For most of my 27 years in this profession, I've worked in nonprofit and association communications. During college, while working in radio news and public affairs, I didn't
think about this particular industry setting for my career. You see, in college the internships and the advice given by career planning counselors did not point in the direction
of museums, community organizations, membership associations or religious groups. Isn't it interesting that we hear about or even use such organizations everyday but don't ever
stop to think about how we came to learn about them?
Just how is it that we have come to know about United Way, American Red Cross, local zoological parks, religious groups, the National Education Association or the American
Nurses Association? Is it through the same level of communications and advertising planning that is behind Verizon, IBM, Amtrak, Dell Computers, or McDonalds?
Absolutely. In all of the examples given--for profit and not for profit--communicators are positioning a product or service to a diverse group of constituents. But nonprofit
and association communicators rarely receive the credit they deserve: the same respect given to communicators in corporate and agency settings.
As organization communicators, more than likely all of us were exposed to some of the top university journalism or mass communications programs. But somewhere along the career
track a notion developed that perhaps the application of communications strategy within a nonprofit/association setting is not comparable to that performed in, say, a full-service
communications agency or in a multibillion dollar corporation.
How did I get this notion? Perhaps it was from the head of national media relations for a bank. She commented, as we were both attending a day-long writing workshop, that she
would never hire someone who lacked a newsroom and corporate background. Or maybe it came from the countless stories I've heard from nonprofit/association colleagues who tell me
about the abruptly ended phone calls from headhunters who say they know their client would not be open to a potential candidate who lacked a corporate background. Okay. . . let's
blame that one on the headhunters who fail to fully understand our profession.
Take a look at this sample of the strategic communication issues that some of us are currently juggling in our nonprofit/association jobs.
- A high profile controversy over the distribution of disaster funds
- Creation of a media relations strategy that supports a legislative agenda focusing on tax, labor, trade and consumer choice
- Developing the communications strategy and selecting an agency partner to engineer a re-branding effort
- Determining a communications strategy for a possible discrimination suit
The water is "hot" no matter the industry, and top management looks to the communicator to help identify solutions to a wide range of business issues.
The communications approach is the same. It involves understanding your organization's business priorities and researching the direction to take in developing a strategic
communications plan. The hope is that the communications outcome will help to lead our organizations into the light. The evaluation component will reveal whether or not we
succeeded.
And Then Some ...
But what about the "then some" part in the title of this column? For us in the nonprofit/association community, the planning and work is not just about us, our staff (if we
are lucky enough to have staff), senior management and other managers. Probably there is also a volunteer board or committee that needs to be brought into the mix. Building
consensus among all of these stakeholders is definitely a delicate balancing act, but a skilled communicator knows that getting that buy-in early on is the key to gaining support
for the development and implementation of the communications work.
When all of the components come together just right, it is akin to that perfect alignment of the sun, the moon and the stars. And the results come in the form of a big
success, like a national public awareness campaign receiving $6.5 million in free broadcast and print publicity and a huge increase in consumer calls--all from an investment of
$300,000. What a rush!
From where I sit, we all are brothers and sisters in the profession. We all are designing communications strategies by thinking like the CEO. And we all do top-level work.
Winning Friends and Influencing Folks
An effective way to engage communicators outside of the nonprofit/association industry is by organizing a communications advisory committee. You can start with eight to 10
folks. Be clear on the committee's purpose. Is it to supplement your brainpower? If you are a one-person shop, then yes! Do you want to evaluate your communications programs?
Review by an advisory committee would be one type of evaluation system. Need to identify possible pro bono help? Well . . . you get the picture.
An advisory committee provides an opportunity to corral a diverse group of thinkers in support of your organization's communications efforts. Be sure to get representation from
agencies, government, academia, and corporate. Recruit committee members from your professional association. The cost to you? Probably breakfast, lunch or validated parking.
The return on investment can be calculated in the amount of money you saved if you had hired a consultant to create and implement new strategies.
Brenda Siler is director of PR for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association in Rockville, Md. She can be reached at 301/ 897-0104 or [email protected].