By Christina Garcia

Good communication strategies can help social enterprises tell their stories

“You have one minute with a reporter, what’s the headline?” I panicked. After 20 minutes reviewing the findings from the recently released Mathematica Jobs Study with REDF’s board, I was posed the hardest question. How could I pack an entire report into one sentence?  

But then I thought about the original purpose of the study and I realized, it was simple. We’re employing people who really need a job and their lives are improving because of it.

In 2010, we received a federal award from the Corporation for National and Community Service’s Social Innovation Fund to provide grants and technical assistance exclusively to mission-driven businesses that focus on hiring and assisting people who have the hardest time getting a job, like people who’ve been in prison or homeless, young people who are disconnected from work or school, and those who live with mental health disabilities.

The Mathematica Jobs Study provides evidence and evaluation to show that social enterprises provide a cost-effective way to both improve the lives of people who face barriers to work and generate savings for communities and taxpayers. It was important for us to share the results from the study in a way that would be understandable to a wide audience including, nonprofits, the business community, government and philanthropy, as well as the general public and media.

From drafting blog posts to carefully crafting social media messages, here are 10 tips to help you successfully communicate your organization’s evaluation reports:

1. Establish goals: What do you want to accomplish by sharing your results?  Where possible, goals should be measurable so you can show what you accomplished.  
   
2. Know your audience(s): Identify who your primary and secondary audiences are. Different audiences require different communication approaches – it’s not one size fits all. Be sure you understand their interests, challenges, needs, and communications preferences (e.g., social media, phone calls, email). 
   
3. Outline key messages: To engage your audiences, identify the three things about your results they should know. Develop messages that are understandable and relatable for people outside of the field. Keep in mind messages should be relevant, strategic, compelling, and simple. 
   
4. Be transparent: Affirm the positives. Acknowledge disappointing results. Don’t forget to recognize all who were involved in developing the results. Mixed or disappointing results provide valuable knowledge to strengthen and innovate solutions.
5. Keep it simple: Develop messaging and an outreach plan that is understandable, relatable, and realistic. Watch out for any jargon that may alienate people outside of the field.
6. Develop an outreach plan: Keep your goals in mind when developing your announcement plan and outreach strategy. Where do you want to see your messages and results? You can develop an embargoed op-ed and send to a select media outlet; host an editorial board; place your results on sector-focused blog; present at a relevant conference; or engage existing partners. There are many options, so focus on the tactics that work best for your organization.
   
7. Data is your friend: The data and results are stories of real people. Bring that forward in your messaging and outreach. Share data points that are most relevant to your audience’s interests or can help them address a challenge. Create shareable graphics with your strongest points to share on social media as well. 
   
8. Show impact through stories: There’s a human aspect to data that’s easy to overlook. Identify people who benefited from your program, and would be willing to share their story with a larger audience. Remember: your results are about the people served by your work. 
   
9. Be prepared: Once the results are public, arm your stakeholders with the information they need to disseminate you messages. Provide board members, staff, and other stakeholders with a communications toolkit. This could include talking points, key messages, presentation slides with key findings, customizable blog post, shareable graphics, and a “tough Q&A” to help them consistently discuss the results.
   
10. Think long-term: Maximize the impact of your results by integrating key findings and opportunities into organizational planning, messaging, and fundraising.
    

Finding ways to easily share complex results can be a daunting task, but following these 10 tips will provide you with a roadmap to get started.

The Mathematica Jobs Study report is based upon work supported by the Social Innovation Fund. You can find more about the report findings on www.redf.org/jobsreport. Christina Garcia is the Managing Director of REDF.