Observing the wild world of not-for-profit organistions.

Hi everyone!

My name is Prue Kraft and I am doing my placement at the Association for the  Blind of WA - Guide Dogs WA (Guide Dogs) in the Community Relations department. I have just finished my third day at my placement and already I appreciate the importance and benefits of this placement unit! I know we heard it all in the modules, unit outline and even from other students, but this unit has got to be THE MOST USEFUL experience for me as a budding Public Relations Practitioner.

During my first few days at the Guide Dogs it became very obvious that in this not-for-profit organisation, and I'd assume not-for-profit organisations in general, very few people do a huge mass of work, and staff within the team are thinnly spread between mutiple tasks. But what I did notice in this environment is that everyone is always more than happy to help out where ever they can and get involved in projects to help lighten the load. Further, everyone within the team is very considerate of one another, always making sure everyone has taken their lunch break etc. I think this contributes to the warm, friendly and inclusive atmosphere that exists within this team environment. Not to mention the Association's retired Guide Dog, Gidgie, who hangs out in our office and is always up for a cuddle or two!

Understanding the environment and nature of not-for-profit organisations really enabled me to see the bigger picture behind every task I do while on prac. For example, I spent most of my first day stuffing 500 quarterly Guide Dog News newsletters in envelopes to be distributed to their stakeholders. While the team were apologetic for giving me the task and reassured me that my time on prac wont consist entirely of stufifng envelopes, I was more than happy to help as I knew that 1. this was a vital part of their communications plan and 2. I was freeing up half a day of work for the team to do other equally important work.

My second day on prac saw me delve right into public relations at the Guide Dogs.  First off, I interviewed the Director of Corporate Development on an event he is taking part in. I then had to write the article up based on this interview to go on to the Association's website. At this point the advice of many of my tutors came rushing back to me, with one statement ringingly loudly: "ATTENTION TO DETAIL". While I have written many press releases in my time at uni, it was only now that I fully understood this! I needed this article to be complete, interesting, accurate, and most of all, fit within the style and tone of the rest of the organisation. With these points in mind, it took me longer than usual to write my article, but the hard work payed off because it went straight up onto the Association website!! This was probably the best feeling ... EVER! Compliments from the team and the Director also made me feel pretty happy with myself!

So, if there is anything I have learnt on my first week of prac, it would have to be one of two things. 1. ATTENTION TO DETAIL! and 2. Listen to what tutors say, they really do know what they are talking about!!!