PR at a not-for-profit organisation

Hi Everyone,

As this is my first blog I thought Iwould share with you all a bit of back ground information on the organisation I am completing my placement with and how it is all going so far.

Since January this year I have been volunteering at a not-for-profit organisation known as Kanyana Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. The centre is run by around 120 volunteers who care for sick, injured and displaced wildlife bought in by people from all over Perth. They also have an endangered species program for the Bilby and participate in many education visits to primary schools and other such events.

The reason I decided to do my placement with Kanyana is they are currently in the process of moving to a bigger premises and are wanting to have an opening to advertise the move. As Kanyana do not have a PR team in place, other than Jenny the Office Administrator who has a background in PR, I will become the 'team' as such. While this is a very scary thought, I saw it as an opportunity to put everything I have learnt into practice, and fell comfortable that if I make a mistake Jenny will be only too happy to help me. Jenny was very excited to have a consistant point of contact for the project as too many volunteers would mean too many different ideas and a great deal of organisation and dividing of jobs. The job will have to be started from scratch so this means a lot of planning and a well thought out timeline.

I have come across one problem however. The date for the opening seems to be moving later on in the year and looks as though it will not happen untill after placement is finished. In light of this I have discussed with Jenny the possibility of have as much done as possible so when it is time things such as media releases and invitations will be finished and ready to go, and I can use my usual volunteer time to make sure this happens.

So far so good, however I am sure things will get very busy for me very soon.

Hope you are all enjoying placements

Cheers, Ria.