Private Foundations Should Consider PR
April 3rd, 2008 | by admin |In the veiled world of private philanthropy, the practice of public relations is eschewed by many foundation leaders. Some believe that proactive media outreach is tantamount to inviting the Internal Revenue Service in for an audit, while others feel that publicity in some way diminishes the altruistic nature of giving. Yet over the last few years, a shift has begun to take place and foundations are seeing how external communications can complement and even strengthen their giving.
PR can be an invaluable tool for foundations of all sizes. It shines the spotlight on grantee successes; inspires action among constituencies; creates an environment for collaboration among multiple stakeholders; advances key issues; and perhaps most importantly, it highlights the foundation’s role as a good community citizen that is leading by example. All one has to do is read the newspaper today and the impact of philanthropy in particular, and the nonprofit sector in general, will be readily apparent.
Thanks in part to the high-profile actions of several mega-philanthropists (need I mention names?), top foundations and their grantees are commanding greater quantities of ink and airtime. Not surprisingly, the media’s coverage of philanthropy has grown in scope and fervor. This has created a tremendous opportunity for small and midsize foundations to also test the PR waters, as a means of building greater impact in and among the communities they serve.
Despite the changing media landscape and the increased use of communications programs, the foundations that are embracing PR are still considered the early adopters. Often, when speaking with foundation professionals, I find myself having to respond to their perceived hurdles for initiating a public relations plan. These are the ones I hear most:
1. "External communications requires a fundamental culture shift, and that is just not the priority for us right now."
2. "Press coverage is inevitably skewed and the media is always looking for dirt. Why would we willingly subject ourselves to that?"
3. "We don’t have the capacity to handle the inevitable increase in grant requests."
In truth, these hurdles are the result of misinformation and an outmoded culture of privacy. Below, I take a brief look at each and offer my thoughts on why these should no longer be grounds for discounting a public relations program.
Culture Shift
The first hurdle has to do with changing the culture of a foundation from one that is inherently tight-lipped to one that values external communications. Before undertaking this effort, foundations should ask themselves two fundamental questions: 1) In a society where people associate integrity with transparency, is it in the best interest of our foundation to remain compartmentalized from the community and silent about our impact? 2) Will positive press for our grantees and/or the causes we support yield a greater return on our investment and therefore allow us to achieve greater impact? For growing numbers of foundations, the answer to the first question is "no," and to the second question, an emphatic "yes."
A 2006 report by the Philanthropy Awareness Initiative (PAI), titled Making American Foundations Relevant: Conversations with 21st Century Leaders in Philanthropy, offers this: "Good works do not speak for themselves. Sharing stories about successes and lessons-learned contributes to your effectiveness by creating awareness and understanding for what you do…. Behavior that is insular, fragmented, and reactionary is perceived to be both widespread and problematic among foundations. A culture shift is needed in order to convey that foundations are benevolent, honest, collaborative, and instructive, and that they act with integrity, and work for the public good."
