I
had not really considered the existence of a PR body working for a hospital –
let alone an entire foundation dedicated to it – until I started my placement
at the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation.
Wanting
to find work placement in the non-for-profit sector, I was amazed at the
variety of different organisations out there in our community that can be
easily overlooked. Although Princess
Margaret Hospital is well known in WA for its specialisation in children, since
starting my placement I have quickly learnt that its separate Foundation is
often forgotten or confused with the role of the hospital itself.
The PMH Foundation is the
official fundraising body for the children’s hospital and has a critical role
in providing funds for vital medical equipment and research, as well as
implementing various projects. They are involved in so many exciting activities
including annual events like the
Urban
Decent (where people can fundraise to abseil down a city skyscraper…check out
the fun we had earlier this year... http://www.urbandescent.com.au/tag/pmh/), Wear A Bear Day and even weekly visits into the
hospital wards with their mascot ‘Stitches the Bear’. More information about everything
can be found at http://www.pmhfoundation.com/ if anyone is interested.
Right from the first day working
for the foundation I began to understand one of the main challenges it faces.
As part of what has become my weekly task, I use a media monitoring website
called www.mediaportal.com to search
for coverage of the foundation and write up a media report about all the
articles and other coverage that it has been mentioned in. Through this monthly
report the media content can be analysed by the board as to whether there has
been enough public awareness and activities generated to assist with
fundraising objectives.
The problem, however, is that
all too often the journalists and outsourced consultants who write the articles
simply write PMH instead of mentioning the PMH Foundation specifically. The
public are often confused as to where they can donate money because of this
mix-up. It also makes it hard to monitor what the Foundation has actually been doing for the hospital. I also think the PMH Foundation and its staff work really hard to
create a good public profile for the hospital and it is a pity that they often
do not get the recognition they deserve. I have spoken with my coordinator
about what they plan to do about the problem. She said that they have started
to put a note on all the information they send through highlighting the
importance of having the PMH Foundation specifically mentioned in media
releases and articles. Whether that is going to be enough is another story.
Maybe I should ask if any of you have a better idea of how to tackle this
issue? I’m sure my team would be eagre to hear your suggestions!
1 comment:
Hey Caitlin,
It's great that you have mentioned this as a concern for your organisation! I think many not-for-profit organisations who are associated with affliate or 'sister' organisations have the same issue. I know at the Association for the Blind of WA has identified this with the wider public having knowledge of only Guide Dogs WA.
I work within the community relations department for Guide Dogs WA, and I have also discussed with my supervisor about this issue. Generally we find that people either have little knowledge about the Association and only know Guide Dogs WA, think Guide Dogs WA and the Association are different entities altogether, or in rare cases, actually know that Guide Dogs WA exists as part of the Assocaition. I think the problem stems from the fact that people tend to associate and resonate with tangible and 'touchy-feely' things - for us it's dogs, for you it's children's lives. But, this isn't the problem! The problem is the lack of awareness, and to solve it, we must CONTINUOUSLY undertake PR actions to raise public awareness. By the sounds of things, you guys PMH Foundation really are taking leaps and strides to get your name and mission out there! I think you're media monitoring and commitment to community awareness (especially at board level) is great, and I think that the Association could follow the path you have taken - especially because the Association provides so many life changing services for their stakeholders but people just don't know this!
As for suggestions, maybe you could ring or email the journalists you usually send media releases to etc, and just have a chat to them about the issue - maybe they don't even know themselves! You could also try putting a cover sheet style attachment to your media releases clearly outlining its from the Foundation who are fundraising FOR the Hospital? Keep trying, and good luck!!
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