Supporting a hospice in crisis

The campaign

Service cuts and redundancies

An adults hospice in the south of England approach us because they were having to make service cuts and redundancies due to shortages in funding.

The hospice needed help with how they communicated with internal and external stakeholders, including staff, volunteers, major donors, the media, and influential community figures.

They were understandably concerned about how the public may react to the bad news and wanted to avoid alarm among their valued team.

Our work

A crisis communications plan

We supported the hospice in creating a communications plan, identifying the main messages they wanted to convey to each audience. A carefully thought-through timeline ensured that key stakeholders received communications in a logical and sensitive order, avoiding any embarrassing and political errors of judgement.

Creating correspondence

Our specially trained crisis communicators wrote all the stakeholder correspondence the hospice needed to clearly and tactfully get their message across. This included letters for staff, media releases, proactive and reactive press statements, social media posts and supporter comms.

Emergency counsel

Whenever the hospice needed urgent advice, we were there – on the phone or via video call – to offer calm and logical counsel based on our extensive experience of helping charities through challenges.

Expert advice

We advised the hospice that a Q and A document tailored for different stakeholder groups would be useful and help people to understand what the changes were and why they were happening. We created these documents for them, which were widely used throughout the campaign.

The results

The backing of the community

As predicted, there was wide media interest in the story. Because we were well prepared, we were able to control the narrative and garner support for the hospice. The main sentiment that came across, both from the media and all stakeholder groups, was that the hospice had its patients’ best interest at heart and was acting responsibly and efficiently considering the funding challenges it faced.

What people say about us

“Working with Hollands Associates on Jos’s Story has been an absolute pleasure. They made what could have been a daunting task incredibly easy. They took the time to truly listen, to understand our mission, and to bring Jos’s Story to life in a way that is both powerful and deeply moving. If you’re looking for someone who can turn an idea into something truly special, Hollands Associates are the people to go to. We can’t thank them enough.”

Jos Hill - Sussex Cancer Fund

“We have been working with Hollands Associates for a few months and within that time they have managed to get us into national magazines, glossy magazines, podcasts and interviews with local and national newspapers! We are thrilled with the work they have done for us and would thoroughly reccomend working with them. We have had so many successes and that’s only in the first few months! Our monthly meeting with our account manager always leave us feeling excited and energised. We are really excited or what’s to come!”

Gemma and Stella - Two Faced Twins

“Hollands Associates are comms expert supremes. They are highly organised, efficient, proactive and committed to the cause they are focused on. They also have rich strategic comms oversight which they utilise so well, and are a team of highly talented writers. I would definitely recommend them for any communications project.”

Lucie Russell, CEO - Redthread

“I just wanted to say a big thank you for all the great work we’ve achieved together. You got me instantly; from the strategy document you produced after our first chat to the articles you’ve drafted on my behalf, I’ve barely had to make any edits because you grasped my tone of voice and key messages so quickly.”

Shelle Luscombe - Alzheimer’s support advocate

“Not only did Hollands Associates bring my business to life through their copy, their whole process ensured they really captured what I am trying to build. I would highly recommend them to anyone needed copywriting support (they are also PR gurus!).”

Paul Edmondson - HighBarHR

“My PR journey is only just beginning - it is a whole other world away from the field I am used to and I know very little about it, but the course last Friday was so helpful and I learnt a lot. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.”

Natasha Morley - Sussex Youth Theatre

“I have loved working with Hollands Associates and was surprised by how quickly they could source opportunities for me. Even though I operate in a niche, they quickly understood what I did and what I wanted to achieve. I 100% recommend working with them.”

Tara Humphrey, CEO - THC Primary Care

“After some searching, I knew Hollands Associates were the ones that I would be able to develop a good rapport with, someone who understands what is important to me and what my work stands for. I wasn’t wrong. The support they have offered me is highly professional, specific, and coming from a place of experience and can-do attitude. I would highly recommend them for personal or corporate work and indeed do tell everyone I can about them!”

Dr Shivani Sharma, Head of Psychology, Sport and Geography - University of Hertfordshire

“Hollands Associates are capable and proactive ‘do-ers’ as well as managers and can be fully trusted to get on with things without prompting. They have a great understanding of strategic comms, from what makes a successful news angle to how best to structure an analytical feature article, and how then to amplify media wins across multi-layered content to position us as experts in our fields. They are always punctual and prepared, always meet deadlines and… and are never without a smile.”

Jenny Turner, Managing Director - Turner PR

“Hollands Associates are extremely reliable professionals who always go above and beyond to do a fantastic job. Working with them has been seamless. They’ve taken a huge weight off my shoulders, ensuring the utmost quality in content with exceptional attention to detail, sometimes working to quite tight deadlines, and always to a high standard. I would recommend them to anyone looking for a high-quality content and PR team.”

Sophie Lee, Founder & CEO - Electric Peach

“We’ve worked with Hollands Associates on a crisis communications policy, a PR strategy and an ongoing media relations campaign. They also delivered an in-person training session on crisis handling to our team, which was very well received. They are always pro-active, pleasant to work with and nothing is too much trouble. They have generated a large amount of positive coverage for us in a short space of time and are always open and honest with their advice.”

Andrea Daniels, Executive Director Innovation, Digital & Engagement - Keech Hospice Care

“Hollands Associates are always reliable, trustworthy and works hard to deliver for us. They are proactive in their approach and can be counted on to come up with ideas and give honest feedback to our marketing plans. As well as the ‘work’ side of things, the team is approachable and friendly to deal with, and gets the job done swiftly and without fuss.”

Andrew Wilkinson, Managing Director - Motion29

Want to explore working together?

If you’re interested to find out what we can do for you, contact us today for a no-obligation, exploratory discussion.