I Live Here, I Give Here

The inspiration and excitement is overflowing after last week’s inaugural mixer… so, I figured I should share. Last Wednesday was the official kick off of our Culture of Giving series! Not only was it our inaugural event for the series but, it was also my own personal, inaugural event as part of the I Live Here I Give Here team. I had no idea how wonderfully moved and encouraged I would feel after such a night.

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Guest Blog Post by Erin Palmer

Regardless of what population it serves or what causes it advocates, your nonprofit needs strong roots in its local community in order to thrive. Capturing the hearts and minds of your energetic, philanthropic neighbors is essential to nonprofit success, as strong support at home can open countless doors abroad, helping to spread your mission and your message far and wide.

A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 72% of Americans consider themselves local news enthusiasts. That’s an impressive majority in this day and age when news media across the board are struggling to maintain consumers. What’s more, local news junkies are slightly more likely than their counterparts to feel they can make a big difference in their communities. They feel empowered to effect positive change where they live, and that should make them a big part of your nonprofit’s target demographic.

Two basic components should be included in every nonprofit’s strategy for nurturing its home team: building relationships with local media outlets and working with local government. That’s not all you have to do to strengthen your local presence, but it’s certainly a great way to start the process.

Building Local Media Relationships

The two most important elements for building media relationships are newsworthiness and personal connections. Put another way, you have to know what to pitch and who to pitch it to. Even in the smallest towns, your nonprofit is competing for media coverage with many other important people, events and issues. Be sure you are putting out press releases selectively – only for news that is timely, relevant and of genuine interest to the general public. Make it easy for reporters to get factual, pertinent information by being accessible, professional and knowledgeable. Yes, that means giving out your cell phone number and honing your quotability skills. Learn to talk in sound bites.

Almost as important as what you’re putting out is who you’re putting it out to. Make sure your organization puts forth the time and effort necessary to keep a local media contact list up to date. There is a high rate of turnover in the news business; find the reporters who cover the beats most relevant to your nonprofit, get to know them, and find out who will replace them when their time has come to move on.

Lastly, good news cycles will come and go. The most vital thing you can do to prepare for them is have an easily accessible, quality media kit on your website. Eye-catching, comprehensive print materials are helpful too (e.g. brochures you can quickly slip into a busy reporter’s hand). It’s all about cultivating a general awareness among the local press corps of your organization and what it does so it’s that much easier for them to cover your newsworthy events when they come around.

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I was on the train the other day, which was unusually crowded, and a young man with a bicycle boarded at Plaza Saltillo station. A middle-aged man was sitting on one of the foldout seats under the bicycle rack, prohibiting the use of the rack above him. The man with the bike asked if he could use the bike rack, to which the man sitting in the fold out seat refused. A seat a few feet away was offered to him, but he stubbornly replied, “No. I’m perfectly comfortable here, thank you.” The younger man stood uncomfortably trying to find room for his bike without disturbing the other passengers on the train.

This situation reminded me of a common approach to those in need in our community. Our society tends to view comfort as a high priority. (If you want proof just remember we live in a country with ritzy hotels that vastly outnumber homeless shelters, a booming entertainment industry, and even a blanket with sleeves.) Sure, comfort is a great thing, but when our response to those in need becomes, “No thanks, I’m comfortable right where I am”, that can become a problem.  

Wayne Dyer once said, “When I chased after money, I never had enough. When I got my life on purpose and focused on giving of myself and everything that arrived into my life, then I was prosperous.” The ironic thing about giving is that those who give from their heart are the ones that end up the most prosperous in the end. I challenge you to examine your life this week and where giving back falls in your list of priorities. The beautiful thing about it all is the infectious quality of giving and how it has the power to profoundly change the hearts of both the recipient and giver.

How can you make a difference in your weekly routine to make a difference in your community this month?

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