Coronavirus comms for charities

Here are some useful links and good reads to help you manage your own charity’s response.

 

 

Writing about Covid19 for beneficiaries

Information about the virus is changing all the time. Keep an eye on official advice which is being updated on a daily basis and share / incorporate it into your comms:

• NHS advice about coronavirus including an online symptom checker.
• Gov.uk has updates on the government response.
• The Department of Health and Social Care have been sharing updates and advice such as short social media comms about good hygiene and this WhatsApp message to share with family and friends – “be a handwashing champion”.

 

• Download resources from Public Health England – includes posters, leaflets and guides.
• This video about handwashing and prevention from WEF is one of the clearest I have seen.

 

Knowing what and when to communicate about coronavirus depends on what type of organisation you are. If you are a health charity, one working with older people or one with public-access buildings, you may be sharing updates already, especially if you are getting lots of helpline calls or forum discussions about risk. As there is so much misinformation circulating, this is your chance to be the go-to authority on the subject for people with specific needs and spreading good advice.

 

Dan Slee says that “we have all become public health communicators whether we like it or not”. In his post (The basics of communicating the coronavirus), he shares lots of useful tips about making sure your information is factual and shareable. And also notes that your comms need to go where the people are as rumour and misinformation circulate (Enlist a team to play whack-a-mole with online rumour).

 

Examples

Here are some examples of information charities have created for the people they represent:

• Many health charities are sharing information. Look at Asthma UK, Sue Ryder, Diabetes UK, Cystic Fibrosis Trusts, Crohn’s and Colitis UK and British Liver Trust – examples gathered in this Twitter Moment.
• Reports suggest that older people are more at risk. Age UK have been sharing updates via social media and have added a prominent link on their homepage to their Age UK advice page.
• Bloodwise shared general advice on Facebook ahead of writing more specific guidance. Their tweet promoting this is pinned so is easy to find. It is clearly laid out and signposts to sources of help.

• This information has now been superceded by a guide and Q&A produced by 19 cancer charities under the One Cancer Voice group.

• If specific information about the implications of the virus on the health condition you represent hasn’t been released, issuing a statement to say that, is better than saying nothing. See this tweet from Tiny Tickers CEO Jon Arnold.

• Is information easily available in different languages and alternative formats? This tweet from Action on Hearing Loss shares a BSL translation of health information.

• Mental Health Foundation shared information about looking after your mental health during an outbreak and Mind wrote about coronavirus and your wellbeing, focussing on planning ahead for self-isolation.
• Amnesty International UK created a gif to raise awareness about the spread of hate and racism connected with the virus.

• Good Things Foundation released information about accessing digital healthcare – to support people who may have to do this for the first time due to the virus. Using the internet to get ready for coronavirus.

Comms tips

Think accessibility – not everyone can read the text on an image. At the moment, charities are mostly using graphics and text. These can quickly share information in an unambiguous way (see this BBC article of 5 coronavirus graphics for some other examples). If you are sharing images with text on via social media, don’t forget to include a link to a web page where the same information can be read and/or repeat the text in your post.

 

Make information easy to find. Pin your tweets. Use the hashtag. Add the story to your homepage.

Only ever link to one page which you are keeping up to date. As the situation develops you don’t want people to be seeing old advice. They may be seeing old posts or looking at old emails but at least you’ll know they can click through for current information.

Don’t include information about the current number of cases or deaths. This instantly dates your information and shows that it is not up-to-date.

 

As the situation develops, you may need to use more effective and urgent ways to communicate your messages. Are you able to use video or audio or other methods to respond to a crisis comms situation? Can you send out mass emails to your stakeholders? What do you need to prepare now? Are your crisis comms processes up-to-date? See this thread from Gemma Pettman sharing crisis comms planning tips.

 

 

Check your scheduled messages. Be aware that the situation could change over the coming days/weeks.

 

You might worry about being seen to be adding to an overreaction. Calm comms about good hygiene and risks may be enough for you.

 

Equally, there may be a chance to stand out with some warmer comms:

• This tweet shares a list of alternative songs (to Happy Birthday) to fill 20 seconds of handwashing.

• LGBT Foundation also shared an alternative mantra to wash your hands to.

• Shakespeare Theatre Company in America shared lines from Macbeth.

• Monster Supplies – the shop from Ministry of Stories – promoted their tins of escalating panic product.

 

Running your organisation

Internally you may be looking at the possible impact of a wider spread of the virus and what this might mean for how you operate.

 

What steps should you take internally to reduce risk? For example, can staff work without travelling or could you operate on a reduced staff if people have to stay at home (if they are ill or their children’s schools close and they have to be at home)? Are you providing adequate facilities for handwashing?

 

Here’s some of the current advice:

• Coronavirus: advice for employers and employees – acas. Simple steps to help protect the health and safety of staff.
• COVID-19: guidance for employers and businesses – gov.uk advice about how to prevent the spread of the virus at work and what to do if someone has a suspected case.
• Zurich have produced a risk assessment guide – Organisational Resilience: Guidance on Pandemic Planning.
• Small Charities Coalition shared a special bulletin using some of Zurich’s questions, to help small charities consider their response.
• NCVO have shared detailed advice and will keep their page live. This now includes information about supporting communities who may be facing discrimination.

This short post from Russell Findlay shares his organisation’s own planning process.

 

Reassuring staff and volunteers that you are prepared is key. Internal comms should play a vital role. What internal comms systems do you use? Do they work to reach everyone? There is some good advice in this post by Rachel Miller of All Things IC.

 

What does the situation mean for the services you run? What might you need to do more of or change? How are you communicating this externally and internally to inform and reassure people involved? How are you sharing best practice advice?

 

For example, if you run a helpline, how are you making sure your information is current? If you run a community centre, might you be called upon to be an incident hub? If you are a community volunteering charity, are you keeping volunteers in touch with how they might be needed? And reassuring them about measures you’ll be taking to protect them?

• British Red Cross have a link from their homepage about the different ways they are helping with coronavirus.
• St John Ambulance have a pinned tweet saying they are ready to respond.

• Homeless Link have shared advice for people working in the homelessness sector.

Virtual working

More people are talking about virtual working as a way to reduce risk. It can be a real shift for an organisation if you are not used to working like this. Here are some useful links:

• KnowHow article about virtual teams.
• A useful post from Beth Kanter about how to facilitate effective virtual meetings.
• How to run a virtual away day – Olly Benson.
• How to run a virtual online conference – Fundraising Everywhere.
• The ultimate guide to working from home, by freelancers who know – Freelance Heroes.
• Thread of tips about working from home by Jon Arnold based on the experience of Tiny Tickers who operate remotely.

 

 

Fundraising

There have been discussions about the impact on fundraising, especially if big events are cancelled (eg the Barcelona Marathon has just been postponed until October).

• The Institute of Fundraising have shared their advice.
• This thread by fundraiser Russell Benson offers great tips and alternative options for events fundraisers.

 

Voluntary sector leaders have collectively written a letter to the Chancellor to act to address impact of coronavirus on the sector.

 

Other good reads / useful links

• Joe Freeman looks at how social platforms are signposting to trusted sources of information in his Week Notes 35.
• ‘Urgent advice’ needed to protect rough sleepers amid coronavirus outbreak – HuffPost UK.
• WHO joins TikTok to fight coronavirus misinformation – engadget.
• Coronavirus: charities rally to help older people in self-isolation – Guardian.
• Why we should care: Common questions and answers about covid-19 – Dave Troy.

Have you read anything else useful I should add here? Or seen examples? Let me know. I’ll add more useful links here as I find them.