working in strategic partnership to get you the credit you deserve for your amazing work —
Matt Davis Communications, Inc.
A deeply experienced strategic communications professional specializing in editorial thought leadership, Matt partners with organizations to craft compelling narratives that resonate and drive meaningful change. He brings a unique blend of storytelling expertise and strategic insight to elevate your brand’s voice.
Active Clients ❤️
Articles, op-eds, emails and blog posts written ✍🏼
Media outlets in which Matt's writing has appeared 🗒
What people say about working with matt davis communications, inc.
Services and approach
Editorial Thought Leadership
Helping clients secure media placement by drafting opinion pieces in response to the news cycle. These pieces name your organization and position you for your key audiences, often securing dozens or even hundreds of reprints in syndication around the world.
Communications Strategy
Helping clients develop and implement written communication strategies with clear target audiences, messaging, and narrative shift goals so that they can leverage opportunities to deepen broad awareness of their work for years to come.
Public Relations
Identifying target publications for your work, drafting and sending out bespoke pitches and press releases, and securing traditional media hits.
Experienced, Trustworthy, Conscience-Driven
Matt spent 10 years as a journalist and won multiple awards for his reporting on the U.S. criminal justice system, particularly its treatment of Black and Brown people, juvenile detainees and those in mental health crisis. He has since led communications at nonprofits in London, Oakland, and in New York City, and founded Matt Davis Communications, Inc. in 2020 to work on a strategic basis for a variety of clients whose missions interest him.
Drawing Attention To Injustice
In California, when Harvard University started buying up water rights in a valley where groundwater was running out, Matt took a Greyhound bus down there and found the people whose livelihoods would be threatened, making an 11-minute film that attracted the interest of the Wall Street Journal, who subsequently ran an investigative story on the issue, prompting lawmakers to pay more attention to how water rights are regulated in the state.
Supporting Winning Campaigns
A million Californians lacked access to safe and affordable drinking water, so Matt went and found them. People who had spent their lives having to buy bottled water, and he made films in the Coachella Valley and Los Angeles, shooting footage of people bringing their arsenic-laced water to the state capitol. All this was ultimately part of a coalition effort that led the state legislature to allocate $130million a year to improve things.
Recent client List
17 Communications
89UP
Alana Foundation
America’s Promise Alliance
Arts Hub Colorado
Berlin Rosen
Boston University
Boudica Revenue Network
Catnip Comms
Center for Popular Democracy
Columbia University Justice Lab
Community Sponsorship Hub
Cheddar.com
Children’s Defense Fund
Clery Center
Clearly Next
Data.org
/dev /color
E3G
Further Faster
iFoster
Fenton
Flannel & Blade
Freedom Futures
The Fund for Global Human Rights
Generation Citizen
Inward Bound Mindfulness Education
Health in Her Hue
Ignite National
Katten Muchin Roseman LLP
Kounkuey Design Initiative
Los Angeles County California
Martha Schwartz Partners
Model People
Movement for Black Lives
M+R
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Milk + Honey PR
New England Foundation for the Arts
NEAR
Nonprofit Builder
Open Squash
Open Supply Hub
National Farm To School Network
Porter Novelli
Pulse Forward
Quadrant 2
Quora
Radical Health
Refugee Congress
Refugees International
Refugee Advocacy Lab
Real Voices Media
Ripple Effect Images
The Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Roddenberry Foundation
San Francisco Unified School District
Stop Hazing
Techsoup
Temple University School of Art and Architecture
Trust for Public Land
Tyler School of Art and Architecture
The Shareholder Commons
United Stateless
We Are All America
Matt’s Strategic Communications journal
The Joy of Seeing A Movie In New York City On Your Own In The Middle of the Working Week
Running your own business, you can set your own hours. You can meet your deadlines on your own time and nobody judges you for spending your days as you choose. I love this about being my own boss. Every time I'm tempted to take a job working for somebody else, I do...
Why I Care So Much About Disability In American Jails
This week I wrote for the MacArthur Foundation about disability in American jails. The numbers are stark and reveal a systemic crisis, almost 20 years since I first started covering this issue as a reporter. In 2025, individuals in jails are four times more likely to...
Thank God for the Men who were Kind To Me
As a 23-year-old I faced a few challenges. Thanks to a natural ability to write and a good work ethic, I graduated with a top class degree in English. The problem was I had no idea what I wanted to do with it, and some bad habits. I felt lost after six months at...
It’s Important to Abandon Good Ideas for Better Ones
I've had a great time over the last six months writing a daily newsletter where I read the newspaper. But I've stopped doing it this morning because I couldn't convert free subscribers to pay. I am grateful to those who did convert, but in the end, I realized I was...
Getting good attention: Lessons from an old-school ‘press agent.’
As a Manhattan "press agent," Morty Matz understood the importance of public profile. He understood the importance of taking credit for your best work, and for your worst? He understood how to stay out of the headlines for that, too. I'm a modern-day "press agent."...
Behind Zohran Mamdani’s Historic Upset
I’d be rich enough to fund a Super PAC for Andrew Cuomo if I had a dollar for every establishment Democrat who’s asked me lately, “how can we reconnect with young men?” The answer is: Zohran Mamdani, although I’m afraid I have bad news for the old-school Democrats:...
