Customer Reviews

The Jossey-Bass Guide to Strategic Communications for Nonprofits: A Step-by-Step Guide to Working with the Media to Generate Publicity, Enhance ... Nonprofit and Public Management Series)

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I use this book to teach a beginning workshop in public relations for non-profit organizations as part of a continuing education program at a local community college. The book is an excellent resource for individuals who are not familar with public relations. It takes the reader through all of the things that he or she will need to do to effectively promote his or her organization.

This is not the best media skills book on the market, especially if you are working with volunteer or advocacy groups who need things broken down more simply and visually. However, it covers the basics and works well as an academic "bible" if you need to convince peers or management to adopt new tactics. Every PR pro can whine for hours about clients and bosses who don't want to grasp the importance of identifying goals and target audiences before jumping into the tactics. (Too many people think seeing a news clip or their name in the paper is success, even if it doesn't really help advance their cause.) This book gives a good overview for managers seeking an understanding of strategy and is a "valid" source when pros are making the case to be more strategic when developing a media plan so that organizations can win.

The Jossey-Bass Guide to Strategic Communications for Nonprofits is a detailed examination of the relationship between nonprofits and the media. As the title says, it provides a step-by-step guide for nonprofits to establish effective relations with the media that result in publicity. My professor recommended this book to me, and I'm finding it quite useful. It has a similar approach to Guerrilla PR: Wired by Michael Levine; both are about maximizing your return on investment.

I especially enjoyed this book because I'm thinking about working for a nonprofit after graduation, and I haven't seen anywhere near as much about public relations and publicity for nonprofits as I've seen for corporations.