Social Impact Communications Consulting
I use the power of communications to assist grantmakers and non-profit agencies in tackling some of the biggest social inequities and conservation challenges in our world.
My planning, messaging, storytelling, marketing, community engagement and capacity strengthening help organizations improve the quality of people's lives and the environment.
Gisele McAuliffe
Communications Strategist for International Development, Conservation, Human Rights, Public Health & Emergency Response
Services
Results-driven Plans
Assessments and strategic communications plans that achieve program goals
EXAMPLE: How do you launch a communications operation that rapidly expands success for a start-up foundation focused on peace and economic development in southern Nigeria? Take a hands-on approach. • Assess prior outreach activities. • Travel the region to develop first-hand knowledge of the challenges, strengthen local relationships, gather stories and produce a large professional photo portfolio. • Refine the organization's brand to target investors and co-design an annual event to build strategic alliances. This strategy helped raise $92M in new investment in the region, plus international commendations for the foundation’s unique development model.
Community Engagement
Strategies for working collaboratively with communities on the issues they wish to change
EXAMPLE: How do you rapidly identify community concerns and proposed solutions so they can become powerful voices for policy change? • Collaborate with a large team of smartphone and “zoom” interviewers. • Record numerous interviews with community members on agreed topics each week over several months. • Package them into short videos that are disseminated over time across 77 selected Facebook pages with a combined audience of 24.1 million people. • Track quantitative and qualitative results in real-time to make adjustments and ensure success.
Storytelling
Interviews and images that enrich content, capture attention and inspire action
EXAMPLE: How do you exceed the expectations of major donors and convince them to double their financial support for your organization’s emergency relief activities? Conduct a comprehensive storytelling initiative. • Follow the delivery of donor-financed aid from its point of origin to deployment in the worst-hit regions. • Along the route, gather interviews, photos and amateur videos about relief operations and their impacts. • Create multi-media stories that are continuously disseminated to donors and other stakeholders. • After returning from the emergency site, meet with top-priority donors to share firsthand experiences, answer questions and provide inputs about new funding opportunities.
Capacity Strengthening
Improve staff skills in communication assessments, planning and leadership
EXAMPLE: How do you transfer advanced strategic planning skills to the communications team of a complex global social program? • Assess the trainees’ current capabilities. • Design a combined leadership coaching and experiential learning experience. • Guide the team in completing each step of the strategic process until they have created a new communication plan ready for implementation. • Conduct a post-training evaluation that affirms the team has acquired all the requisite planning skills.
Advocacy
Research and development of new frameworks for driving policy change
EXAMPLE: How do you expand access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene in developing nations? • Conduct opinion research of government officials in nine countries. • Create an advocacy communications framework and theory of change that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation subsequently uses to guide $265 million in grants across Africa and Asia.
