Get in bed with the devil: Why not-for-profits need PR
NFPs don't engage in PR because of resources and a desire not to bite the hand that feeds them. On both counts, that’s a mistake, argues Good Talent Media's Tony Nicholls.
Let’s be frank. There is an undeniable sense in the public imagination that PR is for corporations, spivs, and political shonks. As a profession, PR is up there (or is it down?) with lawyers and real estate agents in terms of public esteem.
But the fact is that PR works and works particularly well for organisations that don’t need much of a leg up. The question is why aren’t not-for-profits (NFPs) – many of which are getting around with their arse hanging out of the back of their trousers in terms of funding and budgets – utilising PR in the same way as, say, the Minerals Council of Australia?
PR is the art of persuasion when it’s all boiled down. NFPs should be initiating and setting the terms of public debate. They should be engaged in the cut and thrust of political life. And they should be asking governments to help fund important projects. In short, NFPs should be using PR, knowing it works so successfully for multinationals and large corporations.
When we say PR, we mean the full gamut: Getting stories up through traditional media to initiate and shape public debate, using social media to continue that debate, using digital to target and refine it, engaging in alliance building, and using all of those tools to shape government policy and funding through political lobbying.
For NFPs – and industry peak bodies – political lobbying should be a cornerstone of their funding strategy, given how vulnerable NFPs are to policy shifts, political moves, and funding arrangements.
No PR, no influence
The two most common objections to NFPs engaging in PR are resources (money and staff), and a desire not to be seen to be biting the hand that feeds them. On both counts, that’s a mistake.
It’s not uncommon for NFPs to have an admin assistant doing the social media, or researchers doing the comms work. While resource shortages often lead to multi-tasking, any comms work aimed at the public and funders needs to be done by professionals.
Writing a media release thick in detail, jargon, sludge words, a buried lead, no news pegs, equivocal language, no case-study, and no call-to-action is going to make it hard to get media pick up.
And then, of course, there’s the question of having a strong media list and relationships. Winging it is a false economy. Using episodic PR is more efficient.
The fear of biting the hand that feeds them prevents many NFPs from entering the public arena as a contestant for policy ideas or funding commitments. But the reality is that if you aren’t seen to have any allies, any profile, or any political connections, you are tender prey.
Quietude is not only poor branding, it can be fatal.
What NFPs need to realise is that, in public life, the squeaky wheel gets the grease – an ageless truism that is only getting more pronounced in the digital age.
An NFP that has a public profile, a tribe of social media supporters, and industry allies, and is building political relationships and running targeted digital campaigns, is much safer than the NFP that waits cap-in-hand, hoping for the best.
And, let’s be honest, if the government of the day doesn’t like the core work you’re doing, it’s going to gut you anyway and you only make that job easier when you have no profile.
Use your weapons
Most NFPs have access to amazing case-studies to illustrate the importance of their work but, for the reasons outlined above and others, often fail to get those stories and their key messages out in the media.
In terms of latent public support, their stories hold enormous currency, but it’s a currency that tends to stay in the bank. They squander this precious capital.
PR can help NFPs get their stories up, but getting in the media is only the beginning. The aim should be to build the organisation’s profile, articulate importance, its point of difference, and to start using that brand leverage to secure its funding and policy commitments.
Tony Nicholls is the principal of Good Talent Media
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Tony Nicholls
Gee tell us how you really feel Tony!!! I’ve worked in this industry for two decades and some of the smartest, most strategic and creative people I’ve worked with have come from the PR side of the fence. While advertising is in a steep decline, PR has been on an up for the last decade because of the important role it plays…And no one has ever thought of any PRs I’ve worked with as on par with real estate agents or just worthy of working with political shonks?!?! I think you are stuck in the dark ages by what you’ve listed PRs do these days too.
I get the point of your story was about how NFP should be utilizing the important services PR could offer them, but the content is tone deaf and old fashioned in its approach. Surely we can do better than this as an industry?
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Hi Tony,
Thanks for writing this. Genuine question – where are you getting your information ?
“Why aren’t more NFPs using PR like the mineral council?” There are countless examples of healthcare peak bodies, charities and interest groups using PR like you outline. Your article implies there’s some crisis of advocacy in NFP land.
The idea that “the admin person’ is driving social media is arcane.
Please feel free to provide examples – but I honestly think your opinion is completely out of step with reality and fails to acknowledge the sophistication and skill applied by a whole range of NFPs to delivering for their stakeholders.
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Thanks Dark Ages. It’s gallant of you to defend the industry, and by association my colleagues and I, which is really the point of the article. The value and efficacy of PR for those who don’t currently use it and whose perceptions of it are tainted
Of course we know the value of PR, but the view from the outside is quite different I think to what you describe, at least in my interactions.
In any case, we want to bring NFPs and organisations doing good work inside the tent and help them shape public debate, policy settings, and get some funding (private and public) for terrific projects.
Viva PR!
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Hi David,
There are plenty of fantastic NFPs that don’t have the resource capacity to hire people on a permanent basis to do the breadth of work a full-service PR agency can offer (digital, publicity, lobbying, social media). It’s common for an NFP to hire someone as a researcher for example and to think because they can write they can also successfully do media. They are different skill-sets.
My partner is a fundraising manager for a major Australian foundation that assesses NFP projects and I can assure you there are plenty of NFPs in Australia that struggle with these very problems.
There are certainly well-resourced NFPs who can do it all in-house, but there are plenty who can’t and who would benefit from the blend of skills they can get from a PR agency on an intermittent or part-time basis.
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PR has to serve a strategic purpose the way all marketing communications activity must.
The Red Cross is in a hole of its own making. You can’t take money and not use it for the precise purpose you said you would use it for.
This is not good business, this is common sense and good legal precedent.
It is very doubtful that Australians will give as much as they have given again. Charities have to address the issue not shy away from it.
Step 1- admit you made a mistake
Step 2 – pay off your debts and certainly hold a percentage for the future (3 years) but open your books to public scrutiny
Step 3 – be clearer in communication – state that 70% will be used in 24 months for the cause stated- the balance may be held in trust.
The public will be ok with that. If they aren’t , they’ll let you know. Australians are the world’s most generous people- second perhaps only to Americans. This generosity must never be abused.
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