Nonprofit Public Relations: What It Is and When You Need It

To many people, public relations is just spin, or putting a nice mask on an ugly situation. I’ve spent my entire professional life in public relations, so I recoil against that characterization. On the other hand, the Public Relations Society of America defines PR as “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”  That is a hard-to-grasp mouthful, so let me offer a practical definition: PR helps you reach the people who can help your organization.

Public relations is particularly important for nonprofits who depend on donors. 

PR for Nonprofits is Different than PR for Consumer Brands and Corporations

PR for nonprofits differs from PR for for-profit businesses in several important ways. For the latter, the goal of communications is ultimately to sell a product or service. For a nonprofit, the goal is to sell an idea—your solution to an important problem—and build support for it.

Both kinds of PR must capture an audience’s attention, but PR for a consumer or corporate brand is inherently more lightweight, appealing to a buyer’s self-interest and self-gratification. Any connection to a serious societal issue is superficial at best. 

Nonprofit PR, on the other hand, must grapple with life-and-death issues, engage with hard news, represent underserved communities, draw attention to disparities and appeal to people’s humanity and sense of right and wrong. Successful nonprofit PR requires a newsroom approach, a commitment to social good and an ability to speak with clarity and power about complex, nuanced issues in a way that inspires support—often in the form of donated money and time. That’s different from getting people to buy your brand of shoe. 

Why Nonprofits Need PR

Public relations helps nonprofits thrive and grow. Nonprofit PR campaigns can:

  • Raise awareness and support for a nonprofit, its mission and the communities it serves
  • Build the organization’s reputation and credibility
  • Establish thought leadership for a nonprofit leader
  • Support fundraising and development goals
  • Reach new donors—and strengthen support from existing donors
  • Recruit volunteers, program participants and staff
  • Attract sponsors and partner organizations
  • Influence policymakers and advocate for policies
  • Shape public opinion

Strategic Communications for Nonprofits

A good PR campaign starts with the development of a strategic communications plan. It should lay out goals and metrics for success, as well as strategies calibrated to your goals and target audiences. It should include key messages and proof points (also aligned with your audiences), as well as data and spokespeople who are expert in their areas. No strategic plan is complete without a timeline of deliverables. 

Earned Media for Nonprofits

The foundation of a strong PR campaign for many nonprofits is a publicity or media relations campaign to build awareness and credibility. Editorial coverage conveys an implied third-party endorsement that goes a long way toward establishing credibility, especially as a nonprofit develops a searchable footprint of positive press coverage over time. Earned media is also one of the sources most frequently cited in AI search results on Google, ChatGPT and other large language models at the core of AI. If you want donors to find you, earned media is an essential part of your PR campaign.

Nonprofit media relations focuses on securing interviews for nonprofit leaders, staff and other spokespeople (such as program beneficiaries) with news outlets like newspapers, TV and radio shows, podcasts, magazines and digital outlets. The media relations process involves careful monitoring of the news, ongoing development of story ideas that connect your nonprofit to the news, identifying the right target media to reach your audiences and continual outreach to journalists to pitch your story ideas and spokespeople. Once you secure interest from a reporter, there’s a lot of coordination that goes into securing the final story, including arranging interviews, gathering and sharing facts and figures, and sharing the published piece on your communications channels like your website, newsletter and social media.

Smart nonprofit PR campaigns often include the writing and placement of opinion pieces and letters to the editor. Op-eds and LTEs are a sharp way for a nonprofit to build thought leadership and share its point of view and expertise. Opinion placements in national outlets like USA Today, business publications like The Wall Street Journal, policy-focused sites like The Hill or philanthropy trades like the Chronicle of Philanthropy each reach distinct audiences important to nonprofits. Sometimes, a well-placed opinion piece can spur interest in interviews with its author as well.

Media Training for Nonprofit Leaders and Spokespeople

Getting a reporter’s interest in interviewing you is one thing. Getting quoted in their story is another. An important part of the media relations process is preparing spokespeople for interviews. Media training typically involves reviewing anticipated questions the reporter is likely to ask and practicing recommended answers in quotable language. A good PR firm will prioritize media training sessions before each interview, even for seasoned spokespeople. No matter how many interviews you’ve done, it’s important to practice how you’re going to respond to tough questions and deliver your messages. 

An in-depth videotaped training session is recommended for new leaders of nonprofits and key spokespeople at the outset of a major campaign. PR people with journalism experience will roleplay a reporter in a mock interview, followed by playback and critique. Seeing yourself on camera responding to questions goes a long way to reinforce what’s working and take what isn’t to heart. At Momentum, our nonprofit clients often cite media training as one of the services they value most.

Digital Marketing and Social Media for Nonprofits

Digital marketing, including organic and paid social media campaigns, influencer campaigns, newsletters, website content and blog posting, is another core discipline within nonprofit public relations. It’s also a way for nonprofits, their supporters and partners to amplify each other’s messages in authentic conversation. Social media campaigns also work particularly well in conjunction with an earned media campaign. Key aspects of digital campaigns include: 

  • Social media audit and sentiment analysis
  • Social media campaign guidelines and content pillars
  • Setting goals and KPIs
  • Social media content creation
  • A/B content testing
  • Call-to-action and landing page development
  • Link tracking
  • Analytics tracking and reporting
  • Influencer outreach and vetting
  • Community management

Crisis Communications for Nonprofits

Crisis communications is a vital aspect of nonprofit public relations. Media monitoring, including tracking comments and conversations on social media, as well as monitoring of press coverage, is an important aspect of crisis communications. Crises, almost by definition, can appear without warning and usually require rapid response. Nonprofits with an approved crisis communications plan in place are well ahead of the game when a crisis occurs. A good crisis communications plan will include:

  • Key messages and standby statements aligned with potential crisis situations
  • Clear processes for who is informed when and who makes what decisions during a crisis
  • Crisis training with key spokespeople
  • Crisis communication strategy, including talking points for organizational leaders, employees and board members
  • Outreach plan targeting key stakeholders, including funders and partners

During a crisis, it’s important to respond quickly but carefully. The priorities must include not getting overtaken by the crisis, but also making sure that spokespeople are responding factually, honestly and sensitively. In the heat of the moment, the risk is high to say something that an organization will soon regret, so competent crisis communications will be both rapid and carefully considered.

When You Need Nonprofit PR

Public relations is for you if your nonprofit is looking to build its credibility and reputation, raise its profile among current and potential donors or advocate for your mission and the communities you serve to policymakers, the public or both. Here are some examples of nonprofit PR in action from Momentum’s 13 years providing public relations services to nearly 100 different nonprofits in diverse fields including education, health, science, human services, social justice, the arts, youth and workforce development and more.