SEMINARS Passia Seminar 1999 Media and Communication Skills

 

 

 

Kathy Sullivan[1]

 

 

 

The following are the issues that you have to deal with if you are the per­son inside the organization responsible for dealing with fundraising and public or media relations.

 

 

Internal housekeeping

 

The success of communications or fundraising plans depends on how well they are integrated within an overall organizational strategic plan. It also depends on how well top management and board members understand and support the work and consider the public relations/fundraising person an important asset in every phase of the organization's development. A third element is the need to empower all other staff members, which in­volves both teaching them and learning from them, allowing them to make an effective contribution to the success of your plan.

 

 

·     Insist on agreement on organizational goals and objectives. Suggest a strategic planning workshop or other exercise if needed, to develop your communications plan/mission state­ment, which should reflect a certain consensus inside the or­ganization. Use the plan/statement to resist being dragged off course by individual egos or personal interests. All media and fundraising activities should be assessed according to the ex­tent to which they help to implement the plan.

·     Make sure that the public relations/fundraising person is part of the management team that makes decisions about the organization's direction and future. Public relations and fund­raising staff need to work with senior management/board mem­bers to develop mission statements, strategic plans and new organizational initiatives. Involve them in developing, not only approving your plans.

 

 

·     Get involved in shaping ‘products’ (services, benefits, proj­ects) of the organization from the beginning, not only ‘selling’ them. For example, if your organization decides to seek funding from a major international donor agency, is it set up to manage the funds according to the donors' specifications, or is there something that could be done now to better position it as a qualified recipient of funding? How would the required changes affect other activities of the organization? How would this new donor change the organization's image for the better/worse? How would it play in the media? A fundraising or public relations person will have to do the research, the talking, and the net­working with donors and media people, etc., and it is important that they ‘keep a finger on the pulse’ to examine how others see the organization. This dual vision – from the inside and from the outside – is extremely important.

·     Assess internal organizational capabilities. Are basic ad­min­istrative and financial controls and reporting processes in place to handle money and trace its source, the way in which it is dis­tributed, and its benefits in a proper manner? Can you re­liably document the impact of your work with statistics, case studies, photos/video, and ‘testimonies’ from beneficiaries? An inability to do all this can blow an organization’s entire reputa­tion.

·     Conduct a risk assessment. Are there any ‘skeletons’ in your organization's closet, anything questionable or ‘difficult’ that colors the way that the organization is seen in the community or by the media that could come out as a result of your more ag­gressive external communications/fundraising efforts? Train the staff how to respond before an embarrassing interview or news item suddenly appears.

·     Secure necessary resources and set realistic goals. Be sure that management/board members understand that effective fund­raising and media relations require certain resources (money, staff, databases, etc.), time to research and cultivate contacts, and their personal involvement and cooperation.

·     Agree on roles and levels of authority. Who are the board/ staff members authorized to make statements and/or re­spond to the media? It is wise to have all media inquiries di­rected to the designated public relations person for screening, before they are passed on to the correct spokespersons. Or­ganizations just start­ing to make a name for themselves may want to keep ‘spokes­persons’ to a minimum, thereby maintain­ing control over their message/s and reinforcing the identity of the organization by relating it to one or two faces only. Agree on who in the organi­zation will be responsible for making different levels of contact with potential/existing donors. In some organi­zations, the chair or president remains responsible for any di­rect contact with im­portant donors, with staff providing support only, while in others, there is a sharing of this responsibility, but only once the or­ganization’s relationship with the donor is se­cure.

·     Agree to accept and give constructive criticism. Senior management and board members should be willing to accept guidance and advice from the fundraising/public relations spe­cialist on how to improve their effectiveness as media/donor spokespersons for the organization. In addition, staff members also should seek and benefit from the executives' expertise.

·     Engage other staff members. As you develop media materi­als, special events, proposals and lists of prospective media contacts and donors, hold briefings for all organizational staff to inform them, benefit from their ideas and engage their support. You need them to alert you to interesting statistics, program in­novations, photo opportunities and case studies (however, never use somebody as a case study, or quote them, or use their photograph or anything without their permission), and to ‘tell the story’ of the organization correctly in their daily dealings with the community. This is good internal public relations (it makes everyone feel valued, part of the team) and ensures that everyone in the organization is reinforcing the same mes­sages/identity for the organization in their professional and so­cial interactions. Sometimes the public relations/fundraising person is the only person besides the president who has a ho­listic view of the organization, and it is important to update the staff on new initiatives and priorities, beyond their individual jobs or projects. Eventually, you may want to conduct media training for selected staff to expand the list of qualified, reliable organizational ‘spokespersons.’ (Such training is highly recom­mended for ‘frontline’ staff in community-based or field projects who would be expected to guide visiting media or donors.) [2]

 

 

Mission statement

 

Any organization, if it does not have a mission statement, should devise one. A mission statement is usually not more than a couple of paragraphs, depending on how complicated the organization is, and should be designed to give people not familiar with the organization as good an idea about its purpose as possible.

 

 

In order to sell your organization to target constituencies, the media and potential coalition partners and donors, you need a clear, accu­rate, coherent, and consistent description of your organization. This ‘mission statement’ or ‘message’ should communicate the essential nature of your organization, its purpose, scope of work, and unique characters, and its target populations. A good statement will help you gain support and cooperation from all kinds of external allies and supporters and will also help your organization's own staff to better understand the ‘big picture’ to which they are contributing. It is a useful management-by-objective tool, to guide planning and decision-making based on the goals of the organization.

 

You will use this statement often: at the beginning of most fund­raising materials and at the end of most media materials. It can also be used as a small boxed text in any newsletter, brochure or other communication.

 

This exercise asks you to draft an effective mission state­ment/ message (from 1-2 paragraphs up to not more one than one page), using the following guidelines:

 

·       Provide a clear statement of the organization's mission or purpose: the reason for its existence and its long-term goal.

·       Provide basic information about the organization's legal status or affiliation: Are you an independent nonprofit organization (NGO)? A semi-governmental agency? A project of a larger or­ganization? Were you originally founded by or associated with another institution that is well known and respected?

·       Define your service area or target population/s, the geo­graphic areas within your scope, whether you focus on certain groups, e.g., refugees, people living in poverty, or/and on age or gen­der group, e.g. refugee women, pre-school age children, or adolescents who have dropped out of school. Be sure to specify where your organization is based.

·       Describe the scope of activities or major program focus of the organization: Do you provide direct services or do you train/ empower others or concentrate on raising public aware­ness/ changing attitudes? Do you have a program focus, e.g., mental health, early childhood development, human rights, women's legal education, employment?

·       Point out what is special or unique about the organization: are you the first, the only, the biggest, in your town, area, or country to follow a certain strategy or to have a certain structure?

·       Make the reader want to learn more about your organization: include interesting information and write in an active style that shows passion for the mission without over-exaggerating. Be clear and specific. Avoid cliches and vague ‘buzz words’.

·       ‘Interpret’ for the foreign, non-local reader: explain language or culture-bound aspects of your organization's name, logo or acronym. If your acronym means something in Arabic, explain it. If you are working with a highly focused target group whose needs are not known or misunderstood outside the immediate community, you may have to provide a few lines of explanation.

·Be consistent. Once approved, distribute the mission state­ment to all staff and have the director/chair specify that every­one is to use it, verbatim, in external communications. You may need to make minor modifications for special audiences/target groups from time to time (focus on one program area over an­other for certain donors). Review it once a year, to update for any major changes or new developments but don't tinker un­necessarily with the basic statement. The more you use it the more your or­ganization will stand out with a clear identity among all the pub­lics important to your success.

 

In implementing media and communications strategies, it is important that things are set up properly organizationally, and there is a need to do some ‘internal housekeeping’ before inviting people in, especially when it comes to fundraising. When you go to the media or to donors, you are opening the doors to your organization with both its good and bad points, so make sure that you know what the minuses are and try to work on them.

 

 

Strategic Options: Networking and Coalitions

 

Networking and the relationships with the local community, the media, do­nors, and other organizations, etc. are critical and need to be nurtured. Networking keeps an organization visible in between events and helps it become known as a reliable source/colleague/community service.

 

Regional and global partnerships are also very useful, especially for small or new NGOs, as they provide contacts and access to workshops, interna­tional conferences, and similar venues. Linkages with existing regional or international groups can help your organization gain credibility, help with certain issues and techniques, help create a higher profile for your is­sue/organization, and, possibly, help in securing funding. One should not forget that this is mutually beneficial as also the organization is giving something to its partners: a wider base of representation, an insight into an issue (e.g., Palestine) and a foot in the door, and credibility as an organiza­tion that is involved ‘where action is needed’.

 

Coalition building, whether at the local level or beyond, is also an important tool, especially in terms of being powerful with regards the following: achieving a certain goal, getting more attention and weight, approaching donors as a group, lobbying for a certain cause, organizing joint events for all members/constituencies on shared issues (e.g., public awareness cam­paigns, etc), exchanging information or sharing the costs for a poll, a web­site, or a survey.

 

An important rule on coalitions is that it must be a ‘win-win’ situation for every participating organization. None must dominate; all must benefit and shoulder agreed upon responsibilities pertaining to information-gather­ing/sharing, administrative work, pooling resources, etc.