August 3, 2006 | Read Time: 1 minute
NEW BOOKS
Generating Buzz: Strategic Communications for Nonprofit Boards, by Sally J. Patterson, shows board members how they can promote their organizations through marketing efforts, programs that encourage interaction with the people the charity serves, and other methods of garnering publicity. The guide focuses on reaching people who are likely to make the biggest difference to a charity’s success or failure in advancing its mission. It spells out specific communication duties for board chairmen and trustees, and how those roles are different from those filled by paid employees of a charity. Since board members act as ambassadors for an organization, they must be equipped with “talking points” they can use when they speak to the news media, the book says. Additionally, the guide prepares board members for communication troubles caused by a natural disaster, controversy, or other sudden event, and helps groups come up with plans on how board members should publicly handle a crisis.
Publisher: BoardSource, 1828 L Street, N.W., Suite 900, Washington, D.C. 20036; (202) 452-6262; fax (202) 452-6299; mail@boardsource.org; http://www.boardsource.org; 65 pages; $28 for nonmembers; $21 for members; ISBN 1-58686-082-8.
