Background – An international nonprofit organization contacted the Fallston Group due to the professional and personal reputations of its key executives and Board members being tarnished anonymously by people via social media outlets. The attacks accused organizational leaders of financial mismanagement, gross misconduct and malicious behavior. As a result, key stakeholders, including investigative/oversight bodies, were questioning the validity of the accusations due to the lack of response by nonprofit leadership. By their own admission, leadership didn’t know how to address the attacks, strategically or technically.
Strategy & Results – Members of the Fallston Group quickly engaged. After a series of discovery meetings with executive and Board members, the accusations were investigated by the Fallston Group using interview, document review and digital search techniques. The accusations were quickly deemed unfounded. As a result, core message points were developed by the Fallston Group and key written and verbal messages were quickly and efficiently delivered by nonprofit executives through various distribution points and channels. The well-crafted message points provided the necessary transparency, balance and perspective stakeholders needed to again gain a strong sense of confidence in current leadership. Stakeholder sentiment quickly turned positive while both mainstream and social media channels were monitored by the Fallston Group. The malicious attacks stopped immediately as the organization told its story with a sense of confidence. As a result, oversight bodies turned their attention elsewhere and the nonprofit regained focus after this major, unwarranted distraction was eliminated. The international organization has now reshaped its communications strategy, enabling it to proactively trumpet its positive news while managing sensitive issues in a forthright fashion.
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