Not-for-profit PR- Making a Difference

When considering your career in PR the big question is often in-house or consultancy? I too thought this was also going to be my biggest consideration when applying for PR jobs, but since beginning my work experience placement at Shine Communications in June it’s actually corporate or not-for-profit that has really got me wondering.

Shine Communications is small boutique PR consultancy run from home by owner/manager Ruth Simpson. Most of her 12 clients are not-for-profits in the aged care sector, but she also works for the YMCA, mining company FAST, the PMH Foundation, archaeology firm Archae-aus and pro-bono for the Shenton Park Dogs’ Refuge Home. Ruth generally performs a lot of media relations and internal communication activities and has good working relationships with a large number of journalists and editors at community newspapers. The good relationships she has fostered has meant that most of her media releases do get run, which is good news for her clients.

My first choice in PR was probably always leaning towards the music, fashion or arts industries. This is because I am interested in these areas, there seems to be a lot of scope for creativity and it seems a lot cooler to say “I’m a communications officer for a boutique fashion label” than “I write media releases for an old people’s home”. Although I have started working in an area that I would not usually be interested in, it is growing on me. There is a certain satisfaction and ‘warm and fuzzy’ feeling when you get a story out into a community paper about a employee who has been working with the elderly for 20 years and absolutely loves it, or writing a newsletter story celebrating a resident who was one of the first to complete a tandem bike ride across Australia in the 1930’s. It’s also a good feeling when you are getting positive news stories out there when the media is so often dominated by doom and gloom. Above all, I feel like I am helping to make a difference to organisations that are also trying to make a difference. It’s pretty nice.

Not-for-profit clients are also a lot more friendly and easy going than larger, corporate clients, which makes for a more relaxed work environment. Despite my initial concerns that a tiny consultancy focusing on not-for-profit organisations wasn’t for me, it is definitely starting to look a lot more inviting. Most of the PR work I am doing at the moment is that of a “PR technician”, honing my writing and editing skills and applying them to media releases, newsletter articles and website copy. Because Shine Communications is such a small consultancy, I have been thrown in the deep end (in a good way!) writing material for clients straight away. What I hope to achieve from placement is to practice my writing skills, gain confidence in the workplace and perhaps even create some mutually beneficial relationships with journalists, all of which would further help me get in a foot in the door of the PR industry when I leave uni and start job hunting.