After our class conversation with Marta and my time spent abroad, I have set a new goal for myself that combines my passion for helping others, traveling the world and experiencing the Public Relations field. I would love to start working for a nonprofit organization somewhere in Europe or Africa. I have come to understand that working in nonprofit PR might be unconventional so I did some research and here is what I found.

Both profit earning and nonprofit sectors understand public relations to be the establishment and maintenance of an organization’s relationship with the publics on which it relies on. In the case of nonprofit public relations, the organization gears its marketing strategies towards the cause that they support rather than a specific customer, product or ideology. Public relations in general is a tough industry to manage as organizations are constantly trying to meet the expectations of the public as well as build a strong sense of communication with a target audience. However, for nonprofit organizations, it is increasingly more difficult as their primary goal is to raise funds to support a given cause rather than to increase popularity or product sales. Public relations are vital to the success of a nonprofit organization as it serves as a means to gain awareness.

From a public relations perspective, nonprofits are often represented as fostering goodwill and serve as beacons of social responsibility. For this idea to remain constant, nonprofits follow a few foundational elements to ensure their success. In most cases, there is little time to promote the organization’s good work. To make this easier, most nonprofits- like for-profits- utilize online media rooms, an organizational backgrounder, biographies, fact sheets and media lists to maintain communication with the target audience and make sure that their stories are be leaked to and published in the right sources. An online media room is a dedicated space for a website. This serves as a way to show the media that the organization respects the needs of the public. An organization backgrounder is a way to convey stories to reporters in an easy and engaging way. Rather than focusing on a call to action, organizations strive to get key facts regarding their work out in the community. With any sort of organization, it is crucial to know the biographies of those holding leadership positions as it gives more credibility to the reputation of the organization. The fact sheet gives reporters a way to understand the work of the nonprofit and why it is important. Most nonprofits have more than one fact sheet to detail an array of issues and or goals. Finally, nonprofits utilize a media list so that they stay connected to the right reporters which will ultimately help prioritize and focus their communication efforts.

While the industry requires a wide variety of skills in order to successfully market the organization on a public front, there are five essential requirements each nonprofit public relations specialist must have. This being said, all of these requirements parallel those needed for any sector of public relations. The five requirements are great communication skills, a developed writing ability, confident understanding of social media, ability to maneuver multimedia and a strong sense of creativity. These five skills allow specialists to successfully develop tactics and respond to the needs and responses of the public.

In the most general sense, the goals and requirements for any nonprofit include the following: working towards the mission, firming up donor bases, recruiting and managing volunteers, and reporting to a governing board. In most cases, nonprofits focus on quality over quantity which explains the overarching theme of fundraising. There are two main target audiences that nonprofit organizations appeal to. One is composed of those on the receiving end of the nonprofits work. The other are the people and institutions providing the money and other forms of support. This being said, nonprofits are primarily concerned with fundraising to keep costs as low as possible so that they can effectively carry out their mission.

Fundraising is a critical challenge for most nonprofit organizations that is not necessarily highlighted for other sectors of public relations. Public relations specialists often zoom in on this factor and conduct solicitation programs as it is a driving force behind the organization’s success. There are different fundraising tactics used depending on the campaign. Methods include but are not limited to direct mail, structured capital campaigns, event sponsorship, social media etc. Considering the fact that nonprofits are seen as the “good guys”, people are often motivated to give money. Understanding what motivates people to give money or volunteer is important to any individual that is working in the fundraising department of nonprofit public relations. More often than not, people give for two reasons. One, there is an inherent generosity possessed in some degree by almost all people. Two, it serves as an ego satisfaction for people.

Within the nonprofit sector of public relations, there are three primary areas that practitioners often focus on. Those three are internal communications, external communications and measuring success. Internal communications consist of strong communication with employees. All employees must be on the same page in terms of analyzing and understanding an organization’s mission and everyone in the organization must be aware of what is going on in all departments. Once this is established, the organization may focus on external communications. Having strong external communications will determine what your audience thinks of the organization. For this to happen, you must understand what the audience wants. In order to successfully adhere to an audience, organizations conduct research and speak to members of the community to get to know them on a local and intimate level. Once internal and external communication is established, the company measures its success. This serves as a way to know whether or not they are reaching the goals and objectives of all communication. Organizations go back to employees and audiences to ensure that the future of the organization is on track.

Similarly, to for-profit organizations, nonprofits utilize an array of tactics to ensure the success of their public relations campaigns. According to Elizabeth Chung, these tactics include targeting the right audience, using compelling visuals to stand out, crowdsourcing content with user-submitted videos, starting a “pay it forward” campaign and riding the trend. While these may be unconventional, these tactics are a good way to get to know the audience on a more personal level and make them feel as though they are engaged in the cause. Nonprofits primarily rely on volunteers and fundraising to stay afloat. These alternative and specific tactics are just a few ways to draw in a crowd that is willing to engage in the organization’s work. Other helpful tactics include identifying a spokesperson and mapping out all communications activity. One of the dominant advantages of a nonprofit organization over for-profit competitors is their inherent credibility. This being said, nonprofits are constantly looking to build bridges with new audiences, widen their influences and enhance their reputations. By sending out their messages via popular vehicles and focusing on media relations and placement, these organizations reach a wide variety of people. Media is the greatest influencer in framing a reputation, therefore, it is extremely important that nonprofit organizations encourage people to consider social issues via media.

While the nonprofit sector of public relations has its inherent perks, there are definitely pros and cons that can sway one’s opinion of this field. Pros of this section of the industry include: unparalleled growth opportunity, the fact that employees can shift their skill set quickly, there are more connections to be made, nonprofits value business skills, they focus on fulfilling works, and its employees are eclectic and bright. However, on the contrary, there are cons that make this field fundamentally more difficult. The cons of this field include: concrete results or check-in points may be difficult to spot as there isn’t necessarily a finite goal, the work environment can be frustrating, the level of burnout can be high, stakes are higher, there is a constant focus on fundraising and most identifiable for most people- the salary is not ideal considering the amount of time that goes into creating and managing a campaign.

However, as the industry changes, the pros and cons of the nonprofit sector of public relations might fluctuate. There are potential factors that could affect the future of this industry. For instance, there might be an increased investigation into political giving or there could be an increased need for social media depending on their fluctuating nature. According to Bill Tedesco, going forward, nonprofits can do one of three things. First, they could coast along with the status quo and rely on commercial support. Second, they could ditch the traditional constructs of the sector in favor of a social enterprise. Third, the sector could use the challenges they face and view them as an opportunity to reevaluate how the sector functions.

While there is an array of factors that contribute to the success or failure of a nonprofit’s public relations endeavors, there are three campaigns that give hope for future nonprofit’s and their campaigns. The first is the photo speaks for itself campaign done by UNICEF. The ultimate takeaway from this campaign is to not be afraid of being bold. The seconds is the #FirstWorldProblems video completed by Water is Life. They changed the conversation via social media and ultimately provided over a million days’ worth of clean water to those in need. The third is the ALS Associations’ Ice Bucket Challenge campaign. It started as a simple awareness video and flourished into an international sensation. As a result of this campaign, it is evident that people like to be seen doing something that matters.