Charity Communications:

Communicating the Soil Association

23 September 2011

Communicating the Soil Association

1. Who we are – our history and achievements

2. How does the Soil Association effect change?

3. Our vision, strategic and lobbying priorities – and how the communications team helps achieve them

4. Recent campaigns – opportunistic and planned

Who we are

The Soil Association is a membership charity, campaigning for healthy, humane and resilient food, farming and land use

We also certify organic food, farms, timber, textiles and healthand beauty products

Income from our certification business in part funds our charitable activities; we are also funded by members, charitabletrusts, major donors

Where we have come from

We were founded in 1946 by a pioneering group of scientists, farmers, nutritionists and doctors

The Soil Association was founded to:

• Research the connection between the health of the soil, animals, people and the environment

• Create an informed body of public opinion on food, farming, nutrition and health

• Show there is a way to feed ourselves sustainably now and in the future

Our founder, Lady Eve Balfour

Our key achievements

Thirty years ago we drafted the world’s first organic farming standards and are responsible for promoting and maintaining the principles of sustainable agriculture in over 30 countries.

As a result of our work, environmental and wildlife benefits of organic farming have received official endorsement, with significant payments to organic farmers for delivering these public benefits. Our policy and campaign work is widely respected and has had a profound impact on a host of public health issues, including GM, antibiotics, pesticides and animal welfare.

Working with key partners, we have played a leading role in creating localised food systems, through farmers’ markets, box schemes and Community Supported Agriculture and supplying food to the public and private sectors.

By harnessing the support of our farmer and grower members through our Organic Farm Network, we have created a nationally significant platform for public education, hosting over one million visits a year.

Our Food for Life Partnership programme is transforming food culture in 360 schools and communities across England, and engaging a further 3,600 schools.

How does the Soil Association effect change?

• Clear vision, strategy and objectives – our key principles

• Focusing on our policy priorities

• Communications strategy works to support these goals

Vision and pillars of work

Setting our policy priorities: the driversClimate change, diminishing resources that modern agriculture has become dependent on (oil, phosphates, minerals, water), and a growing world population to feed

A growing population

Produce more food

Emissions

Decreased reliability of production and crop productivity

Climate change

Food wasteIncreasing use of resources

Resource shortages

Wealthier populations

Changing diets Unequal wealth

Unfair and unequal

distribution of food

Communications Strategy - Form

• Re-positioning the Soil Association

• Building the brand

• Mapping the audiences and stakeholders

• Defining the key messages

Communications strategy - Norm

• Secure staff buy-in and understanding: everyone who works for the Soil Association is responsible for our communications – ‘total communications’

• Own the brand and messages: tight, succinct, but meaningful to incorporate top policy and fundraising asks

• Ensure our stakeholders are clear about what we are trying to do, when and why – they are our ambassadors too

Communications Strategy - Storm

• Reaching out – showing that change to our food and farming systems is necessary, desirable, achievable

• Aiming high - celebrate pioneers, best practice, stimulate research

• Building our organisation – living our values and philosophy

Turning plans into campaigns

• How will it create the change we believe in?

• Tactics vs. strategy

• Opportunism

• Planned campaigns

Tactics without strategy is the slowest route to victory. Strategy without tactics is the noise before defeat. Sun Tzu

The Opportunistic Campaign: Foston Pig Farm

Not in my Banger

The Planned Campaign: Organic September

Discover Organic

Discover Organic Campaign

• Developed identity, strapline, key messages, supporting messages and boilerplate

• Marketing toolkit for licensees – big social media presence in 2011 (Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube

• Events and supporting activities – campaign to be ‘owned’ by community