Monthly Stakeholder Update Template

What it is

The Monthly Stakeholder Update translates raw communications data into a narrative suitable for Board updates, investor calls, or senior leadership briefings. It’s designed for audiences who need to know communications status but don’t want to read 30 pages of analytics. One document that says: here’s what happened, here’s what it means, here are the risks, here’s what we’re doing.

Where the monitoring brief shows weekly movement, this update shows the month in context. It connects communications activity to business outcomes. It flags risks early and demonstrates that communications is actively managing reputation, not just producing content.

This template works best when updated monthly with consistent structure. Over time, it becomes a governance document showing Board how communications is performing against strategic priorities. It also prevents executive surprises: if you’re briefing the Board monthly on external perception and issues, unexpected reputation problems become much less likely.

The tone is executive-appropriate but honest. Not sanitised, not alarmist. Clear about what’s working and what needs attention. It demonstrates competence and active management.

When to use it

Use this template when:

You brief your Board or executive team on communications monthly
You’re reporting to investors on brand/reputation status
You need to demonstrate that communications is actively managing risk
Your organisation has governance requirements around reputational management
You’re managing multiple initiatives and need to show portfolio progress
You want to document decision-making for accountability

Don’t use this template when:

You’re reporting more frequently than monthly (use weekly brief for that)
You’re preparing for a specific crisis briefing (this is planned reporting, not crisis comms)
You’re writing detailed marketing performance reports (this is reputation/stakeholder-focused, not campaign ROI-focused)
Your audience doesn’t need governance-level detail (they need a different format)

Inputs needed

Monthly monitoring data (sentiment, volume, media coverage)
Dashboard metrics for the month
Campaign or initiative results
Issue log updates (any escalated issues, any resolved)
Media coverage summary (positive, negative, neutral)
Stakeholder feedback or research
Internal incident or operational issues with external implications
Context on business priorities and how communications is supporting them

The template

Monthly Communications & Reputation Update

Month: [Month/Year] Prepared for: [Audience: Board / Executive team / Investors / etc.] Prepared by: [Name, role] Distribution: [Confidential / Internal / External, as appropriate]

Executive summary

Overall reputation health: [Strong / Stable / Caution / At risk]

Key storyline this month: [One paragraph summarising the most important external perception development or communications achievement this month]

Risk status: [No material risks / Monitoring 1–2 areas / 1 moderate issue active / 1 escalated issue active]

Key wins:

[Win 1 with brief context]
[Win 2 with brief context]
[Win 3 with brief context]

Items requiring attention:

[Issue 1 and why it matters]
[Issue 2 and why it matters]

External perception snapshot

Overall sentiment:

Positive: [%]
Neutral: [%]
Negative: [%]

Trend from last month: [↑ Improving / → Stable / ↓ Declining]

Sentiment by stakeholder group:

Stakeholder	Sentiment	Trend	Key perception
[Group 1: e.g., Customers]	Positive / Mixed / Negative	[↑/→/↓]	[What they’re primarily saying about us]
[Group 2: e.g., Employees]	Positive / Mixed / Negative	[↑/→/↓]	[What they’re primarily saying about us]
[Group 3: e.g., Investors]	Positive / Mixed / Negative	[↑/→/↓]	[What they’re primarily saying about us]
[Group 4: e.g., Industry]	Positive / Mixed / Negative	[↑/→/↓]	[What they’re primarily saying about us]

Narrative themes (what’s being said about us):

Theme 1: [What’s being discussed, which groups are discussing it, tone]
Theme 2: [What’s being discussed, which groups are discussing it, tone]
Theme 3: [What’s being discussed, which groups are discussing it, tone]

Key metrics performance

Metric	Target	Actual	Status	Insight
[Metric 1 name]	[#]	[#]	[🟢/🟡/🔴]	[Why this matters / what’s changing]
[Metric 2 name]	[#]	[#]	[🟢/🟡/🔴]	[Why this matters / what’s changing]
[Metric 3 name]	[%]	[%]	[🟢/🟡/🔴]	[Why this matters / what’s changing]
[Metric 4 name]	[#]	[#]	[🟢/🟡/🔴]	[Why this matters / what’s changing]
[Metric 5 name]	[#]	[#]	[🟢/🟡/🔴]	[Why this matters / what’s changing]

12-month trend: [Describe trajectory over past year: sustained improvement, decline, volatility, etc.]

Media coverage analysis

Volume: [X mentions across Y key publications] (vs [prior month] = [↑/→/↓])

Coverage breakdown:

Positive: [X mentions / %]
Neutral: [X mentions / %]
Negative: [X mentions / %]

Key publications covering us: [List of major outlets that covered us this month]

Major stories:

Story	Outlet	Date	Tone	Business impact
[Headline]	[Publication]	[Date]	[Positive/Neutral/Negative]	[Why this matters]
[Headline]	[Publication]	[Date]	[Positive/Neutral/Negative]	[Why this matters]
[Headline]	[Publication]	[Date]	[Positive/Neutral/Negative]	[Why this matters]

Narrative positioning: [Paragraph on how we’re positioned in sector conversation, whether that’s by design or by default]

Campaigns and initiatives

Active campaigns this month:

Campaign	Objective	Status	Results	Next
[Campaign 1]	[Goal]	On track / At risk / Complete	[Key metric/result]	[Next milestone]
[Campaign 2]	[Goal]	On track / At risk / Complete	[Key metric/result]	[Next milestone]
[Campaign 3]	[Goal]	On track / At risk / Complete	[Key metric/result]	[Next milestone]

Campaign highlights:

[Campaign 1 achievement and why it matters]
[Campaign 2 achievement and why it matters]
[Campaign 3 achievement and why it matters]

Risk and issue management

Current active issues:

Issue	Status	Escalation level	Impact	Actions
[Issue 1: Brief name]	Monitoring / Active / Escalated	[1-5 scale]	[Business/reputation impact]	[What we’re doing]
[Issue 2: Brief name]	Monitoring / Active / Escalated	[1-5 scale]	[Business/reputation impact]	[What we’re doing]
[Issue 3: Brief name]	Monitoring / Active / Escalated	[1-5 scale]	[Business/reputation impact]	[What we’re doing]

Issues resolved this month:

[Issue name]: [How it was resolved, what we learned]
[Issue name]: [How it was resolved, what we learned]

Emerging risks (early warning):

[Potential issue 1 and why we’re watching]
[Potential issue 2 and why we’re watching]

Crisis readiness: [Brief statement on whether crisis protocols are current, teams briefed, and ready to activate if needed]

Alignment with business priorities

[Paragraph connecting communications activity and results to top business priorities this month: e.g., “Product launch went live with no major reputation issues; investor sentiment improved; employee retention messaging contributed to Q4 hiring goals”]

How communications enabled:

[Business priority 1]: [What communications did to support]
[Business priority 2]: [What communications did to support]
[Business priority 3]: [What communications did to support]

Stakeholder relationship health

Key relationships status:

Stakeholder group	Relationship health	Engagement this month	Priority actions
[Group 1: e.g., Board/investors]	Strong / Stable / Needs attention	[Meetings, updates, etc.]	[What we need to do next]
[Group 2: e.g., Major customers]	Strong / Stable / Needs attention	[Meetings, updates, etc.]	[What we need to do next]
[Group 3: e.g., Employees]	Strong / Stable / Needs attention	[Meetings, updates, etc.]	[What we need to do next]
[Group 4: e.g., Regulators]	Strong / Stable / Needs attention	[Meetings, updates, etc.]	[What we need to do next]

Team performance and resources

Communications team capacity: [At capacity / Under capacity / Over capacity]

Resource gaps or needs identified this month:

[Gap 1 and why]
[Gap 2 and why]

Training or capability development:

[Area 1: what we’re developing]
[Area 2: what we’re developing]

Next month priorities

[Priority 1: What we’ll focus on]
[Priority 2: What we’ll focus on]
[Priority 3: What we’ll focus on]
[Priority 4: What we’ll focus on]

Key dates/milestones:

[Date]: [Planned communication/event]
[Date]: [Planned communication/event]
[Date]: [Planned communication/event]

Appendices (optional)

Appendix A: Detailed media tracking [Link to full media report if available]

Appendix B: Dashboard metrics (full view) [Link to full dashboard]

Appendix C: Monitoring brief [Link to or summary of latest weekly monitoring]

AI prompt

Base prompt

I'm preparing a monthly stakeholder update for our [Board / Executive team / Investors] on communications and reputation. Help me translate our monthly data into an executive briefing that's clear, honest, and demonstrates active management.

Here's what happened this month:
[Paste: monitoring summary, sentiment data, major stories covered, campaign results, issue tracking updates]

Business context:
[Paste: what was our organisation focused on this month? Key product launches, earnings, transitions, etc.]

Key questions I need to answer for the Board:
1. Is our reputation stable and improving?
2. Are we managing risks proactively?
3. Are communications outcomes supporting business priorities?
4. What are the top 3 things they should know about?
5. What are the top 3 risks they should be watching?

Help me structure this as an executive update (max 8 pages) that:
- Leads with the most important information
- Connects communications activity to business outcomes
- Flags risks early and shows we're actively managing them
- Demonstrates competence and forward-thinking
- Is honest about challenges without being alarmist
- Suggests what we should focus on next month

Tone should be professional, clear, and suitable for Board discussion.

Prompt variations

Variation 1: Crisis month reporting

We had a significant issue this month that required active crisis management. Help me craft the monthly stakeholder update for our Board briefing in a way that:
1. Is transparent about what happened
2. Shows how we managed it and what we did right
3. Doesn't overstate the risk but doesn't minimise it either
4. Demonstrates governance and active management
5. Shows what we learned and how we've improved protocols

The issue: [Describe what happened]
How we responded: [What actions we took]
Current status: [Where it stands now]
Business impact: [What this meant for the organisation]

Help me write the section of the update that covers this issue and our response, suitable for Board-level discussion.

Variation 2: Investor-focused reporting

I'm preparing a monthly communications and reputation update specifically for our investors. Help me angle this toward investor concerns:

Current investor questions:
[What are investors asking about most?]

Our reputation in investor community:
[What's their sentiment toward us?]

Key metrics investors care about:
[Which comms/reputation metrics matter most to investment decision]

Help me structure an update that:
1. Addresses investor concerns specifically
2. Shows how communications supports investor confidence
3. Highlights competitive positioning
4. Demonstrates risk management and governance
5. Is clear about what could affect valuation/perception

Make this suitable for investor briefing calls.

Variation 3: Quarterly narrative version

I want to do a more narrative, story-driven version of the stakeholder update instead of heavily data-focused. Help me:

1. Lead with the biggest strategic story of the month (not just metrics)
2. Show how different initiatives connect to one overarching narrative
3. Contextualise challenges within that narrative
4. Make it compelling to read, not just informative
5. Still include data, but in service of the story, not as standalone facts

The month's overarching narrative:
[E.g., "We repositioned as a sustainability leader despite supply chain challenges"]

Key supporting stories:
[What happened that demonstrates this narrative]

Challenges:
[Where the narrative is weak or contested]

Help me write this as a compelling executive update that tells the month's story, supported by data.

Variation 4: Internal stakeholder focus

I'm preparing a monthly update specifically for internal senior leadership (not Board). The audience is executive team, and I want to brief them on external perception and how it's affecting employee/customer sentiment.

Focus areas:
- What are employees hearing externally?
- What are customers experiencing?
- Are external trends affecting recruitment/retention?
- Are there internal comms adjustments needed based on external perception?

Data I have: [Paste monitoring data, employee feedback, customer sentiment]

Help me create an update that:
1. Shows senior leaders what the market is saying about us
2. Connects external perception to internal implications
3. Recommends any internal communications adjustments
4. Highlights where external perception is helping us recruit/retain talent
5. Flags where perception is a risk to employee morale

Make this suitable for monthly exec team meeting.

Variation 5: Comparative reporting (vs last month)

Help me structure this update to show month-over-month changes clearly:

Last month's key metrics: [Paste]
This month's key metrics: [Paste]

Last month's issues: [Paste]
This month's issues: [Paste]

Help me:
1. Highlight what changed (improved, declined, resolved, escalated)
2. Explain why these changes happened
3. Show trend trajectory (is this month-long noise or sustained change?)
4. Recommend what this means for next month's priorities
5. Format to make comparison visual and easy to track

Make the update easy for the Board to see "here's what changed from last month" at a glance.

Human review checklist

Example output

Monthly Communications & Reputation Update Month: January 2026 Prepared for: Board of Directors Prepared by: Head of Communications Distribution: Confidential—Board only

Executive summary

Overall reputation health: Stable

Key storyline this month: Climate leadership announcement resonated well with investors and sustainability-focused customers, but supply chain issues are becoming a concern in mainstream media. We’re managing this as moderate risk, not crisis.

Risk status: Monitoring 1–2 areas (supply chain narrative, investor confidence)

Key wins:

Climate commitment announcement: positive coverage in FT, Bloomberg, trade press
Customer satisfaction: net promoter score improved to 72 (from 71 last month)
Employee engagement: internal values survey shows strong alignment with sustainability positioning

Items requiring attention:

Supply chain criticism gaining traction on social media (+45% negative mentions this month)
Investor confidence steady but cautious pending Q1 earnings (opportunity to reinforce commitment)

External perception snapshot

Overall sentiment:

Positive: 64%
Neutral: 22%
Negative: 14%

Trend from last month: → Stable (no significant change)

Sentiment by stakeholder group:

Stakeholder	Sentiment	Trend	Key perception
Investors	Positive	↑	Climate commitment positively viewed; execution questions remain
Customers	Positive	→	Satisfied with product; concerned about supply chain impact
Employees	Positive	↑	Proud of sustainability direction; curious about career implications
Industry	Positive	→	Respected as sustainability leader; questioned on speed of implementation

Narrative themes:

Climate leadership: Viewed as genuine by investors/analysts, as marketing by some critics
Supply chain transparency: Growing demand for details on mitigation plans
Operational execution: “Can you actually deliver on this commitment?” question from multiple groups

Key metrics performance

Metric	Target	Actual	Status	Insight
Brand awareness (target audience)	50%	47%	🟡	Slight decline; climate announcement should lift this in Feb
Positive sentiment (social)	70%	64%	🟡	Stable; supply chain negativity offsetting climate positivity
Employee NPS	7.5/10	7.2/10	🟡	Up from 7.1 last month; trajectory positive
Media impressions	2M	2.3M	🟢	Climate story drove 23% increase in coverage
Crisis incidents logged	<1	1	🟡	Supply chain issue logged but managed, not escalated

12-month trend: Steady improvement throughout 2025, acceleration in Dec/Jan due to climate positioning

Media coverage analysis

Volume: 89 mentions across 35+ key publications (vs 73 last month = +22%)

Coverage breakdown:

Positive: 57 mentions / 64%
Neutral: 18 mentions / 20%
Negative: 14 mentions / 16%

Major stories:

Story	Outlet	Date	Tone	Business impact
”SustainCorp’s £50m Climate Commitment”	Financial Times	28 Jan	Positive	Credibility with investors; positioning as sector leader
”Supply Chain Delays Hit Tech Sector”	Reuters	26 Jan	Neutral	Contextual risk; positions us as part of broader issue
”Is Net-Zero Too Fast?”	Business Green	29 Jan	Negative	Criticism of timeline; platform for our response on execution

Narrative positioning: We’re firmly positioned as climate leader in investor/trade press, but consumer-facing media is starting to ask “can you actually deliver” questions given supply chain realities. This is normal; we need to shift from “what we’re doing” to “how we’re doing it” in Q1 messaging.

Campaigns and initiatives

Active campaigns this month:

Campaign	Objective	Status	Results	Next
Climate Leadership Launch	Announce commitment, establish thought leadership	Complete	FT, Bloomberg coverage; investor positive feedback	Shift to implementation storytelling (Feb)
Supply Chain Transparency	Build trust on supply chain mitigation plans	In progress	Internal research completed; awaiting legal approval	Launch case study series (Feb)
Employee Values Alignment	Reinforce culture fit and career opportunities	On track	78% employee survey response; 89% agreement with values	Quarterly pulse survey (March)

Campaign highlights:

Climate announcement exceeded coverage expectations (+45% vs historical launch average)
Legal review of supply chain transparency materials delayed by 1 week; now on track for early Feb
Employee engagement with values content strong; recommend continuing quarterly format

Risk and issue management

Current active issues:

Issue	Status	Escalation level	Impact	Actions
Supply chain criticism (social)	Active	2 (Watch closely)	Moderate; limits credibility of climate message	Response point prepared; monitoring for escalation to level 3
Investor confidence during earnings season	Monitoring	1 (Monitoring)	Moderate; climate commitment could be questioned	Preparing talking points for investor calls

Issues resolved this month:

Media inquiry about governance of climate commitment: Resolved with detailed response; positioned us as transparent

Emerging risks (early warning):

NGO credibility attack on net-zero timeline: 12 mentions from activist accounts; watching escalation
Employee retention risk if implementation is slow: No current signal but identified in values survey as risk

Crisis readiness: Crisis protocols updated and team briefed on supply chain scenarios. Ready to activate if media escalation occurs.

Alignment with business priorities

Communications directly enabled three of this quarter’s business priorities:

How communications enabled:

Investor confidence: Climate announcement drove positive sentiment; positioned us favorably for Q1 earnings discussions
Product narrative shift: Supply chain transparency campaign set up for new messaging on implementation and reliability (supports product roadmap)
Talent attraction: Employee values alignment campaign supports recruitment messaging for Q1 hiring cycle

Stakeholder relationship health

Stakeholder group	Relationship health	Engagement this month	Priority actions
Board/Investors	Strong	Monthly briefing + earnings prep call	Prepare talking points for Feb earnings call
Major customers (top 10)	Stable	3 customer briefings on climate commitment	Quarterly check-in calls (Feb)
Employees	Strong	All-hands on climate commitment + values survey	Follow-up focus groups on career implications (Feb)
Industry partners	Stable	Conference presentation on sustainability	Collaborative supply chain transparency initiative (Q1)

Team performance and resources

Communications team capacity: At capacity

Resource gaps identified:

Supply chain transparency campaign requiring 20% more time than budgeted due to legal review cycles
Climate storytelling for ongoing narrative requires additional junior writer (not available until Feb)

Capability development:

Investor relations skills: Team trained on investor expectations for sustainability reporting
Supply chain communications: Partnering with operations for deeper expertise

Next month priorities

Launch supply chain transparency case study series (Feb 1–15)
Prepare climate commitment talking points for investor earnings calls (Feb 5)
Shift climate narrative from “what” to “how”: execution storytelling begins (Feb onwards)
Monitor activist social media sentiment for escalation signals; escalate to level 3 if >50 mentions daily

Key dates/milestones:

5 Feb: Investor earnings call (climate commitment discussion)
15 Feb: Supply chain transparency first case study live
20 Feb: Industry conference speaking slot on sustainability implementation

Weekly Monitoring Brief – Source data for this update
Simple Comms Dashboard – Monthly dashboard review feeds into this update
Issue Log Tracker – Issue status updates feed into risk section
Board Communication Framework – Detailed guidance on Board-level messaging
Quarterly Strategy Review – Longer-term strategic analysis beyond monthly reporting

Tips for success

Lead with what matters most Your executive audience has 30 minutes. Put the most important information in the first two pages. Don’t bury the key issue in the appendix. “Good news first, risks early” is the structure that works.

Connect to business, not just comms “We got 57 positive media mentions” matters less than “positive media coverage improved investor sentiment for earnings call.” Show why communications results matter to the organisation’s business outcomes.

Be honest about challenges If sentiment is declining or an issue is escalating, say so clearly. Executives prefer hearing about a problem in the monthly update than being surprised in a crisis. Honesty builds trust; spin erodes it.

Proportionate risk language “Moderate risk” and “monitoring for escalation” are more credible than “this could become catastrophic if”. Use specific, measurable escalation criteria, not vague fears. Back up risk assessments with data.

Maintain consistent metrics Same metrics month to month allows year-over-year comparison. Don’t swap out metrics when one underperforms. Consistency reveals trends; ad-hoc changes hide them.

Common pitfalls

Celebrating activity instead of outcomes “We published 12 articles and held 8 events” is activity. “Our thought leadership positioning improved 23% with target audience” is outcome. Replace activity counts with impact measures.

Executive summary that’s too long If your executive summary is 3 pages, it’s not an executive summary. One page maximum. If your top-level finding doesn’t fit on one page, you don’t yet understand what’s most important.

Metrics without context “Brand awareness is 47%” is meaningless without baseline (“down from 51% last month”) or target (“below our 50% target”). Every metric needs context: where did it start, where do we want it to be, is this good or bad?

Ignoring the human element Executives want data, but they also want to know “what does this mean for our customers, employees, reputation?” Connect numbers to human reality. “64% sentiment” becomes “our customers are satisfied but concerned about supply chain impact.”

Forward-looking without priorities “Next month priorities: continue current initiatives” isn’t helpful. Executives need to know: what are the top 3 things to focus on next month, which get resources, which get scaled back? Make the priorities clear and actionable.

Monthly Stakeholder Update

What it is

When to use it

Inputs needed

The template

Monthly Communications & Reputation Update

Executive summary

External perception snapshot

Key metrics performance

Media coverage analysis

Campaigns and initiatives

Risk and issue management

Alignment with business priorities

Stakeholder relationship health

Team performance and resources

Next month priorities

Appendices (optional)

AI prompt

Base prompt

Prompt variations

Human review checklist

Example output

Executive summary

External perception snapshot

Key metrics performance

Media coverage analysis

Campaigns and initiatives

Risk and issue management

Alignment with business priorities

Stakeholder relationship health

Team performance and resources

Next month priorities

Tips for success

Common pitfalls

Related templates

Issue Log Tracker

Simple Comms Dashboard

Weekly Monitoring Brief

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