It almost goes without saying: Once-reputable and widely praised nonprofits haven't been feeling the love from the mass media lately, due in large part to their responses to
disasters like Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. If you skim the pages of the newspaper or tune into a nightly news program, you won't be hard-pressed to find a story that critically
examines the allocation of funds during times of crisis, placing nonprofit PR pros in the hot seat to counter negativity and to get the true message of giving across to the
general public.
Case in point: On Oct. 28, the Washington Post ran a scathing front-page story questioning the ability of the American Red Cross to respond to large-scale natural
disasters, saying "during larger events - such as violent storms, wildfires and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks - the Red Cross has stumbled repeatedly, misleading donors on
how contributions are used and underserving victims, particularly in rural minority communities, according to other relief groups and experts on nonprofit agencies." The reporter
also questioned its need to take out a $1 billion line of credit when the organization has $700 million in the bank.
Similarly, in an article "Where the Money Goes" (Oct. 31), Newsweek challenged the motives behind high-level nonprofit employees' decisions, suggesting (albeit gingerly)
that they may be more driven by greed than by need.
And in the case of Goodwill Industries International, a major broadcast network accused the nonprofit of cashing in on the donations sent to aid victims of Hurricane
Katrina. Clearly, the media beast is bearing its jagged teeth and saying that nonprofits actually profit - a lot.
Christine Nyirjesy Bragale, director of media relations for Goodwill, underscored this problematic theme in her keynote speech presented at last week's PR News Nonprofit
PR Awards breakfast. She outlined a strategy of how PR managers can clear their names and, as done by Goodwill, to elicit a retraction for a detrimental and untrue report.
"Let me leave it at this: Don't be afraid of the press because you work at a nonprofit. Don't let a journalist get away with being wrong," she said. "It's your job to set the
record straight - your organization's reputation, maybe even its survival, depends on it. And, by the way, there are two words that get a network producer's attention very
quickly: legal options."
There may be an air of lightness to that final comment, but Bragale's observation is not unfounded. After the piece attacking Goodwill's reputation ran, she immediately got a
transcript of the broadcast and noted glaring factual errors - so glaring, in fact, that it seemed unlikely the reporter ever made a call to Goodwill or visited its Web site. She
then confronted network representatives and called them out on their mistakes. The outcome? A retraction was issued without further ado.
The American Red Cross was not so lucky, but its spokesman was able to defend the nonprofit's need to draw on a line of credit - unfortunately, the quote explaining that the
$700 million in funds had already been designated for other causes was buried at the end article and disregarded by the reporter.
"PR professionals must take the time to educate reporters on what's involved in running a nonprofit. They don't understand there's a business process behind it," Bragale said.
"And reporters are calling you when their story is already written."
Bragale's speech goes beyond legal options and education in naming ways PR executives can protect their nonprofits from media criticism. One top recommendation: transparency.
If a CEO embezzled money, own up to it and assure the public that new financial controls are being implemented to prevent it from happening in the future. And make executives'
annual incomes available through IRS forms. Newsweek may suggest six (or more) digits is a wildly unfounded amount for a nonprofit CEO to pocket, but hiding the paycheck -
and the reason behind it - only gives that reporter more reason to write. Instead, Bragale suggested, demonstrate how running a complex nonprofit is not dissimilar from running a
multi-million dollar business.
"The scope of responsibilities of most nonprofit CEOs far exceeds that which could be filled by a volunteer," she said. And with that defense, nonprofit PR execs can take on
negative media attention and help set the record straight. But if the scrutiny is deserved, measures must be taken to put the brand's reputation and message back intact.
"Intertwined in the story of doing good," Bragale says, "is the story of how good gets done."
Contact: Christine Nyirjesy Bragale, 240.333.5264, [email protected]
Nonprofit, Reform Thyself - It's The Law
Of course, there are standards by which nonprofits must operate, but those standards may be bogged down by a whole lot of legal jargon...if Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) gets
his way. The chairman of the Committee on Finance set forth a promise to reform nonprofits at the 2005 Independent Sector Annual Conference, CEO Summit (Oct. 24). His remarks
included a pledge to amend nonprofits' behavior in the following ways:
- To focus on better transparency and improving board governance, particularly when it comes to high salaries.
- To deal with abuses in donor-advised funds and credit counseling; non-cash donations; and "abusive transactions," such as life insurance and corporate tax shelters.
- To stop tax abuses, as "more than 50% of all corporate tax shelters could involve a tax-exempt organization."
(Editor's note: To read Sen. Grassley's complete speech, go to http://finance.senate.gov/press/Gpress/2005/prg102405b.pdf)