August 31, 2006 | Read Time: 1 minute
Publicity for Nonprofits: Generating Media Exposure That Leads to Awareness, Growth, and Contributions
by Sandra L. Beckwith
With the right approaches and tools, budget-conscious nonprofit organizations can generate valuable free publicity in the news media, helping them to gain donors or volunteers, raise public awareness of their causes, or run a successful fund-raising event, writes Sandra L. Beckwith, a communications consultant and former publicist.
Ms. Beckwith’s guidebook explains how nonprofit groups can work effectively with news organizations to achieve their goals, from plotting out structured timelines for garnering interest in an event to building friendly relationships with reporters.
“Publicity success is all about everything you do behind the scenes to control and shape the messages you present to the media outlets,” she writes. “Because of the implied editorial endorsement, some estimates put the impact of this media exposure at ten times the value of advertising.”
The book includes short, illustrative case studies and step-by-step instructions on identifying the organization’s goals and target audience, finding journalists likely to be interested in the charity’s story, communicating with reporters, planning and publicizing special events, holding press conferences, creating concise sound bites and talking points, and more methods for generating a positive buzz.
Appendices include samples of fact sheets, opinion articles, press releases, public-service announcement scripts, worksheets, and other resources.
Publisher: Kaplan Publishing, 30 South Wacker Drive, Suite 2500, Chicago, Ill. 60606; (800) 621-9621; fax (312) 836-1021; http://www.kaplanpublishing.com; 242 pages; $23.95; ISBN 1-4195-2299-X.
