Evaluating Investments in Communications and Narrative Change

A public health foundation learns how frontline organizations can meet the moment in a crisis—and drive long-term change.

The California Endowment, one of the nation's largest public health foundations, invested in strategic communications and narrative change initiatives across 18 organizations during COVID-19. 

The grantmaking pursued two simultaneous goals: rapid public health messaging to encourage masking and vaccination, and longer-term narrative change to expose systemic inequalities driving unequal health outcomes. Assessing both strategies at once raised a core question: could learnings from crisis communications inform narrative change work, and vice versa?

To answer that question, our team designed an evaluation that analyzed messages themes through a consistent framework.

Social Media Analysis

Language: English
Who gets the COVID-19 vaccine first in Fresno? Pressure mounts to focus on this group

Theme: Increased risk of infection for certain populations
As essential workers, farmworkers remain one of the most vulnerable groups to the virus, top leaders from the Valley said last week.

Theme: There are health system inequities
A lack of proper protective equipment, close working quarters, and crowded households are among the reasons why the region’s farming workforce has gotten sicker at higher rates.

Messenger
Diana Tellefson Torres, the executive director of the United Farm Workers Foundation, said state officials should prioritize farm labor.

That process surfaced patterns no organization could see alone—revealing that rapid response and narrative change weren't competing priorities, but rather reinforced each other. In some cases, that combination contributed to real policy change, including California farmworkers being recognized as essential workers and prioritized for early vaccination.

Example of rapid-response communication:

Example of narrative change communication:

The evaluation gave The California Endowment a birds-eye view to see what was working across the entire state, which groups were best positioned to reach specific communities, and how to direct future funding more effectively.

Need help evaluating your communications investments? Reach out at info@hattaway.com