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Dallas Law Firm’s Charitable Foundation Puts PR Focus on Educational AchievementBy PR News EditorsThere is an old, cynical saying that bad news is good news in the media business. In addition, lawyers – wherever the truth may lie – don’t always enjoy the most altruistic of reputations. So here’s a real PR challenge: Promoting ten years’ worth of good news, with a focus on a future of more good news to come, for a foundation created and run by a law firm. In 2005, the Bickel & Brewer Foundation (a nonprofit created by the Dallas-based law firm Bickel & Brewer) marked its tenth anniversary of raising the bar for corporate citizenship in the legal community. In addition, 2005 was being positioned as a turning point for the foundation as it broadened its horizons and goals. Clearly, there were plenty of positive stories to pursue. Coordinating these efforts was Travis Carter, founder and president of Carter Public Relations in Dallas. “Trying to bring attention to your professional cause or foundation is difficult, since it is very crowded in this field,” he says. “The challenge for PR people is to break free of the clutter and make sure the client receives the recognition he deserves.” Actually, Carter was no stranger to the story: He managed Bickel & Brewer’s PR efforts internally for two years before branching off to start his own agency in 2003. Having an inside knowledge of how the firm operated helped erase any learning curve delays, as he was able to map out a complex strategy of individual stories for promoting while keeping the greater story of the tenth anniversary in constant consideration. The Kids Are AlrightCarter sought to emphasize the foundation’s commitment to education. A main component of this was the Bickel & Brewer Future Leaders Program, in which the foundation partnered with the Dallas Independent School District for an expansive after-school curriculum. One of the key elements for the 2005 schedule was an academic recognition program that was capped by a special appreciation ceremony. As a keynote speaker for the event, Carter reached out beyond Dallas and tapped David N. Dinkins, the first African-American elected mayor of New York City. The choice of Dinkins a guest speaker resonated strongly among the program’s students and also received considerable media attention in Dallas.“He was honored for his extraordinary work in community service and for his long and outstanding public service career,” explains Carter. “We introduced him to the program and he offered to come to Dallas to meet the young people enrolled in the program. He was actually our first choice as a public speaker.” While Dinkins came to Dallas, the foundation’s leaders went in the opposite route to New York for a ceremony honoring high school students participating in the National Public Policy Forum. The forum is a national contest that gives high school students the opportunity to participate in written and oral debates on public policy. The foundation created a finals program that took place in April 2005 at New York University and it also secured formal endorsements for the forum from two leading academic agencies, the National Forensic League and the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues. The visit to New York University also allowed Brewer to unveil the new Bickel & Brewer Latino Institute for Human Rights, which provides full tuition scholarships to law students attending NYU. Media Ready, Willing and AbleFor William A. Brewer III, a co-founder and partner in the foundation and its parent law firm, the real media stars for this campaign were the young students benefiting from these programs. “They are our future leaders, and I love for these young people to get attention for what they’re doing,” he says. “Our fundamental strategy is to keep kids in school by communicating how crucial it is to stay in school, and what a difference it makes in the trajectory of their lives. In a few short years, they will be gaining an education at the best colleges and universities in the United States, and it is an enormous value for them to see a news clip on themselves. We also had TV reportage, and the students just beamed and loved it.”Dallas-area media coverage for these efforts spanned daily and weekly newspapers and a lengthy segment on the Fox News affiliate; national philanthropic publications also took notice. For Carter, there was also a need to get some of the glowing attention shining over Brewer’s way. Through his efforts, the Texas State Board of Education named Brewer a “Hero for Children” in a November 2005 ceremony. “We assisted in sharing the story with the State Board,” adds Carter on the genesis of that award decision. That wasn’t the only award that came in. Last month, Bickel & Brewer and Carter Public Relations shared the PR News 2006 Legal PR Award for Excellence in Social Responsibility. Lessons Learned: Philanthropic PromotionsThe trick in promoting philanthropic endeavors is to avoid coming across as self-serving. If the PR focus is too heavy on the giver and not the receiver, the initial altruistic concern behind the charitable act gets lost. Here are some tips to keep that from happening:
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