Executive Summary



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DRAFT

CIS of Georgia Network

Communications Plan - Template

Executive Summary

Communities In Schools (CIS) is the nation’s leading dropout prevention organization. CIS surrounds students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.

The state office provides technical assistance, training, program evaluation, fundraising support, advocacy and communications to local affiliates.

CIS believes every child needs and deserves “Five Basics®”

1. A one-on-one relationship with a caring adult

2. A safe place to learn and grow

3. A healthy start and a healthy future

4. A marketable skill to use upon graduation

5. A chance to give back to peers and community

The communications plan will help position CIS as a thought leader in education and increase awareness and demand for the CIS model. The model is cost effective, scalable, adaptable and focused on the neediest students. An independent, third-party evaluation from ICF International showed that CIS is the only dropout prevention program in the nation with scientifically-based evidence to prove that it increases graduation rates.

The communications plan should align with the business goals and the state office core functions, and include such things as stipulated by leadership that will help:

▪ Increase awareness and visibility

▪ Increase revenue from grants, businesses and individuals by a specific percentage and build a specific cash reserve

▪ Increase strategic partnerships by a specific percentage

▪ Increase volunteerism by a specific percentage

▪ Increase in-kind donations by a specific percentage

Situation Analysis

In this tight economy, many nonprofits are vying for the same dollars from the same funding sources. Communicating results and successes that are tied directly to academic achievement is what resonates in today’s environment. Business leaders want to know how CIS is helping their ROI and what we’re doing to prepare students for the global workforce. Marketing from this position/perspective of strength will set CIS apart from other nonprofits.

SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis

Strengths

▪ Solid reputation among those who know of our organization

▪ Effective CIS model with proven results known to work for children and families

▪ Dedicated, passionate staff

▪ Admirable mission that helps save taxpayer dollars as graduation rates increase

▪ Having Total Quality Systems (TQS) standards

▪ Reliable data and evaluation systems

Weaknesses

▪ Lack of overall awareness compared to other nonprofit organizations (i.e. Boys/Girls Club, Big Brothers/Sisters)

▪ Lack of integrated marketing efforts

▪ Undersized, overworked staff with limited resources

▪ Inconsistent messaging from local, state and national levels.

▪ Depth and breadth of funding base – lacking a strong system for generating larger amounts of funds

▪ Need for increased diversity of funding from all sources

Opportunities

▪ Implementation of the Influencer Campaign (it was introduced a couple of years ago is an opportunity to increase awareness via a grassroots movement that identifies: influencers, desired outcomes, required actions, ownership, timelines and results)

▪ Strengthen our awareness so CIS is viewed as a dropout prevention thought-leader

▪ Build deeper loyalty among donors/volunteers via social media and website engagement and increase/engage followers

▪ Leverage CIS multi-year model research and results

▪ Increase professional development of staff

▪ Leverage existing strong community/business ties and develop more to increase awareness

Threats

▪ Declining sponsorship opportunities

▪ Shrinking donations from businesses and individuals

▪ Declining revenues from local, state and federal entities

▪ Declining school budgets

Key CIS of Georgia Strategy

I. Clearly define key audiences/stakeholders in order of priority that we want to address (CIS of Georgia’s goals in this area are defined in the Influencer Campaign but haven’t been implemented.)

State

Governor

Legislative education committee members

Lobbyists

State legislators

State departments affected by education (i.e. Dept. of Labor, Dept. of Economic Development)

State organizations that have an interest in education

State trade associations

State Chamber of Commerce

State officials (i.e. Secretary of State, Lt. Governor, Attorney General)

Corporate/Corporate Leaders

Businesses with headquarters in Georgia

Businesses with substantial presence in Georgia

Businesses with education as a focus

Education

Georgia Department of Education (Superintendent/staff)

State Board of Education

Board of Regents

Presidents of state and community colleges

Superintendents and staff

Key education consultants

U.S. Department of Education

National education leaders

State education associations

Local school associations

Foundations/Philanthropic Leaders

Local

Regional

State

National

Local

Elected officials

Chambers of Commerce

Community/civic organizations

Parents/community residents

Associations

Student organizations

Neighborhood associations

Faith-based organizations

Staff

CIS of Georgia

CIS local staff/boards

Media/Key Publications

Local

Regional

State

National

Key goals for Communications Department (specifics are in the annual plan)

• Educate stakeholders regarding what CIS is and does (the impact/results)

• Build and promote the CIS brand (internal and external)

• Promote statewide partnerships, advocacy and influence

Big buckets underneath these broad goals include:

Educate Stakeholders

• Develop concise messaging to speak in one voice.

• Develop speaker’s bureau and ambassador program to talk about the work/results.

• Develop earned media plan including identifying and working with influencers to write op-ed pieces and letters to the editor on behalf of CIS or mention CIS in their education, literacy and dropout pieces.

Build & Promote/Strengthen Brand

• Make the website more robust relative to social media/marketing and build an effective e-marketing campaign to increase donors and inform stakeholders regarding work/results.

• Provide PR/marketing plans for CIS of Georgia and develop specific plans to strengthen and promote 5-7 local affiliates and Performance Learning Centers®.

• Manage PR and marketing activities for CIS of Georgia and specific PR statewide awareness events such as Dine Out For Kids and Student Achievement Month.

• Develop specific marketing plans/campaigns for various programs.

• Work with media and others to position CIS as education thought leaders.

• Secure success stories from network through site visitations and personal interviews.

• Provide more affiliate resources and improve communications.

• Increased social media presence that ties in to all campaigns

Increase Statewide Partnerships, Advocacy and Influence

• Help to fully implement the Influencer Campaign. The campaign’s objective is to build or enhance local relationships with community influencers. The relationships will help lead to media coverage, volunteers and donors. At the state level, it will help build a network of influence with legislators.

• Help develop a specific way to communicate policies that affect Georgia’s dropout problem and advocate. We need to focus advocacy efforts on those policies directly affecting CIS of Georgia programs. These policies should include promoting access to community-based integrated student services, endorsement of funding for small alternative high schools and increased funding for dropout prevention work.

Increase Internet Presence

Website

▪ Use the Flip Video more to promote successes through Facebook updates, or YouTube videos.

▪ Use the website as a mechanism to raise funds, obtain volunteers and obtain subscribers for e-news.

▪ Post blogs that will encourage interactivity with your visitors.

Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.)

▪ Create a content calendar for social media tools to ensure an effective outreach and increase followers.

▪ Use Facebook and Twitter more to updates and inform stakeholders about the day-to-day happenings, significant milestones, and noteworthy events of your organization.

▪ Use the Photo Album tool on Facebook to give the audience a visual representation of what CIS does.

▪ Enhance YouTube with more short informative videos.

▪ Link to each Georgia affiliate.

Work more with traditional media

Newspapers

▪ Get more op-ed pieces written by board members and key community and business leaders on CIS of Georgia’s behalf.

▪ Get board members and other key business leaders to write letters to the editor about CIS results and the economic benefits of a more educated workforce.

▪ Produce more advertisements

Television

▪ Get more PSAs aired

▪ Obtain more news segment coverage

▪ Distribute more press releases

Radio

▪ Produce more PSAs and advertising spots

▪ Obtain more interviews on public affairs programming and other shows about education.

▪ Distribute more press releases

Evaluation/Measurement

Dashboard Model

▪ Increased brochure requests

▪ Increased volunteerism numbers

▪ Increased donations

▪ Utilization of Google Analytics (number of website visitors, social media visitors, spike in requests for info when e-news, and other materials are sent out, etc.)

▪ Yearly content calendar for social media efforts

▪ Social media dashboard for each site that includes monthly goals, number of followers for each site per month, site interaction with followers and trending topics

Analysis

▪ Baseline – where are we at now and where do we want to go

▪ What channels are working?

▪ What are we missing out on?

▪ What can we do to improve our results?

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