Brand Reputation & Crisis Management for Nonprofits: Maintaining Trust in Challenging Times
Thursday, January 30, 2025
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
CLU Oxnard Campus
2201 Outlet Center Drive, Oxnard, CA 93036
Individual Members: $0
Organizational Members: $0
Non-Members: $55
About this event
It’s not a matter of if but when a crisis will impact a nonprofit. In our increasingly collaborative, complex, and digital society, new threats are emerging that can impact nonprofits. Leaders must acknowledge this new reality and prepare proactively for navigating a crisis to mitigate risks and maintain trust among key stakeholders for their nonprofit.
In this interactive in-person workshop, experienced strategist Kristen Caloca will show you secrets and best practices for proactively preparing for a crisis in ways that can help nonprofits build trust for a stronger brand reputation. You will explore how to navigate various crisis scenarios that may threaten your organization using communications strategies. The session will cover:
- Foundational elements of crisis planning;
- Identifying the most likely threats facing your nonprofit;
- Developing response plans for each type of crisis scenario;
- Assembling an effective crisis response team;
- Managing media interest during a crisis;
- Effectively engaging key stakeholders, including your board, during a crisis;
- Developing messaging that builds trust when responding to a crisis; and
- Activating learning by assessing your crisis response for continuous improvement.
All workshop attendees will receive access to templates that can help them develop a custom summary crisis plan for their nonprofit.
Learning Outcomes
This session will help nonprofit leaders:
- Confidently communicate and lead when responding to a crisis threat
- Embrace and champion transparency as a core value driving their response to a crisis
- Understand the lifecycle of a crisis
- Discern the best strategy to resolve or respond to a crisis
- Navigate key stakeholder relationships effectively, including the board, during a crisis
Faculty
Kristen Caloca
Kristen Caloca is the founder and CEO of KMC Social Impact Strategies, which supports mission-minded organizations in advancing impact for stronger, healthier communities through strategic communications.
For nearly two decades, Kristen has advised national, state, and local social impact organizations in the public, private, and philanthropic sectors on using strategic communications as a lever for change.
Her expertise includes public affairs and advocacy, narrative change, media relations, crisis communications, internal communications, integrated marketing campaigns, and community engagement. She has also coached organizations through building and strengthening their internal communications capacity with strategic counsel and bespoke trainings.
Kristen is a highly skilled crisis communications counselor. She advises executives from small nonprofits to large organizations and government agencies. She has deep experience navigating issues alongside leaders and their legal counsel to manage threats and minimize risk while championing transparency to support brand trust and reputation. Her crisis experience includes developing communications and community engagement strategies in response to class action lawsuits and leading through significant brand reputation threats from law enforcement investigations to personnel misconduct and more.
Before launching her consultancy, Kristen was a leader at Cause Communications, a nonprofit in Los Angeles that helped other nonprofits use communications to advance social change. She was also a senior leader at international public affairs firm Mercury, where she worked alongside former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former California State Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.
She received her BA in Communications with a concentration in Public Relations from Cal State Fullerton and is an alumna of Coro Southern California’s Executive Leadership Network program.