(Summary of a session held at the October 2003 Communications Network conference, Chicago, IL)
Max King, Heinz Endowments president and former Philadelphia Inquirer editor shared some tips from his days in the newspaper world:
- Be open and honest in your media work. Nonprofits and foundations should balance the content in all public communications, including media relations to include what is working and what is not. If you don’t cover what is not working, and how your organization is striving to change that, the press will.What does this mean for your nonprofit or foundation? Here are some subjects on which you should communicate proactively so that you control the message when and if you are covered by the press:
- Your organization didn’t make fundraising goals this year.
- Your organization is under investigation by the authorities.
- You are cutting your staff by 50% due to funding cuts and will have to cut services accordingly.
- Provide periodic media training — training leadership and staff in key messages, how to sidestep traps set by overly aggressive reporters and how to get your organization’s message across no matter what they are asked.Do you want newspaper coverage that reflects what your spokespeople actually said? Would you like TV stations to use your colleagues’ best quotes? Then media training is your best bet. Make sure you train regularly to keep media skills sharp and messages current.
- Strengthen internal communications so that your organization’s leadership and staff are aware of what’s coming and why. Make sure they are not surprised by their own institution.I’d go beyond King’s suggestion to recommend that you develop a media update plan detailing how often and via what medium you’ll inform key staff and board spokespeople on organizational news. Your plan should include regularly scheduled updates and emergency alerts.I recently recommended that one nonprofit client set up a Monday morning staff-wide email update on high level news only. This brief email comes from the president and has worked well to brief those who do speak with the media while ensuring that other staff feel included and are aware of news that might impact their work. It’s working great!
