Chap9: Community, Not-for-profit, and Interest Groups

Community, Not-for-profit, and Interest Groups

I shall firstly give an introduction on what community, not-for-profit, and interest groups are. These groups are characterised and distinguished from corporate organisations by certain elements. Its most important stakeholders are not shareholders, its ultimate goal is not profit, and they need to have an ideology, which gives them the reason for forming the groups.

The idea of a community is about relationship building and providing support within an environment. It may also champion social issues. They are often formed by governments to meet the citizen’s need for a sense of belonging. A not-for-profit group is formed to support and assist others over self. They often work closely with the government to achieve their goals. Media is an important stakeholder and a much needed advantage for the group to gain media coverage for their issues and events. Lastly, interest group is focused on self-interest, differing from community and not-for-profit groups. They are focused around an issue or to object an activity, and may break up upon resolution of the issue.

We shall now focus on how to effectively promote not-for-profit groups. As stated in the reading, media is an important stakeholder to not-for-profits groups and the model of effective relationship building with the media is crucial to effective public relations. The group itself has the responsibility to research media organisations, circulation readership, and audience demographics in order to effectively target a specific media. In return, they could invest in media education by sponsoring media events and conferences with an educational focus, feature stories or providing information on its particular field.

In a recent Straits Times article on 14 October, a news report entitled “Ex-convicts get a second chance in life” reported on an ex-convict being promoted six times within four years at his workplace. Additional information showed how other companies are awarded for hiring ex-convicts. The award ceremony, as reported in the report, was organised by the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprise (Score). The report ended with information about Score and its function. From this news article, we can see how Score successfully partnered the media in providing a news report with a news angle and at the same time benefitted them.

Andy Wang C2

Chapter 10: Timelines and Budgets

This chapter talks about the initial stages of planning a campaign; and that is to first come up with a timeline and a budget.

A timeline is usually easier to come up with. This is because PR practitioners, in fact every other working person, are accustomed to planning their own time, scheduling meetings and events, and meeting deadlines in their daily lives. However, experience working as a PR practitioner may indeed be beneficial in placing activities of the campaign at the right time. For example, to carry out an event targeting children, it would be wise to plan the event around school holidays. Or today! (Happy Childrens' Day! :D ) A timeline must also keep in mind the priorities of all stakeholders. Hence, a PR practitioner must be able to multitask and take into consideration multiple factors when doing up a timeline.

The most common representation of a timeline is the Gantt charting technique. It gives a very visual illustration of the tasks at hand and exactly when to complete it.

Besides the timeline, coming up with a budget is also very important. However, it can be a little tricky for the inexperienced. Usually, the total budget includes the following items:

1) research

2) venue and equipment hire

3) transport

4) design and printing

5) mailing

6) stationery

Any additional items would of course have to depend on what activities would be carried out during the campaign. It is absolutely imperative to check the client's expected budget before planning any activities and its costs. This will ensure that the client is not alarmed by high costs nor put off by low costs which may be equated to low quality. Here is an example of a PR budget planner worksheet (which can be downloaded here).

Besides the costs of tangible items that would be passed on to the client, Stanton (2006) also included some tips for the cost of writing, designing and printing. It is in my opinion that intangible services, like writing and research, of PR practitioners vary according to the quality of work produced, their reputation and the consultancy they work for. Hence, it is important for inexperienced PR practitioners to consult their seniors, especially when it comes to the sensitive topic of money.

Personally, I have no idea how much a campaign usually costs. Is S$50,000 too little or too much? Thankfully, coming up with timelines and budgets is a skill that can be practised and perfected with the help of a mentor.