Shouting From Mountaintops February 18, 2007

Ever feel that way about your mission?  You and colleagues know that your mission is great and worthy and now you and everyone on your board is getting the pr bug.  You know the drill..."if we had a great pr program to really tell our story we could achieve the recognition and fiscal support we deserve from our community".

I used to feel that way too.  But now I have a different view of the process that needs to happen for nonprofits (or any other organization for that matter).  Remeber that old consultive sales mantra "Tellin' ain't sellin', asking is."  The core notion was that an orgrnaization will get more sales, in our case more community partnership, if they talk with their prospects rather than to their prospects and begin to not only appreciate but react to their view.

I was reminded of this principle once again when I recently ran across this vintage (October 2006!) article on the Public Agenda site (http://publicagenda.org/aboutpa/aboutpa_articles_detail.cfm?list=35) authored by Barbara Wadsworth.  It is aptly titled "Toss Out the PR Playbook: Send in the Public Engagment Team.  Though addressed to an audience wrapped in the significant challenges facing public education, she outlines an understanding easily adaptable to America's burgeoning nonprofit community.

Read it...and take away a much broader sense of what PR should mean to your organization and your mission.