Communications is an essential part of what we do as a community. Environmentalists need to think proactively about strategy, message, distribution of messages and reactions to outreach. How do we set up our organizations to communicate effectively? How do we build the budgets, collect the tools, and raise the funds needed for communications and communications tools?
Many of us do not have communications training nor do we have the resources to spend on expensive conferences and training consultants. We are busy monitoring policy, working in the field, organizing our membership, fundraising, and keeping our groups afloat.
We have collected and developed a bank of valuable tip sheets, reference guides, planning tools, and templates that will help you improve your communications skills. These resources are available to you at no cost. We hope they will help you in your work and in the development of your communications strategy. We also hope that access to these kinds of resources will help your organization face its challenges whether they might be thinking about communications before a crisis occurs or training your experts to be good spokespeople.
We also encourage you to check out the training opportunities listed in the column to the right. Some are free and some have a charge, but we feel they’re worth exploring.
At the True Spin Conference on January 22nd, 2010, I had the opportunity to hear Holly Minch offer advice on how nonprofits can take full advantage of each piece of news coverage and use coverage to increase their visibility to supporters and donors.
Here’s what she had to say…
You finally got the go ahead to set up your Twitter account and are ready to start sending tweets. Great! Twitter is a powerful communications tool that will provide you with an additional means of engaging members and giving your media contacts immediate updates on breaking news.
Want to hear some direct advice from a reporter? Hear what advice Public News Service offered to our members about press releases and working with reporters in the September Skills Training recording:
Access the streamed recording at the following link:
Our September Skills Training featured Skip Wood and Erick Mack of Public News Service, who offered advice for many good questions that members had about press releases, reaching reporters, and working with the media.
Before the training, both editors contributed a series of training documents to our training center on press releases and story telling.
You’ve crafted an award-winning press packet – all the information the media will ever need for your big event. But it only gets a couple inches in the paper, or a big storm arrives the same day your packet comes in the mail and the storm is the only thing that gets coverage. And even if you do attract some media, you’re disappointed because they left so much out!
The attached diagram from Skip Wood at Public News Service is an excellent visual framework of being strategic in the structure and framework of your press releases.
It includes many of the essential aspects including header, paragraphs, bullet points, and the strategic inclusion of additional information.