February 15, 2012
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In a down economy, nonprofits are vying for the funding that they've always sought, but the whole pie from which it used to get sliced is smaller and harder fought-for.
"Our direct donations from mostly parent donors have gone down dramatically in the past five years," said Melisa Hollenback, co-president of the Shrewsbury Education Foundation in Massachusetts.
Exactly why isn't cut and dry, she said, but what is clear is that her foundation has to be more active than ever in bringing revenue to its coffers. That means getting out the word, but getting the public to fund a great idea takes good press. To get that, experts say, imagination and a solid hook are more important than ever.
Strategies for nonprofit public relations
While there are many ways to get a crackling concept started, the following five basic strategies have proved effective for nonprofits–big and small–trying to make a differing in their annual appeals.
1. Change something/add a service
It turned out to be news when Club Passim, a venerable folk club in Cambridge, Massachusetts, added beer and wine to their traditional coffeehouse offerings. The room ticked off two boxes: pleasing patrons and earning a little ink from the city newsroom about the change."Beer and wine were scheduled to begin flowing last night at Club Passim, the longest-running folk music venue in the country, after more than half a century as a dry room," wrote Joan Anderman in The Boston Globe, in 2009. "The liquor license … is one of several moves that may prove critical to Passim's financial well-being, according to club manager [Matt] Smith."
2. Make an opportunity for someone else
From scholarships to grants, a little goes a long way. A nonprofit's name becomes worthy of inclusion in the local paper's community column when it's attached to a $500 award for a graduating high school senior.
3. Collaborate
If the city children's art space and the neighborhood kids-in-crisis organization gets together, coverage can be leveraged not only from the project at hand, but because it's a joint effort in the first place. For example: "We have recently partnered with Cyprian Keyes Golf Club, with a large PR splash to happen very soon," said Hollenback, in February 2012. "And just this week we have received funding from Central One Federal Credit Union. These larger collaborations allow our donors to have name-recognition on the grants to the teachers."
4. Recognize someone for their work
Excellence in the classroom, a commitment to volunteering, a lifetime of philanthropy: all of these are justifiable reasons to issue an award to a member of the community. The nonprofit opens the door to good press by announcing the award recipient's name, and it creates for itself a chance to throw a banquet, too. That can lead to even more notices in local papers and blogs, and it's also an opportunity to raise some cash through ticket sales.
5. Build something new
Few things attract arts reporters like an announcement of a new wing at a museum. Even as the recession slammed the U.S., venerable arts institutions in Boston proved that there were resources to be had if the idea felt right to donors. Both the Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, institutions that are practically across the street from each other, raised multiple millions of dollars to open new wings in 2011 and 2012. Both enjoyed massive press about the projects.
6. Allies in an effort
If the goal of a nonprofit is to provide something useful to the community that supports it, attracting attention is about plugging into the concept underlying that support. Every idea above is, at its core, an amplification of some component of traditional nonprofit activities. And not to be overlooked, say
directors such as Hollenback, are the smaller opportunities in the mix.
"Large donations make our jobs easier; however the smaller businesses and donations are also vital to our organization and we have come up with ways to allow them participate in name recognition and allowing them to donate without hurting their smaller bottom lines and hopefully driving business to them," she said.
Put another way, it never hurts to have an ally in the search for new revenue.
James O'Brien is a correspondent for The Boston Globe, The Consumer Chronicle, and Boston University's Research magazine. James blogs via Contently.com.
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