Communication strategy example for a regional food bank

What this communication strategy template includes

• ContextThe situation, the challenges to solve, and what is deliberately left out.
• Audience analysisEach audience, what they think now and what should change.
• Key messagesThe core message and the versions tailored to each audience.
• ChannelsWhat each channel is used for and how often.
• Communication calendarThe planned moments across the period.
• Feedback and listeningHow the organization checks that messages have landed.
• Priorities and measuresThree to five priorities, each with an owner, outcomes with a baseline and target, and the initiatives behind them.

Worked example

A complete communication strategy for a fictional organization: regional food bank supplying 410 partner pantries and meal programs across 16 counties.

Worked exampleCommunication strategy

Organization	Regional food bank supplying 410 partner pantries and meal programs across 16 counties (500 staff)
Ambition	Be known as a year-round hunger relief network that needs funds and public support more than cans, and make sure partners and staff hear our decisions from us first.
Horizon	1 year

Context

Where we are and what we are choosing

We distribute 118 million pounds of food a year through 410 partner pantries and meal programs, with 500 staff and 14,000 volunteers. Pantry visits are up 34% since 2023, and purchased food has grown from 22% to 41% of what we distribute. In our 2026 survey 72% of residents knew of us, but 58% believed canned food is what we need most and 23% named money. Food drives supply 2% of our food. Sixty-two percent of individual donations arrive in November and December. Among first-time pantry visitors, 44% waited more than a month to come. Only 61% of partners hear about allocation changes before they take effect.

Challenges

• The public pictures a holiday can drive. We now buy 41% of our food, so that picture sends us cans in December when we need cash in July.
• People who could use a pantry stay away out of embarrassment or a belief that others need it more, and our own appeals showing empty plates have fed that.
• Partners and frontline staff face neighbors and volunteers every day, yet they often learn of changes second-hand. Of our 500 staff, 310 have no work email and 47% can name this year's priorities.

We will focus on

• One message about funds and year-round need, repeated in every channel for twelve months.
• Neighbors who have not yet asked for help, reached in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.
• Partners and staff without a work email, told before any public announcement.

We will not

• Paid brand advertising, including the discounted television airtime a board member has offered. Reach will come from earned media, partners and volunteers.
• Stories and photos that show people at their lowest. They raise more in the short term and tell the neighbors we most want to reach that asking for food is shameful.
• Accounts on every social platform. We keep Facebook and Instagram, where our volunteers and donors are, and stop posting on X and TikTok.

Audience analysis

Audience	Current view	Desired view	Preferred channels
Residents and donors	The food bank collects cans at the holidays	Hunger is year-round and money buys more food than a can does	Local television and radio, email, Facebook, mail
Neighbors who need food	It is for people worse off than me, and I will be judged	Anyone can come, no proof is needed, and a pantry near me is open this week	Text line, schools, clinics, pantries, Spanish and Vietnamese radio
Partner pantries and meal programs	Decisions arrive from the warehouse without warning	We are told first, asked early and given the reasons	Partner portal, monthly call, regional meetings
Volunteers	A good way to spend a Saturday sorting cans	I am part of a year-round effort and can give, speak up and bring others	Shift briefings, post-shift email, Instagram
Warehouse, driver and program staff	News reaches the office first	I know the three priorities and how my shift moves them	Shift huddles, text updates, break room screens
State legislators and county board chairs	A worthy charity that gets by on donations	A logistics network that relies on the state food purchase grant for 18% of its food	District fact sheets, warehouse tours, letters from partners

Key messages

Core message	Hunger here does not end with the holidays. It takes food, funds and public support all year, and anyone who needs a meal is welcome.
Supporting messages	Donors: a dollar goes further than a can, and it is needed most from January to August. Neighbors: no paperwork and no questions, and a text finds the nearest open pantry. Partners: changes come to you first, with the reason. Staff: there are three priorities this year, and every shift moves one of them. Officials: the state grant buys 18% of the food in the pantries of your district.
Proof points	118 million pounds distributed last year through 410 partners. 460,000 people served, a third of them children. Purchased food up from 22% to 41% of supply in four years. Because we buy by the truckload, $1 given provides about three times the food it would buy at a store. Pantry visits up 34% since 2023.

Channels

Channel	Used for	Frequency	Owner
Local television, radio and newspapers	Year-round need, the funds message and the annual hunger report	Two pitches a month	Media relations manager
Donor email and mail	What funds bought, and appeals	Email twice a month; four mailings a year	Donor communications manager
Facebook and Instagram	Volunteer recruitment, partner spotlights, how to find food	Five posts a week	Digital content producer
Find-food text line and web map	Nearest open pantry, hours and what to expect, in three languages	Always on; hours refreshed weekly	Community outreach manager
Partner portal and monthly partner call	Allocation, delivery and funding changes; early input on decisions	Monthly call; 14 days' notice of any change	Agency relations director
Shift huddles, text updates and break room screens	Priorities, results and changes for staff without email	Huddle daily; text weekly	Internal communications manager
Warehouse tours and district fact sheets	What public funding buys, with local numbers	Two tours a month; fact sheets each January	Director of public policy

Communication calendar

When	Message	Audience	Channel
November to December 2026	Give funds: a dollar goes further than a can	Residents and donors	Television, radio, email, mail, virtual food drive pages
January to February 2027	Hunger does not end with the holidays, and the state grant is up for renewal	Donors and legislators	Email, earned media, district fact sheets, tours
March 2027	Next year's allocation model, shared in draft	Partners, then staff	Regional partner meetings, portal, shift huddles
April 2027	Thank you, and three more ways to help	Volunteers	Shift briefings, Instagram, post-shift email
June to August 2027	School is out: free summer meals for children, no sign-up	Families with children	Text line, schools, clinics, Spanish and Vietnamese radio
September 2027	Annual hunger report: who we served and what it took	Media, officials and donors	Press briefing, county fact sheets, email
October to November 2027	Holiday plans and delivery schedules	Partners and staff, then the public	Partner call and portal, huddles, then media

Feedback and listening

Listening channels	Questions and complaints on the find-food text line, coded weekly by theme and language. Notes from the monthly partner call and from agency relations visits. Comments on Facebook and Instagram. A two-question survey after every volunteer shift. Questions raised in shift huddles, passed up by supervisors.
Pulse checks	A survey of 800 residents each October repeats the question on what the food bank needs most. Partners answer five questions each quarter on notice and clarity. Staff take a short pulse twice a year, on paper or by phone at the start of a shift. Pantries ask first-time visitors how long they waited before coming.
Who acts on it	The director of marketing and communications meets program, agency relations and warehouse leaders every two weeks. Confusing wording is fixed within a week. Issues about service, such as pantry hours or delivery times, go to the program lead responsible, and the answer is reported back on the partner call or at the huddle where it was raised.

Priorities and measures

Priority 1Owner: Director of Marketing and Communications

Move the public from cans to funds, all year

Most residents still think we need cans most, and 62% of donations arrive in two months. Purchased food is 41% of supply, so what the public believes now decides how much food we can buy.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Residents who name money as the most useful gift	23%	30%	Q4 2027
Individual donations received from January to October	38%	43%	Q4 2027
Earned media coverage from January to October	31 stories	55 stories	Q4 2027

Initiatives

• Replace physical food drive kits with virtual drive pages for schools, congregations and employers
• Publish a monthly account of what donated dollars bought, using purchasing data
• Train 12 staff, partner and volunteer spokespeople, four of them bilingual
• Release the annual hunger report in September with figures for each county

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 2Owner: Community Outreach Manager

Make asking for food easy and free of shame

Nearly half of first-time visitors waited more than a month before coming. The way we describe the people we serve, and how hard it is to find an open pantry, are both within our control.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
First-time pantry visitors who waited more than a month to seek help	44%	36%	Q4 2027
Monthly use of the find-food text line and web map	21K sessions	34K sessions	Q4 2027
Find-food use in Spanish or Vietnamese	9%	18%	Q4 2027

Initiatives

• Rewrite all neighbor-facing materials with a paid panel of 15 people who use pantries
• Place find-food cards in 120 schools, clinics and laundromats
• Adopt a story and photo standard: informed consent, the person's own words, no images of empty plates
• Launch the text line in Spanish and Vietnamese with pantry hours refreshed weekly

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 3Owner: Internal Communications Manager

Partners and staff hear it from us first

Pantry coordinators and drivers are the people neighbors and volunteers ask. Four in ten partners learn of allocation changes after the fact, and most frontline staff are outside every channel we rely on.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Partners who hear about allocation changes before they take effect	61%	90%	Q4 2027
Staff who can name the year's three priorities	47%	80%	Q4 2027
Warehouse and driver staff signed up for the weekly text update	35%	90%	Q2 2027

Initiatives

• Set a rule that partners get 14 days' notice of any allocation or delivery change
• Start a weekly text update and a five-minute huddle script for supervisors
• Form a 20-member partner advisory group that sees major decisions in draft

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 4Owner: Director of Public Policy

Show public officials what the state grant buys

The state food purchase grant funds 18% of our food and is up for renewal in June 2027. Few of the 54 legislators and county board chairs in our area have seen how the network operates.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Legislators and county board chairs who have toured a warehouse or pantry	9 officials	24 officials	Q2 2027
Partners and volunteers who contacted an elected official about food funding	320 people	1,500 people	Q2 2027

Initiatives

• Produce a one-page fact sheet for each legislative district and county in the service area
• Invite every legislator in the service area to a tour before the budget vote in June 2027
• Add a two-minute advocacy action to volunteer post-shift emails

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Copy example as text

Blank communication strategy template

The same structure with a prompt in every field. Copy it, or download it as a Word or Excel file.

Your planCommunication strategy

Organization	[Describe your organization in a few words, with its size]
Ambition	[One sentence on where you want to be at the end of the plan]
Horizon	[How long the plan runs, for example 12 months]

Context

Where we are and what we are choosing

[Where things stand today: the facts that make this strategy necessary]

Challenges

• [A problem the strategy has to solve]
• [A problem the strategy has to solve]

We will focus on

• [Something you are choosing to concentrate on]
• [Something you are choosing to concentrate on]

We will not

• [Something you are deliberately leaving out]
• [Something you are deliberately leaving out]

Audience analysis

Audience	Current view	Desired view	Preferred channels
[Audience]	[Current view]	[Desired view]	[Preferred channels]
[Audience]	[Current view]	[Desired view]	[Preferred channels]
[Audience]	[Current view]	[Desired view]	[Preferred channels]

Key messages

Core message	[Your core message]
Supporting messages	[Your supporting messages]
Proof points	[Your proof points]

Channels

Channel	Used for	Frequency	Owner
[Channel]	[Used for]	[Frequency]	[Owner]
[Channel]	[Used for]	[Frequency]	[Owner]
[Channel]	[Used for]	[Frequency]	[Owner]

Communication calendar

When	Message	Audience	Channel
[When]	[Message]	[Audience]	[Channel]
[When]	[Message]	[Audience]	[Channel]
[When]	[Message]	[Audience]	[Channel]

Feedback and listening

Listening channels	[Your listening channels]
Pulse checks	[Your pulse checks]
Who acts on it	[Your who acts on it]

Priorities and measures

Priority 1Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 2Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 3Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 4Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

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How to adapt it

1. 01

   Survey what the public believes about the organization before writing messages. The most useful finding is usually an outdated picture of what the organization does or needs.

2. 02

   Treat the people you serve as an audience in their own right. Write down what stops them from coming forward, and check every fundraising message against it.

3. 03

   List partners, volunteers and staff without email as separate audiences, and decide the order in which each hears about a change.

4. 04

   Keep one core message and adapt the ask: give, come in, tell us, vote. If fundraising and program messages contradict each other, fix that before choosing channels.

5. 05

   Choose the few channels each audience already uses and name an owner for each. Drop the channels that only exist because someone once opened an account.

6. 06

   Set a baseline for each belief or behavior the strategy is meant to change, and repeat the same question a year later.

How to run it

A plan only works if it is reviewed on a rhythm. This is the cadence the example assumes.

Check-in	Outcome owners update progress and confidence weekly.
Review	Priority owners review outcomes and unblock initiatives monthly.
Reset	Leadership revisits priorities and targets quarterly.

Tability keeps this cadence for you. Each priority becomes an objective, each outcome a key result with its baseline and target, and each initiative a tracked task. Owners get a check-in reminder and the plan shows what is on track.

Track this plan in Tability

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Common mistakes

• Letting fundraising appeals portray the people served as helpless, which raises money and discourages those same people from seeking help.
• Counting posts, press releases and impressions as results when nobody has checked whether beliefs changed.
• Communicating with donors every week and with partner organizations only when something goes wrong.
• Assuming staff are informed because an all-staff email was sent, when most frontline employees never see it.