help
address questions the first group had difficulties coming to agreement on), or you
could break the group into two and ask one group to reconvene to discuss only
organizational goals and the other to discuss communication objectives. If you choose
the latter approach, then it is critical that the group meeting to discuss organizational
goals have their meeting prior to the group discussing communication objectives. As
noted earlier, communication objectives must be developed to support organizational
goals.
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If you expect to meet with some resistance from your board and staff to doing this
piece of work here are a few compelling reasons to bring them on-side. By working
together and defining what success looks like you can expect to:
build morale within the team.
When you establish goals that your staff and volunteers can meet,
everyone is energized and ready to take on more ambitious goals.
establish evaluation criteria.
More and more funders and supporters want to know whether not-for-
profits have been successful in their work. Defining what success will
look like is one of the only ways to provide them with that
information.
set priorities, so that when you are faced with multiple communication
opportunities, it will be easier to make hard choices about where to allocate
limited resources.
For example, if someone proposes organizing a conference, your plan
will allow you to determine if this activity will support your stated
goals and whether other planned activities will have to be cancelled
or postponed.
have good cause for celebration when you achieve your stated goals.
If you don’t set goals at the beginning of your planning process, you
won’t know when to celebrate. Many not-for-profits are unhappy at
the end of their communications initiatives, feeling they could have
done a better job. Rarely have those organizations defined, at the
outset, what their goals were. Without an end-mark against which to
evaluate your work, it is impossible to ever feel the thrill of success.
identify the goals that are likely unachievable, before you invest resources in
pursuing them.
Seeing what success will look like, on paper, and discussing this with
others, will help you keep unrealistic expectations in check, identify
where human or financial resources may be lacking and identify other
obstacles that may impede your success.
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Objectives:
To develop a shared vision for the role of the organization within the
community.
To identify realistic and achievable short-term (one to three years)
organizational goals.
To identify realistic and achievable communication objectives to help meet
the goals identified.
To enlist board and staff support to engage in the required activities to achieve
these goals and objectives.
Activities:
Visioning exercise
Brainstorms
Group discussions
Props/ Materials:
Flip chart, markers and tape
A summary of your organizational history and external environment can be
helpful to put the discussion of goals in perspective. However, it may also act
to limit people’s ability to truly create a vision for the future. The challenge is
that some participants may get “stuck” on what has been done and find
themselves unable to focus on what could be achieved. Carefully judge
whether the individuals within your group need this information. If you
determine that they do, complete the sections on organizational history and
external environment before discussing goals and objectives.
Who to invite:
Members of your board of directors
Staff members
Long-time and committed volunteers and advisors
People who will bring a positive excitement to this stage of the planning
Optimal number of participants: up to 12
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Note that you do not need to ask every question listed here at your meeting. In fact, if
your visioning brainstorm elicits strong answers, you may not need to ask any of
these questions. (And many of them are simply a rephrasing of other questions.) The
intent is to provide you with adequate ways to get at the information you are seeking
from your meeting participants. It may be helpful to provide this list of questions to
individuals in advance to help them prepare for the meeting.
1. Organizational goals
a. Why does your not-for-profit organization exist?
b. What are your not-for-profit organization’s ultimate goals?
c. How will the world be a better place once you achieve your goals?
d. Or, how would the world suffer were your not-for-profit organization to
cease to exist?
e. Can you draw a picture of how this community will look different in one,
three, five and/or ten years, after you have accomplished your goals? Be
very specific and concrete.
f. What is the projected timeline for achieving the goals that have been
stated?
g. For each goal you have defined, can you identify specific, concrete,
measurable and achievable objectives, the smaller wins or “mini-goals”?
2. Public perception
a. How do you want your not-for-profit organization to be perceived?
b. How do you want your issues and/or programs to be perceived?
c. How do you want your community to be perceived by those who live
outside the community?
3. Communication objectives
a. What is your ultimate communication objective?
b. Which of your organizational goals(s) will you move closer to achieving
as a result of implementing your communication efforts?
c. How will each communication objective move you closer to achieving
your organizational goal(s)?
d. What do you want your target audience to do, exactly?
e. In other words, what is the “call to action”?
f. How will you measure success?
g. What will your benchmarks be? (For example: we will drive 1,000 people
to our website and generate 100 faxed letters to a specific decision-maker;
or we will add 20 new, active volunteers to a local stream recovery
initiative; or we will help ensure that at least 50 of our group’s members
attend a fundraising brunch.)
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Taking the time to draw a comprehensive picture about how and why your not-for-
profit organization was created will help you better understand why things have been
done the way they have been, and alert you to potential obstacles you may have to
face as you create your organization’s communication plan.
For this area of your communication plan, it is important to work with the “old-
timers” from within your organization, those staff and volunteers who have been
around for the longest amount of time. You may consider asking a former board
member, one of the organization’s founders perhaps, to participate in this piece of
work. Depending on how engaged the group is, how well they know your not-for-
profit organization, and how old the organization is, this process could require two
three-hour gatherings.
Have one person facilitate the meeting — but don’t call it a meeting! Refer to it as a
story collecting exercise. Have a recorder (either human or a tape recorder) available
to collect all the stories. You will likely gather information that will be very useful in
your current communication efforts (stories for your newsletter, copy for your
organizational brochures or a column in your local paper).
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Objectives:
To develop a shared organizational history.
To shed light on how the organization got to the place it is today.
To come to consensus on why things are done as they are and where there
may be room to change the “status quo.”
To collect the information that will allow you to realistically assess your
historic limitations and strengths which could have a major impact on your
organizational goals, communication objectives, strategies and tactics.
Activities:
Guided conversation
Props/ Materials:
Flip chart, markers and tape
Lap-top computer if you are using a typist to take notes
Tape recorder if you are taking notes by hand
Who to invite:
Individuals who have been involved with the organization for a significant
amount of time
Individuals who have a good sense of your organizational history
Optimal number of participants: 6 to 8
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The following questions are meant to guide your conversation with stakeholders. Use
questions that seem appropriate to discuss and develop others if needed. Note that
this is just a guide, not a comprehensive list.
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Objectives:
To collect the information that will allow you to realistically assess the
external opportunities and threats that may or will impact your not-for-profit
organization’s ability to achieve your organizational goals.
Activities:
Focus group (see page 75, How to Facilitate a Focus Group).
Props/ Materials:
Flip chart, markers and tape
Video recorder or tape recorder
Laptop computer for note-taker
Lunch or refreshments (as appropriate)
Who to invite:
Individuals who have a good sense of local priorities and interests
Individuals who understand the provincial policies that may impact legislation
on your issue
People who have some power or authority in your community and who you
hope to engage in your work
At least two board members who have good community connections
Optimal number of participants: 6 to 8
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Brief
With messages, as with so many other aspects of effective communications, the rule
is: less is more. A message is generally not a paragraph; it may not even be a whole
sentence. The shorter a message is, the easier it is for both the speaker and audience
to remember. Notice that with large corporations, such as Coke, Nike, and others, the
messages conveyed through their ad campaigns are increasingly brief. In Nike ads,
for example, there are often no words at all – just a simple photograph, and the Nike
logo at the bottom. The message is communicated through visuals that reflect the
values of their target audience.
Believable
This point may seem obvious, but it is worth emphasizing. Messages are not
effective if they are not believable. For example, if a corporation known for working
in countries with abysmal human rights records starts conveying messages about
being a good corporate citizen, concerned with human rights and social justice issues,
their communication efforts are likely to backfire. Instead, an effective message
might initially be: “we recognize our mistakes, and we’re changing.” Of course, such
a message would have to be backed up with substantive initiatives in order to be
believed. Then, over time, the corporation may be able to effectively deliver
messages about being a good corporate citizen – and be believable.
It is also important that the speaker herself believes the messages she is delivering.
When we believe in our messages, we convey them with conviction and passion to
which our target audiences are more likely to respond. Which brings us to the next
point:
Compelling
Effective messages usually make use of symbols that speak to the core values of the
target audience. This is an aspect of messages we often struggle with. We are used to
avoiding emotional language or concepts and of qualifying everything we say with
words like “may” and “sometimes.” A good message is emphatic. It speaks to core
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Organizational goal (what we hope to achieve with support from these audiences):
Renovate our organization’s community gathering space so that it is more inviting to all of our clients, from youth to seniors, from
other not-for-profits to single parents looking for a comfortable place to have a cup of coffee.
Key Audiences Individual we will His/her level What we’d like him/her to Why this person will want to help
approach of do (objective served) (values we will appeal to with our
engagement messages)
One-time client Jane Boxer, single Low We’d like Jane to participate We will make her feel valued and
mom in a focus group with other give her a sense of ownership in
clients to tell us what would this process by asking her opinion
make the space comfortable about what she and other women
enough for her to want to like her need in the space we are
come on a regular basis. Then developing.
to write a letter of support.
(Objectives 1 & 2)
Ongoing client Joe Smiley, High We’d like Joe to tell us what We will recognize his role as a
President of the would make the space more community leader and speak to his
Kiwanas Club effective for the small clear commitment to supporting
meetings he holds there. Then community initiatives.
to write a letter of support.
(Objectives 1 & 2)
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This is the section of the communication plan that most people love to get involved
in! Ask people who are interested in brainstorming potential communication
strategies and tactics to read your in-progress communication plan. Then, host a small
“party” at someone’s house and let folks loose!
In a phrase, strategies and tactics are the ways you’re going to reach your target
audiences. This is the fun part of developing your communication plan. This is where
the “rubber hits the road.”
Basically, strategies are the broad ways you are going to achieve an objective, tactics
are the steps that together form your strategy. The easiest way to differentiate
strategies from tactics is through examples:
Objective — to get three stories about our not-for-profit organization into the local
paper in the next six months
Strategy — to develop better writing skills for press releases and opinion articles
Tactics — take a course from the community college; get a communication expert
onto our advisory committee
In the second example, the tactic, to “send a media kit that explains the value of
volunteers in our community” to the local paper could also be developed as a
strategy...
Objective — to get three stories about our not-for-profit organization into the local
paper in the next six months
Strategy — to develop a media kit that explains the value of volunteering in our
community
Tactics — to work with experts to ensure our media kit is professional; to find
research data to argue our points; to enlist a local designer to produce
the media kit at a reduced cost.
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This part of your communication plan is inherently creative and can be approached in
a variety of ways. One approach that often works well is to start by identifying one to
five of your target audiences. Look back at what you indicated you want them to do.
Look at their audience profiles – what motivates them to act, their values.
If you have already undertaken the work of identifying your target audiences and the
actions you would like them to undertake, you will also likely have identified several
communication strategies and tactics. For instance, taking the example we created in
the previous section — wanting to renovate our community gathering space — and
all of the communication objectives and audiences we identified, some of the
strategies and tactics that lead from there could be:
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Objectives:
To identify appropriate strategies and tactics to achieve your not-for-profit
organization’s goals and objectives.
Activities:
Creative brainstorm (see page 73, How to Facilitate a Creative Brainstorm)
Props/ Materials:
Flip chart, markers and tape
Handouts that indicate the organizational goal(s) and communication
objective(s)you are trying to develop and strategies and tactics to address
them
A list of the audiences you hope to engage and how you expect individuals
from each of these audiences will support you
Who to invite:
Interested staff members
Interested board members
Creative allies
People who don’t work in the not-for-profit sector who could provide fresh
ideas from the environment they live and work in
Optimal number of participants: 6-8
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Evaluation is simply a way for you to measure success. It is a very important aspect
of your communication plan. It occurs at many levels and many times. Evaluating
your plan and the assumptions on which it is based allows you to get outside of the
realm of our own, highly subjective (and sometimes inaccurate) self-assessments as
an organization, and to determine what’s working (or not working) out there in the
wider world.
We have included evaluation here, following the identification of potential strategies
and tactics, as you are now at the point where you will want to proactively evaluate
something your planning process has produced. Of course, we also advise including
evaluation at different stages following the implementation of your plan, to ensure
you are achieving the results you anticipated:
Evaluations of your target audiences will help you determine which groups of
people or individuals you are having the greatest success engaging in your
organization, so that you can refocus energy where it is generating the most
success.
Evaluations of your messages to specific audiences will allow you to judge
whether the words and images you are using to communicate with different
groups of people are having the desired effect.
Evaluations of your strategies and tactics will likewise provide you with
feedback on how well the activities and projects you have undertaken are
working.
This is another task for the communication plan facilitator. Take a few days to
consider the ideas you came up with during your creative brainstorm of strategies and
tactics. It’s funny how a profile-raising event that includes jailing a city counselor can
seem like a great idea on a festive Saturday night, but doesn’t have the same appeal in
the light of a Monday morning at the office… “what were we thinking?!”
As with the creative brainstorm that spawned your strategies and tactics, evaluating
your ideas can be done in a variety of ways. For many people, this task will be
handled in large part subconsciously! We offer one simple suggestion: shortly
following your brainstorm, take a couple of hours to contact people who weren’t part
of the party and pitch your best ideas to them. If you have come up with ideas that
will be targeted to specific audiences (which we hope will be the case!), then call
people who fit the demographics of the group you hope to reach with each strategy
and tactic. There’s little point in asking a 65 year-old homemaker her opinion about
how well an interactive classroom play will engage 10-year olds, and even less point
in asking a group of 10-year olds if a regular Wednesday tea social would appeal to
them.
When doing these interviews, your role is to be as open-minded as possible, to ask
how each idea sounds and what challenges you might expect to face if you pursue it.
You may find that certain ideas are easier for you to explain than others either
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because you like them better or because you have a better understanding of how they
could be implemented. As best as you can, don’t bias your interviewees by telling
them which ideas you think are best. Your goal is to get outside advice that is as free
from your influence as possible.
Once you’ve completed the survey and recorded the respondent’s answers, thank the
person. Remember that this is just one person’s opinion. Call a few more people who
you suspect would share a similar audience profile and look at all of their comments
together. If you feel confident that you have a strong idea, and your survey
respondents generally agree, go with it. If your respondents are unsure, but you still
feel the idea has merit, consider calling together a focus group, or creative brainstorm
with only members of the specific audience you are trying to engage.
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Objectives:
To determine whether specific strategies and tactics will help your
organization achieve the goals and objectives you have set.
Activities:
Use the tool that is most appropriate to reach each of the individuals you decide
to interview. Either:
short telephone interview
short in-person interview
short email survey
Props/ Materials:
Written survey to act as a prompt in telephone interviews
Copies of your survey to distribute by fax and email
Summary of your organizational goals, communication objectives and the
target audiences for each strategy as background information to respondents
who ask for more details
Who to include:
People who did not participate in your creative brainstorm
People who you consider to be representative of the audience each of your
strategies will target
People who don’t work in the not-for-profit sector who could provide fresh
ideas from the environment they live and work in
Optimal number of respondents: 4 to 6 per strategy idea
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Implementation Budget
Once you have developed a list of strategies and tactics that will serve your
organizational goals and communication objectives, it is helpful to put thought into
how much each activity will cost your organization. This task may be done with
support from your book-keeper or accountant. If you are considering initiatives
you’ve never done before, this step could take several hours or even days.
The time investment will be worth every minute. Once you have collected your
financial data you will have all the details you need to develop a funding proposal to
support the activities you wish to undertake: your goals, objectives, strategies, tactics
and how much it will cost. This may be one of the best fringe benefits of
communication planning: it creates a strong argument for funders to support your
initiatives.
Since funding to support any not-for-profit’s core expenses is becoming very hard to
raise, the budget you create in support of your communication activities should
include an appropriate amount of staff time that will be required to implement each
project. Consider your communications work in the same way you would consider
any other program development. Include your time!
Some advice in developing your communication budgets:
If you think it will take five days to complete a specific activity, budget at least
seven.
Communications work almost always takes more time then we expect or hope
it will.
If you have been told by a designer that she can create a new brochure for you for
$250, budget for $500.
It is very rare that a designer can stay on budget when working with not-for-
profit clients, because, unlike their corporate clients, we like to get consensus,
which takes time and usually results in more changes than the designer may
have expected to have to make.
Don’t forget to include a budget line for meeting expenses.
Space rental, providing refreshments, creating a child-care subsidy pool, and
other meeting requirements are legitimate project expenses.
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Timing
Once you have all of your audiences, messages, strategies and tactics figured out,
somebody has to develop a calendar to determine how realistic your plans really are. In
the Timing section of your plan, write down all of the potentially relevant provincial
dates and community events that you may want to consider either hooking onto or
avoiding conflict with. For instance, every year there are at least a dozen walks or runs to
support various causes, teddy bear and book drives, golf tournaments and evening
fundraising events. In some cases you may be able to promote your organization in
partnership with a pre-established event. In other cases you may not want to hold your
event in the same week or month as another group, especially if you will be targeting the
same participants.
Talk to people who know what’s going on in town. Get hold of community calendars.
Visit your local library and check for resources they have available. Write every date
down on a master calendar.
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7
STAT HOLIDAY THEATRE —
OPENING
NIGHT
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
LITERARY LITERARY LITERARY LITERARY LITERARY LITERARY
WEEK AT THE WEEK AT THE WEEK AT THE WEEK AT THE WEEK AT THE WEEK AT THE
LIBRARY LIBRARY LIBRARY LIBRARY LIBRARY LIBRARY
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
COUNCIL EVENING CREEK
MEETING, CITY FUNDRAISER RESTORATION
HALL AT HIGH BY ENGO
SCHOOL
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
WALK FOR A
CURE
29 30 31
NOT-FOR-
PROFIT
ORGANIZATION
AGM
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Timeline
The Timeline is simply another big planning calendar that includes the dates you’ve
decided to perform each of your communications activities, and all of the steps that
will lead to the success of your initiatives. You can develop a timeline for each of the
specific areas of your communication plan. This is especially helpful if you expect to
be undertaking part of different areas of your plan concurrently, or if different people
will be responsible for different pieces. We have created a sample timeline for the
development of your communication plan as an outline. We recommend that you, too,
start by creating a timeline for the process you will be leading. Once you have
completed all of the steps that have led you to this place, it will be time to develop
your second timeline: the timeline for all of the activities that your communication
plan has identified.
If the process of developing a communication plan is new to you, we recommend that
you develop a timeline for what you hope to accomplish in the first three or four
weeks. You may find that organizing a meeting in your community takes only the
time to draft a short invitation and email it. Or you may find that it takes much longer,
having to make each invitation one-to-one with a half-hour conversation with each
invitee. Experience will be the best teacher in developing your timeline. We have
provided you with a sample timeline for activities you could undertake (with just a
few hours commitment per week), for the first eight weeks of your plan development
on pages 57 and 58.
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Ensure that somebody, one person, maintains responsibility for ensuring that your
strategic communication plan is implemented. By now you have invested many hours
of volunteer and/or staff time in the development of your plan. You have developed
some great ideas that should help you achieve your organizational goals. You have
included the appropriate people in the process and established staff and board support
for the new plan. Don’t put the plan on the shelf and go back to business as usual!
Use it. Update it. Pull it out when you are writing new funding proposals.
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Although you can call your communication plan “complete,” please remember that a
working communication plan is a living document. It should be used as a guide to
help you achieve your organizational goals and objectives in the most strategic way.
Your plan should be referred to and used as a tool to keep new ideas on target, always
pointing your not-for-profit organization in the direction you set at the beginning of
the whole process.
As a living document, your plan should be evaluated on a regular basis to ensure it is
providing you with the guidance you require. On the very first page of this document,
we noted that evaluation takes place at every stage of the development and
implementation of your communication plan. Recall that a strategic communication
plan:
1. identifies and endorses a particular, desired future (your goals).
2. evaluates that future against other possible futures.
3. researches which desired futures would be possible (your internal and
external environments).
4. evaluates the available resources.
5. outlines what needs to be done (your objectives).
6. evaluates the consequence of actions and possible actions.
7. decides on a particular course (your strategies).
8. evaluates the effectiveness of that course.
9. communicates that action plan (your tactics).
10. evaluates the impact of your actions.
Before you engage in each of the strategies and tactics in your communication plan,
ask yourself and others within your not-for-profit organization to define exactly what
success will look like once that activity has been completed. If you don’t meet your
success target, evaluate why.
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SUPPORT MATERIALS
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Adapted from Organizing for Social Change, Second Edition, published by Seven Locks
Press, California, 1996. We have not yet received permission to copy this information, so
ask that you do not further distribute this section.
Meetings can make or break your communication planning process. If your meetings are
well-prepared, focused on planning for action, and facilitated in an efficient, yet
involving and upbeat manner, you will accomplish a great deal. On the other hand, if
your meetings are poorly planned, poorly run, and don’t focus on planning for action, it
will be difficult, if not impossible, to build your communication plan.
Every meeting is important and must be planned with great attention. With solid
planning, good facilitation, and strong follow-up, an organization can move forward in
ways that win real victories. Meetings play a significant role in achieving your goals and
deserve your utmost attention. Make your organization the one with fun, productive
meetings.
Preparation
Well run, effective meetings require solid preparation. The hardest part, and certainly the
most time-consuming aspect of a meeting, is the planning. Consider the following:
Goals
It is critical that the organizer and key leaders have clear meeting goals in mind.
Without them, it is difficult to figure out an agenda and hard to know who should
attend. Every meeting should have concrete, realistic and measurable goals of the
things you want to accomplish, such as:
To identify the historical challenges our organization has overcome and
successes we have celebrated
To develop a strategy and timeline for a specific project or tactic
To identify potential new partners, funders and allies
To decide where our organization’s limited resources would best be focused
Site
The choice of a meeting site will affect who comes to the meeting. Criteria for
choosing a site include:
Familiarity — is it a place with which people are comfortable?
Accessibility — is the site accessible to those you are trying to engage (the
disabled, the elderly, people who rely on public transit)?
Adequate facilities — small meetings need a cozy room while larger meetings
need more elaborate facilities.
Timing — set the meeting at a time that is most convenient for those you want
to attend. You may need to call several people and suggest possible options.
Chairperson — every meeting should have a Chairperson whose main job is to
facilitate the meeting (in our model that person would be you!).
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Agenda
As the communication plan coordinator/facilitator, it will likely be your responsibility
to develop agendas for the meetings you convene. Some tips:
Assure that participants receive a printed agenda in advance of the meeting
List topics to be covered and objectives you hope to accomplish
supply any background documents that would be helpful
Apply time limits for each discussion item
Ensure there is time during the meeting to get participants to commit to
follow-up work
Meeting Roles
Assign all meeting roles before the actual meeting. There are at least five reasons for
people having particular leadership roles in a meeting:
1. The first is that someone is good at something — leading a song, facilitating
discussion, welcoming people, etc.
2. The second is that the responsibility is part of someone’s role — in a board
meeting context, for instance, it is the Treasurer’s job to give the financial
report.
3. The third reason for assigning a particular role is political — providing a
leadership role to a key community leader would be good for your
organization.
4. The fourth reason is to develop leaders — to give people who need experience
making presentations or leading discussion an opportunity to develop their
skills.
5. The fifth reason is to get people to attend — people are more likely to attend if
they have an explicit role to play in the meeting.
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Room Arrangements/Logistics
Before the meeting, assess the actual room you will use in order to plan the room
arrangements and logistical details. Possible items to consider include:
Chair arrangements — chairs in a circle or around a table encourage
discussion. Set up fewer chairs than the number expected, It’s better to add
chairs than have chairs sitting empty. Have additional chairs readily
accessible, perhaps stacked to the side of the room.
Places to hang flip charts — will tape damage walls? Is an easel available?
Outlets for audio-visual equipment — will you need an overhead projector?
Will you need extension cords?
Refreshments — do you plan to have refreshments? If so, who will bring
them? Can someone else bring cups and plates? Do you need outlets for a
coffee pot and kettle? Who will handle clean-up?
Asking people to bring items or to help arrange things for the meeting helps assure
their attendance. Assign people to bring coffee, cups, cookies, tablecloths, flowers,
etc. Ask another person, or people, to set-up the chairs. Delegating tasks ahead of
time may seem like more trouble than it’s worth, but it gets people involved in the
meeting and your organization. It also helps the meeting run more smoothly, which
people appreciate.
Turnout
If you want your meetings to be well-attended, have one person call all the
participants one to three days before the meeting to remind them. These calls have an
organizing function as well as aiding turnout. Explain the issues that will be discussed
at the meeting, why they are important and identify points of controversy.
Meeting Facilitation
Every meeting should be enjoyable, run efficiently, and build organizational morale.
Although these characteristics may be difficult to measure, they are terribly important.
No one wants to attend meetings that are boring or poorly run. Efficient meetings respect
people’s time as their most valuable resource. They also build organizational morale by
generating a sense of unity and helping people respect and support one another.
Every meeting needs a facilitator, a person who helps the meeting accomplish its goals.
In order to be adequately prepared, the Chairperson must know ahead of time that he or
she will facilitate the meeting. There’s nothing worse than arriving and asking, “Okay,
who’s chairing this meeting?” If no one has prepared to facilitate, the meeting will
probably be poorly run.
Being a good facilitator is both a skill and an art. It is a skill in that people can learn
certain techniques and improve their ability with practice. It is an art in that some people
have more of a knack for it than others. Facilitating a meeting requires someone to:
understand the goals of the meeting and the organization;
keep the group on the agenda and moving forward;
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involve everyone in the meeting, both controlling the domineering people and
drawing out the shy ones; and
make sure that decisions are made democratically.
The Chair must assure that decisions are made, plans are developed, and commitments
made, but in a manner that is enjoyable for all concerned. A good Chair is concerned
about both the meeting’s content and style. By having the other roles suggested, such as
notetakers and timekeepers, the Chair has some assistance in moving the agenda along.
Here are some guides for meeting facilitation:
Welcome Everyone
Make a point to welcome everyone who comes to the meeting. Do not, under any
circumstances, bemoan the size of the group. Once you are at a meeting, the people
there are the people there. Go with what you have.
Introduce People
If just a few people are new, ask them to introduce themselves. If the group as a
whole does not know each other well, ask people to answer a question or tell
something about themselves that provides useful information for the group or the
Chairperson. The kinds of questions you should ask depend upon the kind of meeting
it is, the number of people participating, and the overall goals of the meeting. Sample
introductory questions include:
How did you first get involved with our organization?
What is/has been your role with our organization?
What attracted you to get involved with our organization?
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Encourage Participation
Every meeting should involve the people who come. Encourage leaders and
organizers to listen to people. Seek feedback and advice from people and thank them
for their input. Don’t argue with participants’ points of view. Draw out those who
seem withdrawn from discussions.
Move to Action
Meetings should not only provide an opportunity for people to talk, but should also
challenge them to plan ways to confront and change the issue on the table. Avoid
holding meetings just to “discuss” things or “educate” people. Meetings should plan
effective actions to build the organization.
Seek Commitments
Getting commitments for future involvement is usually a goal of most meetings. You
want leaders to commit to certain tasks, people to volunteer to help on a campaign, or
organizations to commit to support your group. Make sure that adequate time is
allocated to seeking commitment. For small meetings, write people’s names on a
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sheet of flip chart paper next to the tasks they agree to undertake. The Chairperson
may want to ask each individual directly how they want to help. One golden rule,
especially for meetings of less than ten people, is that everyone should leave the
meeting with something to do. Don’t ever close a meeting by saying that you will get
back to people to confirm how they might be involved. Seize the moment. Confirm
how people want to get involved at the meeting.
Sometimes people dominate a discussion because they are really interested in an issue
and have lots of ideas. There may be ways to capture their interest without having
them continue to dominate the meeting. For example, ask then to serve on a taskforce
or committee on that matter.
Be Flexible
Occasionally, issues and concerns arise that are so important, you must alter the
agenda to discuss them before returning to the prepared agenda. If necessary, ask for
a five-minute break in the meeting to discuss with key leaders how to handle the issue
and how to restructure the agenda. Be prepared to recommend an alternate agenda,
dropping items if necessary.
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Thank People
Take a moment to thank people who prepared things for the meeting, set up the room,
brought refreshments, or typed up the agenda. Also, thank everyone for making the
meeting a success.
Follow-Up
There are two main principles for meeting follow-up: do it, and do it promptly. If
meetings are not followed up promptly, much of the work accomplished at the time will
be lost. Don’t waste people’s time by not following up the meeting. There’s nothing
worse than holding a good planning meeting, but then allowing decisions and plans to fall
through the cracks because follow-up was neglected.
Make sure that your notetaker prepares the meeting notes soon after the meeting.
Otherwise, he or she will forget what the comments mean, and they will be useless later.
Organizers should work with notetakers to assure that these notes are clear and produced
in a timely fashion.
Call active members who missed the meeting. Tell them you missed them and update
them on the meeting’s outcomes. If you are actively seeking new members, call anyone
who indicated that he or she would come, and not just active members.
Thank the people who helped make the meeting successful. Send a brief card or note.
Call new people who came to the meeting. Thank them for coming and see about setting
up one-on-one meetings with people who look like potential leaders. Be sure to follow-up
with people while their interest is still fresh.
Once the minutes are prepared, write relevant reminder notes in your calendar. For
example, if someone agreed to research something by March 15, jot down a call to that
person on March 7 and inquire about how the research is progressing.
Place a copy of the meeting notes in an organizational notebook or file so that everyone
knows where the “institutional memory” is kept.
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Meeting Checklist
Have you set concrete, realistic goals?
Is the site familiar, accessible, representative and adequate?
Are the date and time good for those you want to attend?
Do you have a Chairperson for the meting? Has the Chairperson been involved in
preparing the agenda or been fully briefed?
Does the agenda:
Accomplish the goals
Encourage commitment and involvement
Provide visible leadership roles
Do you need:
Printed agenda
Background materials
Have you asked people to serve as the:
Chairperson/facilitator — who?
Notetaker — who?
Timekeeper — who?
Presenters — who?
Tone-setter (open and close meeting) — who?
Greeter (welcome people) — who?
Refreshments, serve/prepare — who?
Have you considered the following logistical matters:
Chair arrangements
Flip chart paper, markers and tape
Audio visual support, extension cords and power outlets
Refreshments
Do you have a turnout plan and enough people working on turnout calls? Do you
have a system for comparing those who said they’d come to those who actually
came?
Have you arranged for childcare for participants who need that support?
Do you have transportation for those who need it?
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Facilitating an effective creative brainstorm may not be soothing you have ever done
before. The description of the process that follows may feel very loose or out-of-control.
The process does allow for out-of-control, or, out-of-the-box thinking which is very
important when you are trying to come up with new strategies and tactics to achieve your
goals and objectives. Try it!
Step One
Put a specific question to the group. Ensure participants stick to the question.
Record ideas on a flip chart and post these pages on the wall around the room so
that all participants can clearly see them.
Encourage participants to be succinct. Ask people to keep their ideas to about ten
words — headlines, not full paragraphs.
As the facilitator, you must avoid commenting on ideas. Do not allow others to
comment on ideas. Ask everyone to suspend judgement about ideas — analysis
will come later, in the “do something” step.
As the facilitator, your role will be to keep the ideas flowing. Keep ideas broad
and general. The specifics can be developed in Step Three.
When recording ideas ensure you use the speakers’ words.
Wild and crazy is okay. Repetition is okay. Piggybacking on each other’s ideas is
great.
Step Two
Do something with the ideas you have generated. Either:
Prioritize the ideas with the group and discuss the most promising
One effective way to prioritize ideas is to provide each participant with five to
ten stickers and have them put their stickers beside the idea or ideas that they
believe to be most promising. This process is often called “dotmocracy.” You
can allow people to distribute their stickers in any way they want: one sticker
on each of three ideas, two stickers on one idea and another on a second idea,
or all three stickers on one idea. (If you don’t have stickers, give each person a
marker and ask them to put a mark beside their favorite ideas).
Cluster the ideas for more discussion
If there are a few broad areas of interest, you can put those together and break
the full group into smaller groups to discuss the merits of the ideas in their
cluster, rank their ideas from most promising to least. Then the group can
rejoin as a full group and discuss the most promising ideas together.
Scan the material and check whether all participants agree with the list
In this case, you may eliminate some ideas that the group does not feel are
appropriate and take the list away to work on at a staff level. In the case of
ideas that require research to determine how feasible they would be to
implement, this is an appropriate way to deal with the ideas.
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Step Three
Engage in a discussion about the pros and cons of the top ideas. Continue to think
creatively. Ask, “how can we do this in a way that nobody has ever done before?”
Or, “what advantage will our group have in undertaking this idea that no other group
has?”
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I. Introduction
II. Background
III. Overview Of Communication Plan--A Diabetic Eye Disease Education
Program For People With Diabetes
IV. Messages, Channels, and Materials
V. Evaluation
Sources
I. Introduction
Diabetes affects approximately 14 million Americans, and about 40 percent of all
people with diabetes have at least mild signs of diabetic retinopathy, the most
common ocular complication of diabetes.1,2 Other ocular complications include
cataract and glaucoma. Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in
adults 25 to 74 years of age.3 People with diabetes are at significantly higher risk
of blindness than the general population.2
Therefore, one priority of the National Eye Health Education Program (NEHEP) is
to increase awareness and knowledge of diabetic eye disease and to encourage
actions to prevent loss of vision.4 The NEHEP is being coordinated by the
National Eye Institute (NEI), one of the National Institutes of Health, in
partnership with other public and private organizations concerned with eye
health.
This document outlines the communication plan for the diabetic eye disease
education program, formulated as a result of recommendations presented at a
NEHEP Planning Conference in March 1989, planning documents produced by
the NEHEP staff since that time, and deliberations of the NEHEP Planning
Committee. The plan describes an education program for people with diabetes.
In developing the plan further, the NEHEP staff will identify current education
efforts and the most critical gaps in public knowledge, attitudes, and practices.
The staff will also actively seek opportunities to work in partnership with other
interested organizations. Therefore, the tasks outlined here for the diabetic eye
disease communication program will be prioritized according to need,
opportunities for collaboration, and potential impact in order to use the NEHEP's
resources most effectively.
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The first section of this communication plan for educating people with diabetes
about diabetic eye disease presents the need for the Program, Program
objectives, target audiences, and target audience research. The subsequent
section covers messages, channels, and materials.
II. Background
National Eye Institute
Eye disease, visual impairment and disability, and blindness are major public
health problems. In the United States alone, more than 11 million people have
some degree of visual impairment uncorrectable by glasses.5 Of this visually
impaired population, approximately 890,000 people are legally blind.6 In addition
to the physical and emotional stresses associated with eye disease and
blindness, there are significant economic burdens. Eye disorders and blindness
are estimated to cost the nation more than $16 billion annually.7
Convinced that visual disorders constituted a national problem that could only be
solved by greater emphasis on vision research, Congress authorized the
establishment of the National Eye Institute (NEI) in 1968 as part of the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The
Institute's mission is to conduct research in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment
and rehabilitation of diseases of the eye and visual system.
National Eye Health Education Program
Since its inception, the NEI has conducted a public information program,
responding to inquiries and disseminating authoritative information on eye
disease and the progress of vision research. Educational materials for the public
have described the causes, if known, of common eye diseases; their signs and
symptoms; methods of prevention and treatment; referrals to sources of help;
and current, relevant research. Blindness prevention education has become
more feasible during the last decade when the results of several clinical trials
provided dramatic evidence that laser treatment could reduce the risk of vision
loss from diabetic retinopathy and macular edema.
Although the NEI has long been committed to communicating research results to
appropriate audiences, a sustained, large-scale health education program has,
until recently, been precluded by a lack of funding and personnel. However,
beginning in fiscal year 1988, Congress appropriated funds that have enabled
the NEI to increase its commitment to the prevention of blindness through public
and professional education programs and the encouragement of regular eye
examinations. This was the first distinct NEI Congressional appropriation
designated for eye health promotion and education.
In response, the NEI has established the National Eye Health Education Program
(NEHEP) to implement large-scale information, education, and applied research
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• To increase knowledge that the risk of blindness from diabetic eye disease
can be reduced with early detection and treatment.
• To encourage people with diabetes to seek annual comprehensive eye
examinations with dilated pupils by trained health care professionals.
• To encourage people with diabetic eye disease to comply with appropriate
treatment regimens.
• To encourage inquiries for more information.
Target Audiences
Participants in the 1989 NEHEP Planning conference recommended two target
audiences for this Program: people with diabetes and health care professionals.4
They also recommended that messages be directed to family members and other
groups, including educators and clergy.
Primary Target Audience: People with Diabetes. The primary target audience
selected for this Program will be people with diabetes. Factors that increase the
risk of diabetic eye disease will be emphasized, such as duration of diabetes,
degree of blood sugar elevation, pregnancy, and elevated blood pressure.
In subsequent phases of the Program, strategies will be developed to reach and
influence certain groups—Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans—in
which diabetes is more prevalent than in the general population.
Secondary Target Audiences: Important secondary audiences are those who can
influence or support the health practices of individuals at risk. These audiences
include:
• Family members of at-risk individuals
• Health care professionals (e.g., physicians, diabetes educators, nurses,
and pharmacists)
• Other intermediaries (e.g., clergy).
Family members of people with diabetes can be key in providing information and
motivating others at risk to seek eye examinations.
Health care professionals are a very credible source of information for their
patients, and provide direct access to people with diabetes who are in the
medical care system. Physicians who care for people with diabetes are in the
best position to counsel these patients about the need for eye examinations and
to refer them for eye care. These physicians are also perceived by their patients
as very credible information and referral sources. People with diabetes who
participated in NEHEP focus groups expressed the belief that their physicians
would "take care of them."11
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V. Evaluation
Evaluation measures will be woven into diabetic eye disease education program
as they are developed to track progress, justify expenditures, and make any
necessary revisions in the communication plan and activities. Examples include:
• Formative measures such as pretesting of messages and materials
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Background
The need in Wisconsin to strengthen efforts to communicate the value of EE and
increase support for EE was identified at the 1995 Wisconsin Environmental
Education Board EE Summit. Both the Wisconsin Association for Environmental
Education (WAEE) and the WEEB discussed strategies for addressing this need.
In 1998 an ad-hoc committee of the WAEE Board, chaired by Paul Wozniak
developed a WAEE Communications Plan addressing this need.
Also during 1998, the staff of the UW-SP based National Environmental
Education Advancement Project (NEEAP) worked with representatives of the
WAEE Communications Committee, WEEB, the Wisconsin Center for
Environmental Education, UW Extension, and the Wisconsin Department of
Natural Resources to develop the "EE Works for Wisconsin" promotional
materials. In January of 1998 NEEAP and the WAEE Communications
Committee sponsored a media training workshop for Wisconsin EE leaders.
Also during 1998, a Communications Committee of the Wisconsin Environmental
Education Board, chaired by Pat Marinac, developed a plan to build upon
previous efforts to promote EE in Wisconsin. During the summer of 1999 Dr. Rick
Wilke proposed bringing together the WAEE, WEEB and NEEAP efforts for the
purpose of more effectively promoting EE in Wisconsin. He offered the
assistance of graduate students in his EE Research Seminar. The graduate
students with advice from Dr. Wilke and input from key representatives of WAEE,
WEEB and NEEAP designed and assisted in the implementation of a
communication plan to promote EE in Wisconsin. The group used the WAEE
Communication Plan as a starting point in the development of their plan.
VISION
The development and implementation of a Wisconsin EE
Communications/Promotion Plan will result in a demonstrated increase in
recognition, acceptance and support for EE by decision makers on school
boards, parent organizations, school administrative staffs, members of the
legislature, and the news media.
MISSION
To achieve broader public acceptance and support for EE in Wisconsin.
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GOALS
1. To communicate the value of EE to Wisconsin school board members and
school administrative staff and to increase their support for EE.
2. To help elected/appointed officials understand the importance of EE and
increase their support of EE programs.
3. To increase recognition and support for EE by members of the news
media in Wisconsin.
4. To increase support from parents and members of parent organizations
for EE within their schools.
5. To improve the implementation of Wisconsin’s existing EE teacher training
requirement at universities and colleges.
A major part of the effort to achieve these goals will be completed by volunteers
across the state, including parents, teachers, administrators, and business
people who support EE in Wisconsin. To help these volunteers become
organized and to give them a head start in their effort, an organizing packet was
developed and will be sent to select individuals across the state (UWSP EE
Summer Master’s program students, EE Liaisons, and EE centers/organizations
in the state). The packet will describe for the volunteers what kind of action is
needed to support EE in their community and how they can take that action. It
will include the following information pertaining to all five goals:
o Information about how to use the packet
o Frequently Asked Questions about EE
o 12 Reasons for EE
o "EE Works for Wisconsin" brochure
o Tips for writing letters and news releases in support of EE
o Questions for parents to ask school boards about EE in their
community
o Example letters and news releases in support of EE including:
o Letter from a parent to parent organization
o Letter from a teacher to parent organization
o Letter to the editor to alert public of the need for EE
o Letter to the editor to encourage school district
support for EE
o Letter to school board member from parent
o Follow up letter to school board member from parent
o News release highlighting key messages of EE and
successful EE programs in the area
Specific examples of documents to assist with all the organization or
implementation steps with an asterisk (*) after them are included in a separate
organizing packet.
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GOAL # 1
To communicate the value of EE to Wisconsin school board members and school
administrative staffs and to increase their support for EE.
Objective 1A – School boards and school administrative staffs will
evaluate their district’s K-12 EE curriculum requirements and
support the development and implementation of curriculum plans
based on the new DPI EE Guidelines.
Objective 1B - School boards and school administrative staffs will
increase their support for EE programs by placing greater emphasis
on funding and staff development.
Strategies for Targeting School Boards and School Administrative Staffs
A) Organizational Steps
o Obtain mailing lists of school administrative staffs, including school
principals, curriculum coordinators and district superintendents.
o Determine the level of implementation and evaluation of the
legislatively required EE Curriculum plans in Wisconsin school
districts through surveys completed with the assistance of the EE
Liaison Teachers and the teachers enrolled in the Summer EE
Master’s program at the UW-SP. (Based on prior research and on
recently completed research it is known that implementation levels
are low).
o Develop a news release highlighting the lack of school district
compliance with state legislation and Department of Public
Instruction rules requiring the development, implementation and
evaluation of K-12 EE Curriculum Plans. The story will also point to
other shortcomings: a) lack of EE assessment, b) unlike
surrounding states, Wisconsin has no DPI EE Specialist position,
etc. Story – Wisconsin schools are not meeting state requirements
to provide an environmental education to our children. Surrounding
states are doing much more. This is in spite of the fact that 96% of
the nation’s parents want EE taught to their children in schools.
o Develop components of the organizing packet including: *
o An explanation of the benefits of EE
o Example letters to school board members and school
administrative staffs
o Specific questions to ask school board members and
school administrative staffs
o Key messages to communicate to school board
members and school administrative staffs
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GOAL # 2
To help elected/appointed officials understand the importance of EE and
increase their support of EE programs.
Objective 2A – Elected/appointed officials will support the
assessment of environmental literacy in conjunction with the
ongoing statewide student assessment programs administered by
the DPI.
Objective 2B – Elected/appointed officials will support the
reinstatement of the EE Specialist position in the DPI.
Objective 2C – Elected/appointed officials will specifically support
the WEEB and its programs.
Strategies for Targeting Elected/Appointed Officials
A) Organizational Steps
o Request WEEB support for annual environmental literacy
assessment of Wisconsin students. The research project would: a)
identify the existing state assessment questions that address the
Wisconsin EE Standards, b) identify voids where the EE standards
are not being assessed, c) develop valid and reliable questions to
fill the voids, d) provide assistance to DPI in inserting the questions
in appropriate on-going state assessments, and e) provide an
annual environmental literacy assessment of Wisconsin students.
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GOAL # 3
To increase recognition and support for EE by members of the news media in
Wisconsin.
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GOAL # 4
To increase support from parents and members of parent organizations for EE
within their schools.
Objective 4A- Parent organizations will increase financial support
and volunteer time on behalf of EE programs in their schools.
Objective 4B – The number of parents expressing support for EE
programming to schoolteachers, administrators, and school board
members will increase.
Strategies for Targeting Parents and Members of Parent Organizations
A) Organizational Steps
o Identify the parent organizations for schools or school districts and
the contact people for these organizations.
o Identify the manner that the parent organization can further EE.
Some examples include: using profits raised from parent
organization fundraisers to purchase EE materials or to fund
residential or day visits to local environmental education/nature
centers or providing parent volunteers as chaperones on EE field
trips or assisting teachers in the classroom with EE activities.
o Develop components of the organizing packet including: *
Laws governing EE curriculum implementation
The current level of EE curriculum implementation
Statistics on parental support for EE
o An example letter to request support from parent
organizations for EE. The promotional material "EE
Works for Wisconsin" should be included.
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B) Implementation Steps
o Alert environmental educators, specifically those individuals
receiving the organizing packet, as to the benefits of parental
support.
o Encourage environmental educators, EE centers/organizations,
teachers and parents to write letters and/or give presentations to
parent organizations describing ways parent organizations can be
involved in supporting EE programs at their school. *
o Encourage formal and nonformal environmental educators to
request support from parent organizations for specific upcoming
programs, activities, and events. *
o Encourage organizations to write new releases supporting and
describing the benefits of EE with the target audience of these
releases being parents and parent organizations. *
GOAL # 5
To improve the implementation of Wisconsin’s existing EE teacher training
requirement at universities and colleges.
Objective 5A – The EE Specialist position will be reinstated at the
DPI.
Objective 5B – The DPI will evaluate the implementation of the EE
teacher training requirement at universities and colleges.
Strategies for Targeting Wisconsin’s Universities and Colleges
A) Organizational Steps
o Identify teachers who have graduated from teacher training
programs in Wisconsin and are interested in becoming involved in
efforts to communicate the need to evaluate the EE teacher training
requirement in Wisconsin universities and colleges.
o Develop a news release for appropriate newsletters (WAEE,
PTA/PTO environmental and business newsletters, etc.) and
targeted mailings (WAEE members, etc.) describing the need for
the reinstatement of the EE Specialist position at the DPI and a DPI
evaluation of EE teacher training requirements at universities and
colleges
o Identify interested parties who are willing to become involved in
communicating the need for an EE Specialist at the DPI and DPI
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The Heart Health Partnership(1) (HHP) consists of 18 organizations including
non-profit organizations, government agencies, and community groups and is
currently working in the Western Region of the province. The mission of the HHP
is "to work with communities and individuals in discovering and using effective
ways to improve the heart health of Nova Scotians." The Heart Health
Partnership has been working toward enhancing an infrastructure for health
promotion at the community level (through existing structures), which will
ultimately lead to improved cardiovascular health outcomes at the community
level. The Partnership will demonstrate how to work with intersectoral
partnerships to build skills, knowledge, and abilities to mobilize communities to
improve overall health and wellness.
Catalyzed by Heart Health Nova Scotia (HHNS), a cardiovascular disease
prevention program, the HHP will act as model for other organizations,
governments, and policy-makers concerned with improving the health of
populations through preventive strategies. Research has shown that health
promotion and disease prevention initiatives are effective and can help to reduce
factors that lead to ill health (such as smoking, high fat diets, not being physically
active, and high blood pressure). However, in order for these initiatives to be
effective, resources (both human and financial) need to be allocated and policy
decisions that will support these efforts need development.
The Heart Health Partnership is part of an international initiative, which involves
27 countries from Europe and Latin America, whose aim is to reduce risk factors
that lead to chronic diseases. This program has been extremely successful in
countries like Finland, where there is strong political leadership for reformation
and improvements in the health system through promotion and prevention. Since
the inception of this initiative in Finland in 1972, there has been a 72% decline in
cardiovascular disease. This effort has also realized improvements in reduced
cancer rates.
Governments have a large role to play in mobilizing existing community
structures, which enhances a community's capacity to take control of their own
health. Resources and policies need to be in place to sustain this effort in the
long-term. The current Nova Scotia government has made a commitment to
doing this and has launched an ambitious health system restructuring plan. As
health promoters we want to ensure that the government is successful in doing
this and that a balance is struck between acute care, health promotion and
prevention initiatives. Individual and collective concerns need to be expressed so
that the development of the provincial health policy reflects a broad definition of
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health care that includes health promotion and disease prevention as essential
parts of creating a healthier Nova Scotia.
The Heart Health Partnership met to discuss strategies and key concerns facing
the health sector as it relates to health promotion and chronic disease
prevention. The following is a summary of the issues and the strategies the group
feels need to be acted on in the upcoming months.
The time to participate is now. The Government will be making key decisions on
the structure of the Province's health care programs over the next two months.
Stakeholders know that the time is right to become involved so that they can help
communities and the Government develop a plan that will meet the health
concerns of Nova Scotians.
1. These partners include: Adult Education Section, Department of Education and Culture; Annapolis Valley Regional
School Board; Canadian Cancer Society, Nova Scotia Division; Community Links; Family Studies Teachers
Association; Heart and Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia; Heart Health Nova Scotia; Nova Scotia Department of
Health; Nova Scotia Dietetics Association; Nova Scotia Federation of Home and School Associations; Nova Scotia
Home Economics Association; Nova Scotia Sport and Recreation Commission; Provincial Library, Nova Scotia
Department of Education and Culture; Public Health Service, Western Regional Health Board; School of Nutrition and
Food Science, Acadia University; Southwest Regional School Board; Western Regional Health Board; Women's
Institute of Nova Scotia.
ORGANIZATIONAL GOAL:
To ensure communities in Nova Scotia and the government succeed in building a
responsive, outcome-based and efficient health care system by investing in
wellness, health promotion and chronic disease prevention initiatives.
COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES:
• To present in clear and simple language the economic and social benefits
of investing in health promotion/wellness/disease prevention programs
• To link the benefits of health promotion initiatives with health partner's
success stories (although this campaign is coordinated by Heart Health,
the testimonials from other health based organizations will lend credibility
and strength to the overall goal)
• To have the Nova Scotia Government take concrete steps to invest in
health promotion and chronic disease prevention including allocating
adequate resources in the February 2000 budget
• To have the Nova Scotia Government create infrastructure and processes
necessary to enable healthy public policy and intersectoral decision
making
• To encourage and support the Heart Health Partnership organizations to
take individual and collective action to support health promotion and
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KEY MESSAGES:
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ACTION LIST:
Action
Deadline
Responsibility
Meet with the Heart Health Partnership to discuss the needs and the goal for a public education
initiative. Address key issues and strategies
November 24
Michelle, Heart Health Partnership
Develop Fact Sheet/Question and Answer: A Pie Chart graph which outlines where the health care
dollars go could be beneficial to the case
December 9
Michelle and Heart Health NS
Media: Connect with all media contacts that heart health partners have association with
December 7-10
Michelle and Heart Health NS
Inform MLAs of the benefits of health promotion programs: include cover letter, fact sheet - i.e.; Neil
Leblanc, Jamie Muir, Dr. Hamm
December 22 and
beyond
Heart Health Partnership
Encourage supporters/Heart Health staff to submit an editorial on the benefits of health promotion -
reinforce economic indicators and link them to benefits
December 22 and
beyond
Heart Health Partnership
Share listing of MLAs with health partners (website address as well) encourage them to connect
with their representative personally
December 9
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Heart Health NS
Encourage Heart Health Partners to promote health promotion in all of their internal and external
communication vehicles: Faxes, newsletters, Christmas cards
December 9 and
beyond
Heart Health Partnership
Draft a resolution that promotes the aims and goals of health promotion. Declare January Health
Promotion Month - have Premier endorse a proclamation
Phase 11, after
December 22
Heart Health Partnership
Upload all campaign materials to Heart Health website and encourage health partners to link their
sites to it
December 9
Heart Health NS
Develop and distribute evaluation pieces: i.e., a "How did it Go"? form and activity support
summary
Phase 11, after
December 22 and
beyond
Heart Health NS
EVALUATION SUMMARY:
After the campaign has concluded a formal evaluation with the Heart Health
Partnership will be conducted. Data, which should include an evaluation form and
an activity sheet from each of the health partners will assist in assessing the
success of this initiative. Media tracking measurements should be obtained so
that a true and accurate reflection of PSA/Print/Interview/Broadcast coverage is
presented.
The following evaluation indicators have been established which will provide a
benchmark for the success of this Campaign:
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Campaign Goal
• To educate and enable America's youth to reject illegal drugs. This
includes preventing the initiation of drug use and encouraging occasional
users to discontinue use.
Target Audiences
1. Youth ages 9 to 18, segmented by:
o School level: Primary focus on middle school age adolescents
(approximately ages 11 to 13).
o School level: Secondary focus on high school age youth
(approximately ages 14 to18) and late elementary school age
adolescents (approximately ages 9 to 11).
o Risk status: Primary focus on at-risk non-users and occasional
users of drugs.
And with consideration, as appropriate, of:
o Gender differences.
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4. Enhance personal and social skills that promote resistance to drug use
and positive lifestyle choices. These include decision-making skills,
problem-solving skills, adaptive and coping skills, resistance to persuasive
influences (e.g., critical viewing skills/media literacy), and general social
and assertiveness skills.
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2. Make parents aware that their children are at risk for using drugs and are
vulnerable to the negative consequences of drug use.
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• To achieve the maximum effect, the campaign should use a full range of
media mechanisms and formats in an integrated fashion and in a manner
consistent with the communication strategy.
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• The more audience members can be engaged to actually think about the
message (including imagined or actual rehearsal of the recommended
behavior), the more likely they are to experience appropriate changes in
knowledge, attitudes, and behavior.33 Characteristics of message
executions that encourage active attention include unusual, unfamiliar and
novel presentations of the information, presentations in discrepant or
unexpected contexts, and specific cues requesting audience members to
attend to the information.
• Fear appeals can be effective, but only in combination with messages that
heighten viewers' feeling of vulnerability to the threat and offer them a
solution that is easy and effective.
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• Although teenagers want to "belong" and "fit in" they don't want to be like
everyone else. Teenagers are striving to carve out a unique identity for
themselves, and like to think that they are independent thinkers who have
reached their own conclusions. Thus, advertisements that place the facts
before them without explicitly exhorting them to subscribe to the message
are likely to be well received. Similarly, advertisements that present and
market a certain image without explicitly stating the desirability or
undesirability of that image are likely to have a better impact than those
that are too obvious.
• Given the need for universal messages and the multicultural perspective
of youth culture, where possible, messages should feature youth with
diverse ethnic backgrounds.
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© IMPACS 2002
INSTITUTE for MEDIA, POLICY and CIVIL SOCIETY
Phone: 604.682.1953
Toll-free: 877.232.0122
Fax: 604.682.4353
Email: media@impacs.org
Web: www.impacs.org