The topic that interested me the most in this chapter was “Nonprofit Public Relations.” They are among the most important champions of multiculturalism in any community. Nonprofits serve the social, educational, religious, and cultural needs of the community around them.
A fun fact is the role of public relations in nonprofit organizations that this sector is a primary source of employment for public relations graduates.
Non-profit sectors are characterized by:
- hospitals
- schools
- trade associations
- labor unions
- chambers of commerce
- social welfare agencies
- religious institutions
- cultural organizations
The overall goal of a nonprofit is they seek to win public support of their mission and programs through active and open communication much like those of corporations. The big difference between a corporation and a nonprofit is that nonprofits seek to broaden volunteer participation in their efforts, often through the use of controversial communications tactics to raise public awareness through media advocacy.
Media advocacy: public relations without resources.
- Examples: protests, demonstrations, marches, media photo opportunities, stealth Internet campaigns, and the like are fair game.
Mastery of many trades: Nonprofits don’t have much money for key activities, especially in times of economic downturn. PR professionals must be masters of many functions. Such as positioning the organization, developing a marketing or promotional plan, orchestrating media relations, and supporting fund-raising.
The reason for my interest in this topic is I have recently become a volunteer at The First Tee of Charlotte. They are an organization that helps build children’s character through their nine core values, education and the game of golf. Their mission states:
“The First Tee of Charlotte shall enrich the lives of the young people in Mecklenburg County by providing essential Life-Skills training and character-education through an introduction to the game of golf at our facilities.”
My most recent experience with them was March 26th, 2011. I went to their volunteer training workshop where I learned how they incorporate their nine core values of responsibility, respect, honesty, judgment, courtesy, integrity, confidence, perseverance, and sportsmanship into their teaching and coaching with the game of golf. In order for a student to progress in the program they must master the life skill as well as the golf skill they learned during their session.
My hope for the future is to work side by side with them in creating/administrating lesson plans for the kids and raising awareness of this program all over the world.
The Practice of Public Relations 11th Edition By Fraser P. Seitel
The First Tee of Charlotte’s Website: http://www.thefirstteecharlotte.org/Club/Scripts/Home/home.asp
strange and confusing 