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A Crisis Communications Firm for Nonprofits, Coalitions, and Public Institutions

Rapid communications when a public decision or breaking development suddenly changes the clock. Caplan uses newsroom judgment to put accurate facts, credible experts and real-world consequences into the story while there is still time to shape what happens next.

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A man speaks at a microphone behind a Save the Housatonic sign, with residents holding maps of the Lee aquifer beside him
Chris Brittain, Town of Lee administrator, at the Save the Housatonic rally outside Faneuil Hall in Boston, February 2025.

Trusted by

  • American Rivers
  • Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
  • Earthjustice
  • National Wildlife Federation
  • E2 Environmental Entrepreneurs
  • National Geographic
  • League of Conservation Voters
  • Union of Concerned Scientists
  • American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)
  • Physicians for Social Responsibility
  • The Wilderness Society
  • Defenders of Wildlife
  • Environment America
  • UNITED SIKHS
  • Center for Science in the Public Interest
  • Environmental Integrity Project
  • Population Connection
  • Taxpayers for Common Sense
  • American Lung Association
  • Hip Hop Caucus
  • Atlanta Housing
  • Town of Lee, Massachusetts
01

How does crisis communications operate?

A crisis communications firm helps an organization decide what to do and say while its credibility is under attack.

For Caplan, a crisis is not necessarily something an organization caused. Often it is something happening to the issue it works on.

A federal agency moves to weaken a protection. A public comment period opens with weeks to make the record. Legislation starts moving. An enforcement standard is challenged. A wildfire, drought or contamination event suddenly turns a technical policy question into same-day news.

The first job is judgment: what changed, what is verifiable, what decision is still open, who should speak, and what has to happen before the window closes. Then we put the facts, experts and consequences into language reporters, policymakers, stakeholders and affected communities can use.

The work is not damage control. It is making sure a consequential decision is not defined before your evidence and expertise are part of the public record.

The communications clock may be measured in hours. The policy consequences may last for years.

Rapid response is not about controlling the story. It is about getting accurate facts, credible experts and the consequences of a decision into the record while there is still time for them to matter.
02

Where rapid response fits

Rapid response is usually triggered by something outside the organization: a rulemaking, legislative fight, agency action, court development or breaking event that suddenly changes the communications clock.

The first questions are practical. What changed? What decision is still open? What does the evidence show? Who should speak? Which reporters, policymakers or stakeholders need to understand the consequences before the window closes?

That is different from corporate crisis management or reputation repair. Caplan's work is public affairs, policy communications, issues advocacy and media relations under time pressure.

03

What you get

The work starts with the decision still open and the time left to affect it.

  1. Judgment first

    What changed? What is verifiable? What decision is still open? What has to happen next? We establish that before producing messages or materials.

  2. An argument built for outside audiences

    We turn the evidence into a case reporters, policymakers, stakeholders and affected communities can understand and use, not language that only works inside the organization.

  3. Media action tied to the live story

    We work with reporters already covering the issue, identify where the story is still incomplete, place credible experts and prepare them for the questions likely to come.

  4. Participation matched to the process

    A rulemaking may require public comments and expert validators. A legislative fight may call for testimony, stakeholder voices and media timed to hearings, markups or votes. We use the tools the decision actually requires.

  5. Work that stays current until the decision

    Facts change. Opponents respond. Coverage moves. We adjust the argument, messengers and materials as the issue develops rather than treating the first news cycle as the finish line.

  6. Rapid-response infrastructure

    Built in advance or stood up in hours.

  7. Holding statements and public statements

    Plus the judgment about which one the moment calls for.

  8. One response, not three

    Legal, policy, and communications moving as one rather than three.

  9. Coalition and stakeholder notification

    Sequenced so your own people hear it first.

  10. Post-crisis recovery

    Narrative recovery and repositioning once the coverage moves on.

Want to know what readiness would involve?

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04

What the engagement actually looks like

Rapid response runs on the live calendar. A comment period, markup, agency announcement, court filing or breaking event creates its own clock.

The Mobile Baykeeper engagement after Deepwater Horizon ran 87 days. That is more useful to know than how quickly someone can draft a statement.

  1. 01

    The first call

    Same day, often within the hour. What changed? What is verified? What decision is still open? Who should speak, and what needs to happen next? Sometimes the right move is to speak immediately. Sometimes it is to hold until the facts support it. Knowing the difference is part of the work.

  2. 02

    Stand it up

    In the first 24 to 48 hours, we establish the fact base, approval path, core argument, spokespeople and outside audiences that matter most. Enough structure to move quickly without improvising the facts.

  3. 03

    Work the window

    Weeks to months. Facts change. Opponents respond. Reporters return. We keep the argument current, introduce evidence when it matters, prepare new messengers and time communications to the decision calendar. Rapid does not mean one day.

  4. 04

    Close it, or carry it forward

    After the decision: What entered the record? What changed? Which arguments held up? Who gained credibility? What remains unresolved? Most public-affairs fights continue beyond one news cycle.

05

What this looks like when it works

Save the U.S. EPA rally with protest signs
Environmental Protection

AFGE Council 238 and Save the U.S. EPA

Roughly 9,000 scientists, engineers, and public-health staff faced budget cuts, forced retirements, and hostile working conditions, and the erosion was being reported as an internal political fight. We ran the national campaign as an integrated rapid-response effort, aligning earned media, op-eds, digital, and public events to each policy development as it landed, and putting frontline staff in front of reporters. The story stopped being a personnel dispute and became a question about whether the government could still protect air, water, and public health.

Read the case study: AFGE Council 238 and Save the U.S. EPA
Satellite view of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
Environmental Justice

Mobile Baykeeper

For 87 days after the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, we sustained national media engagement that established Mobile Baykeeper as a recurring on-the-ground source for reporters covering the spill's effects on Gulf Coast communities, livelihoods and public health.

Read the case study: Mobile Baykeeper

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06

How engagements are structured

Rapid-response work starts in one of two places.

When the decision window is known: we prepare the facts, argument, spokespeople, approval path and media strategy before it opens.

When the issue is already moving: we work to the actual clock. A ten-day comment period, a six-week rulemaking and months of breaking developments require different levels of support.

The federal government maintains an entire crisis and emergency risk communication framework because, under pressure, communicating is a discipline with rules rather than an instinct.

Aric Caplan leads the response, takes the first call and works directly with reporters. On a fast-moving issue, the person making the communications judgment should already know the file. He is based in Greater Washington and has run rapid response for national nonprofits, coalitions, unions, and public agencies for more than two decades.

No retainer is required to make the first call.

07

How we know it worked

Rapid response is judged against the live decision, not the volume of coverage.

Did accurate information enter the coverage while the decision was still open? Did credible experts and affected voices become part of the story? Did reporters return to them as the issue developed?

Clip counts show activity, not impact. One accurate paragraph, one recurring expert or one well-timed story before a hearing can matter more than dozens of mentions.

Without Caplan Communications, the EPA as we know it may not even exist today.
John J. O'Grady/President, AFGE Council 238 (EPA Union), 2016-2018
08

Frequently asked questions

What counts as crisis and rapid response?

A regulatory rollback, public comment period, legislative development, agency action, court development or breaking environmental or public-health event. The common factor is a consequential issue whose communications clock has suddenly compressed.

How fast can a crisis communications firm start?

Same day, often within the hour. The first question is not how quickly we can draft something. It is what is verified, what decision remains open and whether speaking now helps. Speed without a fact base is improvisation.

Do you handle corporate reputation crises or misconduct?

That is not our core practice. Caplan's rapid-response work centers on public affairs, policy, issues advocacy and media communications around external decisions and events.

What if the first coverage is already wrong or incomplete?

Start with what is still open. Establish the facts, identify what the coverage missed, prepare the right messenger and work the next wave. The first story matters. It is rarely the last.

If it is happening now, do not wait for a proposal.

If nothing is happening yet, that is the better time to talk.

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