Communications Help: a Sampling of Resources

Communications Tool kit: A Guide to Navigating Communications for the Nonprofit World. A guidebook

to help organizations apply lessons from the corporate world on topics such as conducting market research, communicating with constituents during a public-relations crisis, advertising, branding, Web sites, advocacy, and dealing with news media. Published by Cause Communications, a Santa Monica, Calif., nonprofit consulting group that assists charities with marketing efforts, the toolkit includes checklists for planning events, a chart to help charities assess the costs and benefits of specific communication materials, and a form to help groups analyze their strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities, as well as potential threats to their way of operating. Free copies may be ordered or downloaded from the Cause Communications Web site at http://www.causecommunications.org/CC/CC_news06_1.html.

Framing Public Issues. This guide is designed to help nonprofit organizations understand and apply the latest thinking about how best to influence public opinion. The guide, published by the FrameWorks Institute, a Washington organization that commissions and publishes research on communications to help charities achieve their goals, can be downloaded free from the institute’s Web site at http://www.frameworksinstitute.org.

Free-Range Thinking Newsletter. A monthly publication created by Andy Goodman, a Los Angeles communications consultant, to show organizations what approaches to promoting social goals have worked for public-interest groups, foundations, and businesses. Topics include how charities use radio to advance their causes, what journalists recommend about pitching story ideas, and how to run an effective public-relations campaign on a tight budget. Free subscriptions are available to employees of nonprofit groups at http://www.agoodmanonline.com/newsletter/index.html.

Smart Chart. A 17-page document that helps nonprofit groups develop a viable communications plan by completing a series of exercises to answer questions such as: What are you trying to do? Who is your target audience? How do you know if what you are doing is working? Published by Spitfire Strategies, a Washington consulting group that specializes in helping social-change groups improve their communications, the chart may be completed online free at http://www.smartchart.org .

SPIN Academy. An annual five-day “boot camp” that provides training to officials of social-change organizations in how to work with journalists. Conducted by the SPIN Project, a San Francisco nonprofit group that helps charities with communications, this year’s session will be held August 17-21 in Petaluma, Calif.; applications are due by July 7. Registration is $200 to $300 per person, depending on the size of the budget in the applicant’s organization. For more information, go to http://www.spinproject.org.