Not-for-profit PR: Classroom v the office

Hi everyone, this is my second blog in which I will be reflecting on my experiences of not-for-profit PR in the classroom compared to a real work environment. There have been a number of units in which we have had to create PR plans for not-for-profit organisations while studying PR at Curtin, I have selected two organisations that I have written PR plans for during my studies and these are United Way WA and Friends of the Environment (FOTE). These two organisations were in two very different areas of not-for-profit - with FOTE being an environmental group and United Way WA being community oriented. They did however have similar issues in their operations with a lack of resources being highlighted as a key area holding back progress. This was the first similarity I found with these not-for-profit groups and Communicare, the limited staff numbers and marketing budgets which has a large impact on the types of marketing activities which the organisations can utilize. In class it was made very clear that the use of free media was an excellent way of raising awareness and bringing attention to an organisation. So when I started my placement at Communicare I was expecting there to be a large number of media releases written and communication with the local media, and while this tactic is utilized by the organisation it isn't used to the extent I was expecting. This is because it is difficult to on a day-to-day basis find something newsworthy to write about and it is also not guaranteed that a news outlet will run your story. Having said this Communicare do make use of free media in other ways such as the promotion of events such as community service announcements on local radio stations and community newspaper diary entries - which I had not used in any PR plan while studying and not for FOTE or United Way WA. The next similarity between the class and working in the office is events. Communicare run many events from their PR department with the aim of fundraising for the organisation. Though the main difference I have found between the way we plan events in class for assignments and the way in which events are planned in the office is there is a very small amount of time and focus put on the event plan itself - of course the plan must be thorough and include all of the important details - but once the plan is established much time and effort is put into the organisation of sponsorship and donations to help fund the event. In my assignments for FOTE and United Way WA it was sufficient to write a plan for an event with out looking too deeply into finding sponsorship items such as food and drinks for the event and other items for raffles and silent auctions, which seem to be the most common way in which extra funds are raised at an event. A fair portion of my time at Communicare has been spent sourcing items and requesting donations from companies for the event and outlining the benefits which that company will receive for their sponsorship. In my opinion this is an important part of events PR that I had not utilized before in class. Taking this unit and doing my work placement has broadened my view of working in PR and it has been good to apply some of the knowledge learnt in the classroom in a real working environment. It is good to see the similarities and differences between what has been learnt and what is done in an organisation to further enhance my studies.