Supporting mission-driven agencies and leaders

Four top things to know about risk and social good agencies and campaigns:

Blueprint for risk management in a highly polarized environment

Camino has helped hundreds of the nation’s most prominent organizations and campaigns prevent and respond to issues-based risk. We are experts at the intersection of social good and controversy, from internal challenges to external brand threats. One PRWeek judge called our crisis work "A textbook case study on how to change perception while still highlighting a vital cause."

1. Crisis prevention training significantly reduces risk – but it is needed across a sector to be truly transformative. Opposition activists typically use a small number of strategies deployed across a sector until they find an agency or staff member who has not been trained.

2. True cybersecurity is a three-legged stool – yet agencies often only invest in one:

   • Cyber expertise that addresses the technical and policy needs across an agency.

   • Crisis communications expertise that addresses the ways that individuals and agencies communicate day-to-day.

   • Software and other resources needed at the individual level are important safety investments. 

3. Issues-based crisis response and management is a specialty – and most agencies are not equipped or are under-resourced when it comes to opposition-driven crises. That means many crises that could be contained and minimized instead grow in severity.

4. Agencies that lack quick access to resources for crisis management tend to bear the worst consequences. There is a direct correlation between harm from a crisis and access to resources.
   

Sector level

• Opposition intrusion prevention – sector-wide training to cover the basics.

• Best practices in cybersecurity – sector-level training that addresses agency best practices plus personal communications strategies to stay safe. This session includes both cybersecurity experts and strategic communications experts.

• Board members – sector-level training that addresses unique board member considerations for opposition intrusion and cybersecurity.  

• Communicators – workshop on best practices in crisis management.

• Communications consultants – a gathering of communications consultants in the sector to share best practices and resources.

• Rapid response – for those agencies in the funded cohort, access to rapid response phase one assistance. This includes immediate mitigation, identifying needs and strategies.

• Sector-wide intelligence sharing to prevent copycat attacks and intrusions.

Agency level

• Opposition intrusion prevention – customized for agency focus.

• Risk communications planning with agency communications staff.

• Communications assistance in responding to a crisis, including rapid assessment of fact versus disinformation, working with the media to prevent unfair coverage, best practices in social media engagement, and implementing message strategy.

• Monitoring and flagging for risks.

• Reducing cybersecurity risks, including additional cyber benefits for staff.

• Opposition background screening for hiring, events, volunteers, and more. Routine background screening typically does not cover vetting that applies to infiltrators. Camino’s 50-point screenings specifically address political intrusion threats.

Funder level

• Equipping crisis experts to work with journalists, vendors (such as social media companies), and amplifiers to throttle the channels that opposition activists use to spread misinformation and hate.

• Battling disinformation with awareness campaigns.

• Communicating trends across sectors for ongoing awareness and prevention.

For more information about Camino services, contact info@caminopr.com