PR specialist calls for new PR special interest group at IoF
Howard Lake | 17 November 2006 | News
Writing on his UK Fundraising blog, Ian MacQuillin of fundraising PR specialist TurnerPR has called for a new PR in fundraising special interest group at the Institute of Fundraising. He is encouraging individuals and organisations to join him to show the Institute of Fundraising that there is support for such a group.
“I see this special interest group as a working party as well as talking shop and networking sphere. I think there is a lot of work that needs to be done around fundraising PR and I believe the Institute is the natural home for this work,” said MacQuillin in his blog.
He says the type of work the SIG could tackle would include:
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• Identifying which areas of fundraising are likely to/actually do attract the most media critiscism (three guesses, eh?)
• Seeing whether there is any difference in how fundraising, as opposed to charity in general, is portrayed in the press
• Unpicking fundraisers’ to attitudes and expectations of the media
• Unpicking the media’s attitudes to fundraising
• Developing standard arguments in defence of various methods of fundraising
• Examining how fundraising dovetails with charities’ PR strategies
• Compiling a compendium of best practice case studies
“It would be open to PRs especially but really anyone who has a stake in how fundraisers and fundraising present themselves and itself to the public through the media,” MacQuillin said.
MacQuillin, former editor of Professional Fundraising magazine, recently explained his conviction that PR for fundraising and fundraisers is often neglected by charity PR teams, especially when it comes to communication with the trade sector press. Speaking at the Institute of Fundraising’s PR and Communication one-day conference, he said that in many charity PR offices “fundraising is way, way down the list of priorities.”
Anyone who is interested in supporting or helping setting up such a group can email Ian at
ia*@tu******.uk
putting PR SIG in the subject box.
You can also add your ideas and thoughts on his proposal on Ian’s blog.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.