2010 NonProfit PR Awards: Blog

Winner: SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association

SPI determined the best way to get the Millennial generation (people ages 18-29) to see the benefits of plastics in an environmentally sustainable world was to speak to them where they live—online. By creating the In The Hopper blog, ensuring it was populated with regularly written guest posts and using it to complement the organization’s newsletter and direct mail, SPI has seen double-digit growth in site visits.

Key to the blog’s success was ensuring it was populated with fresh content from outside the SPI communications staff. To reach that goal, all staffers were assigned regular blog entries as part of their job descriptions. The blog—from which the association is also generating revenue via banner ads—received its all-time monthly high of 2,838 visitors and 3,352 page views in June 2010 in conjunction with SPI’s triennial trade show and conference. —Cathy Olson

Honorable Mention:

Kaiser Permanente - Dispatches from Haiti
Kaiser Permanente donated $500,000 to disaster relief organizations immediately after the Haiti earthquake and created a single outlet through which caregivers could share their experiences, demonstrate the organization’s dedication and social mission and build employee pride. The blog received 37,000 page views in the first 12 days.