After my first six days at Arthritis WA I have come to discover what a huge variety of activities the Public Relations sector gets involved in.
I have been working with Lily, the Public Relations and Fundraising Coordinator for Arthritis WA. I initially wanted complete my internship with a NFP as I felt my time would be most appreciated there. What I have come to discover is that the NFP sector is possibly the best sector to complete an internship in, as you get to work on such a vast majority of projects.
In the six days that I have been with Arthritis WA I have become involved in a large and diverse variety of projects including the annual ball, the tri-annual magazine, the monthly newsletter, sourcing advertisers, working with third party fundraisers, presentations for the annual board meeting and social media pages.
I was given the chance to put my writing skill to the test when Lily left me in charge of writing the March Online Newsletter.
A handy communication skill that I learnt whilst creating a newsletter, which will be distributed to over 2000 people, was to tailor your writing so it is easily understood by a large and diverse audience. At Curtin University PR students are encourage to use a higher calibre of english and constantly expand our vocabulary, however when writing a document that will be distributed to the general public it is important to follow the KISS principal (Keep It Simple Stupid). Whilst using an extensive vocabulary may look impressive it is more important to ensure, when sending out a mass publication, all people will be able to easily read it.
As WA’s leading name for Arthritis care, many different brands wish to advertise with Arthritis WA. Currently, only a handful have been chosen to advertise in the tri-annual magazine, based on the validity of their products and statements. Lily is currently looking at creating a pull out with the Sunday times, which will involve substantially more advertisers in order to cover the costs. I was given the job of evaluating companies which have contacted Arthritis WA in the past and research into other businesses which may be interested in advertising. This created an ethical issue for me, as Arthritis WA needs to be very careful about they choose to align themselves with. Any companies which they advertise with must make valid claims claims, and be medically proven to work. Many Arthritis sufferers trust Arthritis WA, and will therefore trust any brand which they align themselves with. It was vitally important for me to list and recommend potential advertisers who will not lead to a violation of this trust.
In the first six days my highlight was attending a conference run by HBF and Every Day Hero on this year’s HBF Run for a Reason. This 3 hour conference ran through all of the ins and outs of third party fundraising. It was such a fantastic opportunity to go along and learn about this unique form of fundraising and have a chat to representative from other not for profits.
Thanks so much for reading!
If you have any questions, please let me know.
