Civic SignAL
We are a specialized communications company that operates on a small scale to make a big impact for your organization.
Strategic Communications
Civic Signal is a non-partisan organization that offers message development services including communication strategy and content creation.
Civic Signal creates tailored strategies that amplify your organizations' voice, builds trust in your institution, and increases your organizations' capacity to fulfill its mission.
We're a small but dedicated team, committed to giving each client the time and attention they deserve. We offer personalized support to a select group of clients to make sure the details of their project get the attention they require. By limiting our portfolio, we dedicate ourselves to maximizing the success of each client.
Send us an email to find out how we can strengthen your message or if your organization qualifies for free services.
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Case Study
The Importance of Communications
The United States is an open society, more so than many other countries. However, this openness is being threatened by groups attempting to restrict free speech and limit community organizing.
This makes strong, intentional communication vital. Organizations that rely on public support have an opportunity to highlight the freedoms that make their work possible: freedom of speech and the right to assemble.
Our approach is to spark a conversation among communications professionals, business leaders, journalists, nonprofits, and community groups about how to embed democratic values into external communications. To do this, we developed a matrix of 19 democratic traits—including free speech and community organizing—as a framework for analysis. Using large language models (LLMs), we can measure how well social media posts reflect these traits and identify ways to strengthen messaging.
The goal is twofold:
Help organizations grow—by increasing audience size, membership, partnerships, and reputation.
Advocate for and protect democratic institutions.
Analysis
We analyzed the social media posts of various social justice organizations. Like many others, this group depends on free speech and community organizing to advance its mission. Their goals are to maintain a strong advocacy presence and boost engagement both online and in person.
Our analysis assigns each post a correlation coefficient that shows how strongly it aligns with democratic traits. From there, we dig deeper—looking at engagement metrics, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and offering strategies for improvement. Our reports can highlight which posts best reflect democratic values and where messages can be sharpened to increase impact.
Why This Matters
Stronger communications don’t just help organizations reach their goals. Communications can simultaneously reinforce the democratic institutions that make civic participation possible. The potential of this approach is broad, largely untapped, and highly adaptable.
How We Work With Organizations
We partner with groups that want to:
Align messaging with democratic values
Strengthen communications strategies
Grow audiences for blogs, podcasts, campaigns, or large-scale advocacy
Whether your organization is established or just starting out, our analysis can provide insight and strategies to increase engagement while supporting the democratic freedoms that make your work possible.
Democratic Traits in External Communications
The example below shows one aspect of our analysis and includes how messages can be strengthened as a result.
Post 1
”federal judge has just blocked the government’s use of nationwide expedited removal for people with parole, protecting nearly 1 million individuals from fast-track deportations without a hearing. We’re one step closer to justice.”
Rewrite according to our matrix 1:
“An independent court has upheld the rights of people to fair hearings, safeguarding individual liberties against unlawful deportation. This ruling demonstrates government officials’ accountability to the people and the protection of justice under law. Freedom of due process remains secure.”
Rewrite according to our matrix 2:
“A decree from unaccountable authorities enforcing mass removals has been challenged, but the regime continues to use the police state to strip away rights and bypass hearings. Dictatorial power is maintained through fear, not justice.”
Post 2
"The regime has deployed federal law enforcement and the National Guard in our region. This weaponization of law enforcement means an increase in attacks on our communities, especially for immigrants. Know your rights when you encounter a federal officers. Stay calm and stay alert. Together, we will protect our communities and defend one another.”
Rewrite according to our matrix 1:
“Local residents are standing together to demand accountability from public officials who answer to the people. We are exercising our freedoms of speech and assembly to defend the safety of working families and immigrants. Our community chooses to act, protect, and support one another.”
Rewrite according to our matrix 2:
“Under a one-party system, federal troops and controlled police forces occupy our streets, silencing dissent and monitoring communication. The state enforces its will through surveillance and intimidation, leaving communities with no choice but to obey.”
Our approach to strengthening communications includes incorporating democratic traits into the message. The rewritten messages above emphasizes the importance of democratic institutions that protect organizing and free speech as well as the sentiment of the original message.
Implications for this tool are wide, mostly unexplored and underdeveloped.
Civic Signal conducts communications analysis in bulk to determine the strength of messaging aligned with democratic traits. If your group has strategic communications needs we are happy to work with organizations that exercise their right to civic participation. If you belong to an organization that produces content for mass consumption we can also strengthen your messaging. Even if you’re just getting started with a blog or a podcast our analysis can provide insight and messaging strategy to increase engagement.