Nova's Comms Guidance for Current Events Toolkit
In 2020, cries for accountability and solidarity around racial injustice were prominent. Organizations across the globe signaled their support and commitment to change. Higher Ed institutes, nonprofits and F500 companies were quick to issue statements across a spectrum: condemning racism, supporting Black employees and promising to do better. It is worth noting that, since those pledges were made, many organizations have dropped them completely or fallen very short of their bold commitments.
There is now an expectation that organizations will engage and respond to the world around them - and there is an explicit focus on issues of social justice and injustice. Within many organizations the task of deciding when to make a statement, what the statement should say and who the statement should go to falls on the shoulders of a few people - and they are overwhelmed.
There is no playbook for social injustice support, and especially when you add the capitalistic factors of consumers, donors, shareholders and board members into the mix. There is also no "objective" way to decide what should be spoken on. There will always be a level of subjectivity and "moral" guidance that is present.
This Toolkit includes:
Context
Guidance for Issuing Statements
- General considerations
- Example events
Internal Statements
- Signaling support for employees
- Sample communications approaches
External Statements
- Static external statements
- Dynamic external statement
Nova recommends that leaders engage in a time of non-crisis to understand what is important to them, what their boundaries are, and how they see the responsibility of the organization to societal change.
For anyone in the organization (and especially for highly visible leaders), each person who co-signs a statement should have an understanding of key relevant concepts. For example, don't have your CEO issue a statement pledging antiracism if they don't truly understand what that means. Co-signers don't have to be social justice scholars by any means, but they should be able to articulate and expand upon any statement that they endorse. Nova always recommends key leaders spend time articulating and refining their own personal narratives and passions around social justice.
In this Toolkit, Nova has outlined key considerations for issuing statements. Our hope is that your organization can use these to develop parameters to help guide the individuals who bear the weight of these decisions.
Use the form below to get in touch with our team and learn more about our Comms Guidance for Current Events Toolkit
