Communicating in the Shadow of Disaster – Practical Tips for Nonprofits

What is the place of nonprofit communications in the wake of disaster, particularly when even these crises of epic proportions have generated far less giving than Hurricane Katrina or the Indian Ocean tsunami relief efforts?

For a nonprofit, the answer lies in the way (if any) the organization is involved in the relief effort. The following guidelines derive from an analysis of news of, and fundraising campaigns for relief efforts in, regions struck by the recent earthquake in China and cyclone in Myanmar.

For organizations providing services in the cyclone and / or earthquake relief effort:

• Communicate broadly and clearly about how donations are managed, where they are going and what your organization's relief effort is achieving.
  
  
  • Feed the Children responded quickly to the earthquake in China with tents and food, and offers donors a range of giving levels tied to pounds of aid provided to survivors.
    http://tinyurl.com/4geaox
    http://tinyurl.com/3lvw94
  
  
  • Doctors Without Borders(MSF) features its cyclone relief effort news on its home page, emphasizing the delay in being allowed in to help survivors. While bemoaning its inability to bring in the full level of relief staff, MSF clearly conveys the impact it is able to make through quantifying the services it's delivering:
    
    "Since the cyclone struck, MSF has more than 250 staff on the ground in the Delta, with a total of 33 medical teams. An average of 500 medical consultations are carried out on a daily basis and to date MSF teams have reached approximately 120,000 people and have distributed at least 310 metric tons of rice, more than 84,000 cans of fish, 16,500 liters of cooking oil, and 13,500 plastic sheets in the Delta. "
    http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm?id=2718


• Make it clear why your organization is well-equipped to help. Be as specific as possible.
  
  
  • Mercy Corps, with in-place partnerships with local organizations already working in the affected regions of Myanmar and China, was positioned to provide aid in these regions before many other relief organizations could get through.
    http://www.mercycorps.org/chinaearthquake/
  
  
  • Feed the Children is poised to move "pre-positioned emergency food from its international offices in neighboring Thailand" to reach cyclone survivors in Myanmar. It's also supporting survivors who have crossed the border into Thailand.
    http://tinyurl.com/4j4mzy


• Be thoughtful in your use of graphic photos of the disaster.
  
  
  • The press is working for you by publicizing shocking photos of the disaster (not to mention the home videos floating around YouTube, and the tens of thousands of photos on Flickr).
  
  
  • Some journalists argue that graphic photos (such as dead children) are too much. Others assert that the seriousness of the disaster necessitate the use of photos to convey the gravity of the situation, especially to the jaded U.S. audience in the midst of an economic downturn.

For organizations collecting donations for aid efforts:

• Be proactive and specific in conveying the process for distributing donations and where (and when) the money will be spent.
  
  
  • United Jewish Communities (UJC) is soliciting donations for earthquake and cyclone relief efforts, carried out through the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), a 94-year-old humanitarian aid organization that works in over 60 countries worldwide. "Funds are being collected on a non-sectarian basis as part of JDCís International Development Program (IDP) which responds to natural and manmade disasters, providing immediate relief and long term assistance. JDC currently assists several elderly Jews of the estimated 1,500 in Sichuan Province." http://www.ujc.org/page.html?ArticleID=175733
  
  
• Explain why your organization has chosen to get involved as a pass through for donations.
  
  This role, which is probably an unusual one for your organization, has the potential to confuse your established audiences. Help them understand what you are doing, and why.
  
  • UJC does a good job of explaining why it is getting involved in donations for relief support -- reaching out to its broad audience to motivate giving to the JDC.

For other nonprofits continuing with their fundraising and communications pitches:

• Be sensitive to inappropriate pitches.
  
  
  • You may actually go as far as to acknowledge the magnitude of the earthquake and cyclone disasters, and the contributions your donors and prospects are likely to have made. In doing so, you craft the opportunity to talk about your issues (hunger, shelter and health are directly related) and/or service recipients and the fact that these needs persist in the face of these tragedies.
  
  
  • Remember that your audiences have been immersed, whether they have wanted to be or not, in disaster coverage.
  
  
• Relate your work to relief work when relevant -- but don't overstate.
  
  
  • Make sure you don't overstate a connection between your organization, services or programs and the disasters.
  
  
  • At the same time, acknowledge the earthquake and cyclone. Pretending the disasters didn't happen is the worst mistake your organization can make. And hunger is hunger, be it among the survivors in Myanmar's delta or Philadelphians living in poverty.
  
  
• Continue with your regular media campaigns and press releases.
  
  
  • Yep, many journalists are focused on earthquake and cyclone coverage, even as it relates to nonprofits. But if you have a timely pitch, make it.

Send in Your Tips:

How is your nonprofit adjusting its communications messages and strategies to better respond to the international focus on helping the earthquake and cyclone survivors?

Send in your tips so that I can share them with other Getting Attention readers.

Email me today at: nancy@nancyschwartz.com

For more articles and case studies, subscribe now to the Getting Attention e-update.

© 2002 - Nancy E. Schwartz. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Nancy E. Schwartz helps nonprofits succeed through effective marketing and communications. As President of Nancy Schwartz & Company (www.nancyschwartz.com), Nancy and her team provide marketing planning and implementation services to organizations as varied as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Center for Asian American Media, and Wake County (NC) Health Services.

Subscribe to her free Getting Attention e-update (http://www.nancyschwartz.com/getting_attention.html) and read her blog at http://www.gettingattention.org for more insights, ideas and great tips on attracting the attention your organization deserves.

NOTE: You're welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the copyright and "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint.

Print this article

Back to article archive

Contact us today.