Yesterday, we held a webinar for people working at the intersection of democracy, communications, and information — funders, coalition partners, comms directors, and adjacent organizations figuring out how to work with creators effectively. One question came up in multiple forms: How do you actually get a creator to pay attention to what you’re sending them?

Stop sending talking points.

“You are not your audience” is Comms 101, but a lot of organizations forget it the moment they start drafting a creator brief. The instinct is to lead with your message — the language your team has aligned on, the framing you’ve worked hard to get right. The problem is that creators aren’t there to deliver your message. They’re there to serve their audience. Those are related goals, but they’re not the same thing.

What actually works: Creators love to look at data, reports, and databases, especially searchable ones, where they can put in a zip code or a demographic filter and pull out something that speaks directly to the people following them. Jen Ruiz, one of our Fall 2025 fellows, said it well during the webinar: research is compelling because it feels objective. She can take it and use it across multiple pieces of content, not just whatever you collaborated on together.

Lead with the underlying information and a short summary of what you think the story is. But stay open. If a creator tells you a different part of the data will land better with their audience, trust them. They’re the expert on the people you’re trying to reach. That’s the whole reason you’re working with them. We can arm creators with tools to power their work, but mostly we just need to get out of their way.

We’ve been quietly developing a way to get your materials directly in front of trained, NCC-accredited creators. It’s not public yet — but if you want an early look, send me an email.

And P.S. if you’re a creator covering your community this weekend, be sure to check out our Creator Safety Guide beforehand.

Where do you get the information you use to keep your community informed? Do you have personal or firsthand experience because of your background or profession? Are you relying on news outlets or research papers for information? Do people in your community – online or otherwise – provide you with information to look into?

We want to better understand where you get your information and how you vet or verify the information you use.

Here are a few questions to ask to hone in on a specific story that will connect with your audience.

The Spring 2026 NCC fellows experimented with public record requests to strengthen their work.