The document discusses the risks nonprofits and foundations face when working on politically charged issues. It emphasizes that such organizations must have crisis response strategies in place to deal with potential attacks on their reputation. It also stresses the importance of understanding the political landscape surrounding the issues they work on. Not having proper brand positioning, crisis plans, or knowledge of the field can lead organizations to overreact to attacks in a way that further damages their reputation or sets back their goals long-term. The document provides examples of how to effectively frame issues and respond to criticism.

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2. Nonprofit / Foundations have a role to play in shaping public policy
Political issues are essential to furthering this cause
Political battlegrounds are multi‐layered, with ill‐defined layers
An attack can be enough to permanently alter your future
Examples
To play in this space, you must have some appetite to risk that
reputation
There are no zero risk options
“Being right is not a bullet proof vest” (find Ray Liotta clip)
It’s not enough to have facts on your side
You don’t have to have done anything wrong to be attacked, and for it
to hurt
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3. Nonprofit / Foundations have a role to play in shaping public policy
Political issues are essential to furthering this cause
Political battlegrounds are multi‐layered, with ill‐defined layers
An attack can be enough to permanently alter your future
Examples
To play in this space, you must have some appetite to risk that
reputation
There are no zero risk options
“Being right is not a bullet proof vest” (find Ray Liotta clip)
It’s not enough to have facts on your side
You don’t have to have done anything wrong to be attacked, and for it
to hurt
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4. Shaun introduction slide
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5. Lessons learned:
1. You don’t always control the story, so your team better know their roll. (employee said
she’d be fired if she talked to press)
2. Voice, tone, and framing is essential to getting the coverage you seek. (O’Malley called
it a sparkler)
3. Negative frames have opposite effect
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6. Lessons learned:
1. You don’t always control the story, so your team better know their roll.
2. Voice, tone, and framing is essential to getting the coverage you seek. (O’Malley called
it a sparkler)
3. Negative frames have opposite effect
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7. Here’s a good example of how negating a frame goes terribly wrong
‐ Provide alternative frame, not direct challenges to frames
‐ Negative frames reinforce, not erase
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8. A sudden, out of control story is something that can’t be solved with just a good marketing
strategy. When foundations and nonprofits find themselves working on issues that are
politically charged, they are entering waters that are occupied by others. So it is imperative
that a deliberate effort is put into reshaping the conversation.
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9. As Foundations and Nonprofits, when we are working on a politically charged issue, it’s
important to remember that shaping the conversation is a lot like the input/output on an
electronic device.
If the output you want is X, then your input to the conversation has to be something
different. It’s about where you enter the conversation.
Not everyone agrees with Common Core, but virtually everyone agrees that our schools
should prepare students for the future.
Not everyone agrees about what to do about illegal immigration, but everyone agrees that
we are an innovative nation that solves big problems.
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10. Concede the opposing frame: “Common Core may be more difficult for our students but it’s
worth it.”
As opposed to “Common Core prepares all students for the skills and strengths they’ll need
after high school. It allows our schools to keep up with the times.”
Promote negative frames: “Climate change is not something one political party made up.
It’s real and we need to address it.”
As opposed to: “We can be innovative and resourceful when combatting our most pressing
challenges as Americans, including the impact we have on our planet.”
Crisis oriented: “Too many people in this country are uninsured, creating one of the
greatest civil rights crises of our time.”
As opposed to: “It’s shameful that as the richest country in America, there are people who
are without the healthcare they need. The good news is, we can solve this problem.”
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11. Let’s be honest… even with the most well‐framed messaging, if you’re playing in politically
charged waters, you are still vulnerable to attack. Let’s ensure that an attack amount to
something more productive than a communications director looking like this at their desk.
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12. Each participant lists on a paper:
Issue they want to work on
A group, individual or movement that could attack them on that issue
The argument they would use to attack
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13. Prerequisites to playing in a political environment
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14. Prerequisites to playing in a political environment
Brand positioning process
What sets you apart?
What is your brand promise?  experience people get after
working with you?
Why are you right?
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15. Prerequisites to playing in a political environment
Crisis response strategy
What keeps us up at night?
What is fueling the fire?
Who does the talking?
How do we get back on track?
How do we prevent the next one?
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16. Prerequisites to playing in a political environment
An understanding of the landscape
How hot is the issue, and how hot could it become?
Landmark court case on the horizon?
Getting media attention now? Soon?
Are others paying attention to it? Advocates? Funders?
Candidates?
Who are the fringe extreme players on all sides?
What is their history?
What are their tactics?
How are they perceived?
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17. Ask yourself:
Do we know who our friends are?
Are we equipped to respond quickly and forcefully, if needed?
Do we have the appetite to get into a public fight on this?
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18. What’s at risk for not having these things in place
Brand positioning
you get lumped into an attack on someone else in your field
your issue gets hijacked to represent a solution you don’t
support
Crisis response
Rogue Executive
Poor response leads to process stories (examples)
Remaining insular, wrong spox, insufficient infrastructure
Understanding of the landscape
Overreaction will lead to the furtherance of a negative story
unnecessarily
A poorly timed, or poorly executed launch means you can’t go
back for another few years. You don’t get to just hit the reset
button and try again. You’ve set the clock backwards
significantly.
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19. What’s at risk for not having these things in place
Brand positioning
you get lumped into an attack on someone else in your field
your issue gets hijacked to represent a solution you don’t
support
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20. What’s at risk for not having these things in place
Crisis response
Rogue Executive
Poor response leads to process stories (examples)
Remaining insular, wrong spox, insufficient infrastructure
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21. What’s at risk for not having these things in place
Understanding of the landscape
Overreaction will lead to the furtherance of a negative story
unnecessarily
A poorly timed, or poorly executed launch means you can’t go
back for another few years. You don’t get to just hit the reset
button and try again. You’ve set the clock backwards
significantly.
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22. What does an attack look like?
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23. Growing Demand – the difference between a single tweet and a crowd of protestors at
your doorstep
Elevated Exposure – the difference between a single‐day story buried in the Metro Section
and a promoted expose on the 11 o’clock news.
Credible Source – the media knows who the crazies are, and you should, too.
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25. Clear lines of notification and accountability – chain of command need not apply
Incident response team – everyone knows their role
Risk assessment and next steps – this provides a calm, predictable atmosphere each time
something happens
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28. All organizational stakeholders should have full authority to go straight to the top in the
lead‐up or midst of a reputation attack.
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29. A guy in his mom’s basement on twitter is not the same as an inquiry from the New York
Times.
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30. Perception is everything
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31. You have to swim in the waters you jumped into.
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32. Answer an emotional argument with a different emotion.
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33. This is a fight you won’t win. Accept the political frame and devise a strategy that embraces
it.
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34. Mark Sanford
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35. Chick‐Fil‐A
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36. See the full picture. Taking stories personally will almost always lead you down the wrong
path.
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37. Be sure others are seeing what you are seeing before deciding on a response strategy. If
you and your CEO are at odds, bring in a crisis expert to diagnose the problem first.
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