Phoenix Conservancy

Crisis Communication Plan

Conservation for All

 Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..2

Risk and Threat Assessment………………………………………………………………………..………2-3

Stakeholders………………………………………………………………………………….…………..……….3-6

Media………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………..…6

Social Media………………………………………………………………………………………..…….………..7-8

Messaging…………………………………………………………………………………………………….......8-10

Press Release Template………………………………………………………………………………...………11

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 Introduction

This Crisis Communication Plan (CCP) is designed to assist the Phoenix Conservancy in the event that a
crisis occurs. In this CCP you will find a risk and threat assessment that details potential threats to the
organization and potential crises that could occur within the organization. Next you will find
documentation of stakeholders that are within the organization and outside the organization. Being able
to keep track of your stakeholders and who is involved is important when addressing a crisis in the
future. You will also find information about different local media you can contact to release information
in the event of a crisis. You can find information on protocol for posting on social media in that section
as well. Lastly, you will find information about creating a message for the public and how to create a
press release in the event of a crisis.

Risk and Threat Assessment

This document details the risk assessment for the Phoenix Conservancy. Since being founded in
early 2017, the Phoenix Conservancy has worked in four different states and 2 different countries.
Mainly working in the Palouse, the Phoenix Conservancy has a large task of helping preserve the
ecosystem in the area. The Palouse is currently considered the most endangered ecosystem in the
United States, which gives the Conservancy many potential crises to have to deal with in the future.

With the Phoenix Conservancy being a new non-profit organization, it is apparent that you have
not experienced any major crises or issues at this time. This means that you may be in need of more
guidance on how to address the public if future crises occur.

Some of the major concerns the Phoenix Conservancy has are invasive poisonous plants, funding
concerns, and public outrage. There is a poisonous plant called hemlock that lines the streams and parks
of the Palouse. This hemlock is a threat to small children and pets who may touch or try to ingest the
poisonous plant. The Phoenix Conservancy needs to know how to properly address the public about the
poisonous hemlock and how it can be a threat.

When it comes to funding, the conservancy needs to know how to address the public about the
use of herbicides on invasive plants to kill them. Due to the fact that the Phoenix Conservancy is an
environmental organization, there are people in the community that doesn’t understand why they have
to use herbicides to kill a plant. This misunderstanding can potentially create public outrage and cause
funding to drop.

Some crises that other conservancies have faced are funding issues, poison awareness and
prevention, and issues with destroyed habitats and garbage overloading the ocean. With every crisis
that occurs, it seems that the best way to improve the crisis is by speaking to the public about the issues
at hand in with proper vocabulary and organization.
This chart is our risk assessment of Phoenix Conservancy:

Severity/Probability Severity (low) Severity (Medium) Severity (high)

Probability (rare) Plant Disease Invasive Species Injury on the Job

Probability (likely) Farmer Miscommunication Public Outrage Loss of Funding

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 Stakeholders

Knowing who your stakeholders are will help during a crisis because it will make it easier to determine
who to address. Different stakeholders will require different types of information. Also, depending on if
they are an internal or external stakeholder they will require different platforms to deliver messages.
Knowing your stakeholders in advance will help the organization be more prepared and reach
stakeholders as soon as possible.

A. Internal Stakeholders (members of the organization, including employees and volunteers)

I. 12 internal, 13 interns, and around 50 volunteers.

Executive Director Ben Stone- Oversees all the individual projects and am in charge of
ensuring that we are following through with the mission and budget
that the board has laid out. Also, oversees the project managers and
ensure that they have what they need to be successful.

Board of Directors Chair Michael Saxton- He oversees board development, meetings, and
overall direction of the board and the organization as a whole.

Project managers Kayla Wakulich - Missouri Flat Creek restoration program. She has
been working with university groups, local schools, and private
businesses to restore a section of the Missouri Flat Creek through
Pullman.

Lauren Beckley - Conservation Park restoration program. Lauren runs

our restoration and outreach work at Conservation Park in Pullman. It
is a Pullman park and we are seeking to increase local biodiversity
through education and community efforts.

Ashley Harper - Great Plains program. Ashley is working to increase

and solidify our presence in the Great Plains region, one of our target
areas. Her work focuses on increasing connectivity and reaching out to
local ranching and farming communities to find conservation solutions
to community issues.

Chris Duke - Madagascar/Crystal Forest program. Chris is launching

our first international project to restore an endangered forest in
southern Madagascar that harbors many new and yet undiscovered
species. Work in this region is predicated upon community
involvement and our program focuses heavily on outreach and
communication to both government leaders and village elders to
ensure that we are bringing economic as well as environmental
benefits to the region.

Alex Fraik - Mycology. Alex is working to organize our research

program which aims to understand how fungal communities impact

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 the growth of native and invasive species throughout the Palouse and
explore how this relationship can benefit restoration programs
throughout the region.

Communication- Emily Carson

Marketing/communications Emily determines how we are projecting ourselves to the public and
manager the messaging that we are putting out.

Melanie Thongs
Melanie works to create content that captures our mission and
Content creation projects while communicating them clearly to the public in exciting
ways. She works closely with Emily to make sure that our tone and
message are consistent and effective.

Shawn Trojahn
Shawn works with me on our fundraising programs. We develop our
aim and executing of our fundraising campaigns to ensure that we are
being as effective as possible.

Fundraising

Interns 13

Volunteers (friends and grad ~ 50

students)

B. External Stakeholders (people outside the organization who will be impacted by the crises
you identified in your risk and threat assessment).

I.

In the Palouse area Palouse community

Whitman County Public Health
● Colfax: (509)397-6280
● Pullman: (509)332-6752
Mayor of Pullman - Glenn A. Johnson
● (509) 338-3316
Conservancy Board of Directors
● (509) 592-7199

Outside of the Palouse area Joint travel teams ie Madagascar

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 C. This is a chart explaining the involvement that internal stakeholders would have as opposed
to external stakeholders. The internal stakeholders would have more involvement and engagement
whereas the external stakeholders would be informed.

I. This is a breakdown of how internal and external stakeholders should be addressed. It

is important to establish different guidelines for different stakeholder groups because their
involvement with Phoenix Conservancy differs.

II. This is a short paragraph explaining why it is important to consider who our
stakeholders are before a crisis.

Since the Conservancy has a high team mentality when it comes to making decisions, project managers
will have high influence and interest. Therefore, depending on the crisis, they will engage or be
consulted. The board of directors is likely to be seen as partners in the decisions that Ben makes during
a crisis. Interns and volunteers have high interest but relatively low influence. Both of these
stakeholders will be informed about the crises but not have much say. All external stakeholders will also
be informed unless the crisis happens while on a trip. If another team is also affected by the crisis while
abroad then that team should be consulted on how to address the public and media.

Each stakeholder has a different level of involvement and is affected differently by Phoenix
Conservancy. With external stakeholders, messages need to be very clear and simple. Messages should
not include any scientific jargon. In addition, in any crisis communication, external stakeholders should
be contacted immediately especially if their health is at risk. With internal stakeholders, messaging can
be done through memos or company-wide messages. Scientific jargon may be appropriate here, but it is
crucial to ensure all employees are on the same page and that brand identity is kept in mind. For the
conservancy, the hardest part will be helping the public understand the big picture.

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 Media & Social Media

In this section, the organization can find different media outlets to contact for publication and reporting.
This section will also provide helpful Do’s and Don’ts for the organization to follow. Along with media
guidelines, we have also provided social media guidelines. We agree, that the organization already has a
great presence and understanding of their audience. If you follow the current guidelines you have in
place for social media posts, you should be prepared.

Media

Organization: Phone Number: Email:

Moscow-Pullman Daily News 208-882-5561 Editor@dnews.com

Pullman Radio 509-332-6551 info@pullmanradio.com

NW Public Broadcasting 509-335-3772 info@nwpb.org

KHQ Ch.6 News Spokane 509-448-6000 q6news@khq.com

KREM 2 News 509-838-7350 Newsdesk@krem.com

Daily Evergreen 509-335-4573 editor@dailyevergreen.com

Lewiston Tribune 208-848-2238 clerk@lmtribune.com

Contact the Media: Ben Stone, Michael Saxton, Emily Carson

Organization Priority: 1. Moscow-Pullman Daily news, 2. Pullman Radio, 3.Daily Evergreen, 4.

KHQ/KREM, 5. Lewiston Tribune. Contact the most local sources first, especially those who have quick
online news releases. Reach out to the other sources a little bit further in location after. Video news
stations like KHQ, KREM will have to travel to you before they can start most reports so you can
anticipate some time before they arrive. They may try and conduct phone interviews during their travel
though.

Dos and Don’ts: Communicate with honesty, candor and openness while acknowledging risk,
Collaborate and coordinate with credible sources, meet the needs of the media and remain accessible,
communicate with compassion, concern and empathy, accept uncertainty and ambiguity.
Utilize holding statements instead of making the media wait for more information and speculating the
situation. The holding statement is a confirmation of known facts, expression of awareness, and—

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depending on the situation—expression of appropriate and authentic empathy. Organizations are most
often judged on the authenticity of their response in times of crisis. Keep it simple.
When interviewing with the media identify your top three messages. You need to have good sound
bites. And you need to answer questions in a tight, focused manner. There is no room for error, stay on
topic.
Get to know your media, journalists and audience before a crisis occurs.

Social media

The Phoenix Conservancy has recent and active content on all social media sites. It is evident that you
regularly post to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Additional activity is not necessary because if you
post too frequently you may lose followers due to “clutter” on the feeds. Posting for marketing and
information purposes should be sufficient. Social media interaction is important for the relationship with
the public because it helps create a relationship with people who may be able to help the organization;
Not just fiscally but through volunteer work as well. This relationship could help the organization
establish trust before a crisis and would provide, as mentioned before, the possibility for donations and
volunteer work during a crisis. The kinds of posts that would be beneficial to the Phoenix Conservancy
would be informational post at a medium frequency. You should stay present online, but not bombard
the public with constant information.

Emily Carson should continue to post to all social media sites as she is doing. If she is unable to post,
there needs to be a designated back up. If Emily cannot post, the social media intern should fill in.

Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/PhoenixConservancy/ - Emily Carson
https://twitter.com/pconservancy - Emily Carson
https://www.instagram.com/phoenixconservancy/?hl=en – Emily Carson
https://phoenixconservancy.org/

Messaging
These messaging guidelines will help you to better establish your crisis communication plan. With this
information, you will be able to quickly and effectively create messages for the public during a time of
crisis or in the event of any public press release. These few guidelines and templates provide you with
ready to use formats to create messages for platforms like news media, Twitter, Facebook, etc. In case
of a crisis, it is crucial you release a message to the public personally before anyone else does. This will
ensure the correct information reaches your audience.

Messaging “Do’s & Don’ts”

Do’s:
● Clarify if it is an internal or external message for stakeholders
● Keep the messages simple, accurate, and consistent
● Use positive language
● Create timely responses to the crisis
● Be the leader of the conversation
● Be proactive and have trust built before a crisis occurs

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 ● Establish trust through empathy and openness
Don’ts:
● Don’t say “no comment”
● Don’t use negative language
● Don’t provide inaccurate information just to give an answer
● Don’t wait to respond to the issue
● Don’t wait until the end of a crisis to build trust
● Don’t use condescending phrases
● Don’t use jargon

Pre-Crisis Messaging Checklist

1. The first step the Phoenix Conservancy should do is to determine the demographic and social
traits of the Palouse. – In the incident of an emergency, you should be able to quickly identify
who the problem affects, where, and how you are going to solve or handle the situation.
2. The next step would be to assemble a crisis team, establish roles. For example:
Ben=Spokesperson, Lauren=Human Resources, Michael=Leader of the team, and so on.
3. Establishing trust with the public through active social media accounts and stay involved with
the community
4. Post consistently on popular social media – Facebook, and Twitter posts on a weekly basis and
during crisis situations.
5. Walk through crisis scenario training, have a mock crisis PowerPoint and make sure all
employees are aware of how to handle the situation.

During Crisis Messaging Checklist

1. Gather facts and information about the crisis.
2. Consider the audience before drafting a message
3. Strategize/draft the first set of messages
4. Incorporate main points in the messages: who is being affected, what is happening and can be
done, when is this happening, where is this happening, why this is happening and why we are
connecting with you
5. Edit/approve messages

Post-Crisis Messaging Checklist

1. Review messages to be sure all necessary details were given
2. Give additional information if necessary
3. Follow up with stakeholder feedback and any comments.
4. Brainstorm potential future messages.

Messaging Templates (Example templates for potential crisis-Invasive Species)

Holding Statement

April 4, 2019
The Phoenix Conservancy confirms that it has received information that there is an invasive Hemlock
species taking over local pathways. Reports indicate that five people and 12 animals have been affected
and treated.

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We at Phoenix Conservancy are in contact with city officials and recreational authorities and are doing
everything we can to mitigate the situation and dispose of the hazardous plant that surrounds the
Palouse. The crisis plan has now been activated and all new information will be released once it is
received.
For further information contact:
Ben Stone
Phoenix Conservancy Leader
The Phoenix Conservancy
bstone@phoenixconservancy.org
https://phoenixconservancy.org/

Twitter statement

Hemlock has invaded our pathways! We are doing everything we can to dispose and clear out as
much of the poisonous plant as possible. In the meantime, please avoid traveling on footpaths along the
streams.

Facebook statement

Attention Palouse community members. An invasive plant has become a threat in many
conservancy areas. We at Phoenix Conservancy are dedicated to cleaning out as much of it as possible to
maintain safe and enjoyable outdoor environments.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT INFORMATION:
The Phoenix Conservancy
Ben Stone
bstone@phoenixconservancy.org

RELEASE DATE:
April 4, 2019

POISONOUS HEMLOCK PLANT LINES STREAMS AND PARKS AROUND PALOUSE

Pedestrians should be cautious and aware

Dateline: PULLMAN, WA, April 3, 2019— There is a poisonous Hemlock plant along the streams and
parks of the Palouse. It is a threat to small children and animals and should be avoided at all costs until it
is cleaned out.

1 – 3 Body paragraphs: Hemlock is a threat to people and other wildlife who come into contact by touch
or ingestion. “We at Phoenix Conservancy are dedicated to clearing out as much of the poisonous plant
as possible in order to make the community areas safer for citizens wanting to explore the outdoors. We
value your option to be able to bring your families and pets outside to our beautiful habitats and are
doing everything we can to get you safely back outside,” Phoenix Conservancy spokesman Ben Stone
said.
The conservancy will use herbicides to kill off these invasive and poisonous plants to make the
area safer. They ask that community members avoid traveling on footpaths and along the stream banks
until further information is given. The use of herbicides will help kill off the Hemlock plant, but its
chemicals can be dangerous. The organization asks that community members are alert and cautious if
they must travel around wildlife areas in and around the Palouse.

[Boilerplate] (Brief description of your organization): The Phoenix Conservancy was established in 2017
with the purpose to help preserve the ecosystem in the Palouse. It is currently considered the most
endangered ecosystem in the U.S. The organization has worked in four different states and two different
countries to help preserve wildlife.

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If you would like more information about this topic, please call (Name) at (Phone number), or email
(email address): Please contact Ben Stone with The Phoenix Conservancy at
bstone@phoenixconservancy.org for more information.

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