The free Adobe(R) Acrobat(R) Reader allows you to view, navigate, and print PDF files across all major computing platforms. To download Acrobat(R) Reader click on the button, and follow the instructions to install it.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. The Planning Framework
2. Promotion Objectives
3. Specific Promotion Goals
4. Target Audiences

1. Choosing the Approach
2. Vehicles for Promotion
3. The Basic Tool Kit for Promotion
4. Special Notes on Media

• Library Location Codes

PREFACE

Canadians have a long tradition of helping individuals, communities and causes. Yet this sense of responsibility for the well-being of fellow citizens and for the quality of life in our society needs to be continually nurtured. Increased recognition and public awareness of the crucial role played by volunteers is one important way to help ensure the growth of this spirit of volunteerism.

One of the objectives of the Voluntary Action Directorate is to support the growth and diversity of the voluntary sector in Canada through promotion of the concept of volunteerism. This book has been developed to assist smaller voluntary organizations and volunteer managers to encourage and promote volunteerism in their communities.

At the present time, there is no sourcebook dedicated expressly to the promotion of volunteerism. However, much of the theory and advice in literature dealing with the outreach function of communications (that is, public relations, publicity, media relations, community relations and public education) can be adapted to meet this need. Information on the specific techniques can be used effectively by community-based organizations.

Intended as a framework for planning activities relating to the promotion of volunteerism, this book provides an overview of strategies, objectives, goals and target audiences, as well as suggestions for specific approaches that can be used. A guide to manuals and handbooks that would serve as useful reference tools is also included.

The works cited in Section II are authoritative, well organized, easy to read, and full of practical advice. Only books that are relevant to non-profit organizations have been selected. Introductory primers, theoretical treatises and works aimed at large corporations have been omitted. A brief description of the scope and contents of each resource is provided. For the convenience of people wishing to borrow these books, their location in lending libraries across Canada is indicated. If a book is still in print, order information is also given.

We welcome readers' views and suggestions on this resource. We are also interested in learning about other publications that might be added to our list, particularly Canadian materials. Please feel free to contact us at:

PROMOTING VOLUNTEERISM

§ INTRODUCTION

The definition of promoting volunteerism used in this book covers strategies and activities that:

• contribute to increased public awareness of the contribution of volunteers to a particular voluntary organization, to the larger community or to Canadian society in general; and
• help motivate people to make a commitment to volunteer work and to maintain or increase their current level of involvement.

Visibility, recognition, understanding, and support: these terms best sum up the desired results of efforts to promote volunteerism. They are largely intangible and so are difficult to measure, but it is important to monitor and evaluate the success of promotional efforts.

The promotion of volunteerism encompasses many activities and processes and takes a great variety of forms. In many communities, National Volunteer Week is the highlight of the year for publicly honouring volunteers - and, by extension, for advancing public understanding of the vital role played by volunteers and voluntary organizations. Ideally, however, promoting volunteerism is a year-round effort.

Innovative, creative strategies are needed to promote volunteerism. These should be specific to each organization. Since collaboration can strengthen a promotion campaign, community groups might consider approaching their local volunteer centre/bureau as either a resource or a partner. Nevertheless, there is no magic formula that guarantees success. Board members, staff and volunteers need to work together to plan, execute and monitor a promotions strategy.

§ ELEMENTS OF A PROMOTION STRATEGY

The Planning Framework

Effective promotion strategies begin with decisions on:

· Why ...

the rationale, purpose, goals and objectives (what do you want to accomplish and why?)

· Who ...

the target audience.

· What ...

the specific message you wish to communicate.

· How ...

the approach to be used (ie, what is the best way to communicate your message, what vehicle or tool?)

Some promotional activities or materials may be used for both the general public and a specific segment of the public. At other times the messages and the approach to promotion may have to be tailored to the special needs of target audiences.

Promotion Objectives

Any type of promotion activity will have one or more of the following general objectives:

• to inform
• to stimulate or maintain interest
• to educate
• to encourage action

These categories are often connected, and promoting volunteerism will usually touch on all four. Nevertheless, it is generally advisable to focus on a single primary objective in a promotion strategy.

Specific Promotion Goals

Promotion activities for volunteer organizations will likely involve some combination of the following.

(a) short-term goals:

• inform the community about outstanding volunteer efforts
• recognize and thank volunteers
• publicize and bring people to a special event
• describe or report on continuing and new programs, services and activities

(b) longer-term goals:

• increase public awareness of the role of volunteers in your organization
• increase public understanding of the contribution of volunteers to your community and to Canadian society
• recruit new volunteers
• maintain or increase your membership
• maintain or broaden your contacts within the community
• strengthen community support for your volunteer-based programs or services
• motivate and retain volunteers by instilling pride in the services they provide
• foster closer relations with local media
• develop a strong, positive image of your organization (or occasionally correct an untrue public perception)
• establish interest in your organizational values or in social values important to your organization (eg, altruism, mutual aid, democratic collective action, social integration)

Target Audiences

Every voluntary organization has its own array of `publics', with their own particular interests and needs, which could be targeted as a special audience for promotion activities. Potential target audiences for the promotion of volunteerism include the following categories (which are not mutually exclusive):

• your volunteers and your membership
• your board of directors
• your donors and potential donors (individual patrons and donors; corporations, foundations)
• the community at large
• special interest groups within the community (eg, enthnocultural groups, youth, seniors)
• community leaders and opinion-makers
• media people (editors, station managers, journalists, columnists, researchers)
• community institutions
  • service clubs
  • churches, religious groups
  • public libraries, community information centres
  • schools, colleges, universities
  • community centres, museums, health units, et al.
• local businesses and corporations with branches in your community
• chambers of commerce and boards of trade
• unions and professional associations
• other voluntary organizations and groups
• government representatives (municipal, provincial and federal)

§ APPROACHES TO PROMOTION

Choosing the Approach

``The medium is the message.'' - Marshall McLuhan

As McLuhan argued so compellingly, the mode of communication you choose is at least as important as the actual message to be conveyed. To find the most suitable and effective channel for your message, research and a careful assessment of the available options are necessary.

There are many possible ways to communicate your message or promote your volunteer-based activities. You may need to use several different approaches together to accomplish your objective. In deciding upon the means and the appropriate tools, the key factors are:

• the purpose of your promotion activity;
• the specific message to be communicated;
• the intended audience;
• the resources available (human, material and financial); and
• the cost effectiveness of the approach.

Other considerations affecting your choice will include:

• the type of message (ie, short and straightforward or more complex);
• the type of impact desired (eg, immediate or long-term; personal or impersonal);
• the time required (ie, planning, preparation and distribution time and, where other parties such as the media are involved, the lead time needed); and
• the degree of professional expertise needed and its availability.

Vehicles for promotion I:

Direct promotion

• Organizational Literature
  • newsletters, bulletins, membership publications
  • annual reports, special reports, briefs
  • information and media kits
• Personal Presentations
  • speaking engagements
  • news conferences
  • media interviews or appearances
  • person-to-person communication
• Special Events
  • open houses, receptions
  • volunteer fairs
  • volunteer awards ceremonies
  • fundraisers
• Displays and Exhibits
  • billboards, community bulletin boards
  • `corporate windows' (displays in a corporate enterprise)
  • information booths and displays (eg, in shopping centres, in public libraries, or at community events)
• Promotional Materials
  • printed (handouts, direct mail)
  • audiovisual presentations
  • promotional and recognition items

Vehicles for promotion II:

Using the Media

Both print and broadcast media offer a variety of opportunities for promotion.

Types of message:

• public service announcements
• paid advertisements
• features (`soft news', human interest)
• columns, program segments, documentaries
• news stories (`breaking' story, `hard news')
• editorials (opinion of the media outlet itself on a particular subject)

Media:

• Newspapers
• dailies
• Sunday editions
• special issues, supplements
• giveaway `shoppers'
• community papers (weeklies or bi-monthlies serving smaller cities, towns, neighbour- hoods and suburban areas)
• ethnocultural papers
• Magazines
• general interest, local
• special interest (eg, ethnocultural, business, professional, religious, public interest)
• Radio
• Television
• commercial
• educational
• community (cable)

The Basic Tool Kit for Promotion

• promotional or volunteer recognition items (certificates, cards, buttons, refrigerator magnets, bookmarks, ribbons, pens, balloons)
• brochures; pamphlets; flyers; inserts
• posters; banners; displays
• audio-visual presentations (slides, overheads, video and audio tapes); photographic displays
• speeches, presentations, official statements (by executive director, staff, board members, patrons, volunteers, service users)
• correspondence, special (printed) announcements
• public service announcements (PSA's), information `spots', community events calendars, volunteer wanted ads
• advertisements
  • paid advertising (eg, newspaper, yellow pages, transit ads, outdoor displays)
  • sponsored ads and commercial tie-ins (eg, `piggyback' advertising with local merchants, inserts with bills, postage meter and cancellation stamps)
• news releases; media notices
• information and media kits
  • fact sheets on the organization; on volunteerism in general
  • endorsements from key supporters (patrons, clients)
  • proclamations (eg, by a mayor for Volunteer Week)
  • copies of speeches and appropriate organizational literature
• direct contact with media representatives to suggest ideas (eg, news directors and editors, journalists); `ghost' features (pre-written articles)
• letters to the editor; editorial replies; opinion-page articles

Special notes on the media

What is News?

To local news outlets, both print and electronic, news is something that is of interest to the people in the community because it affects the community directly, because it is an unusual event in the community, or because it involves local people.

Hard news has a high level of public interest —— the breaking story that makes the headlines.

Soft news is less dramatic: a feature, for example, will inform in greater detail than a hard news item (human interest is generally a key factor).

Although the ideal strategy to promote volunteerism would include a mixture of hard and soft news, it is probably more realistic to focus your attention on soft news possibilities.

Newspapers as a promotion vehicle

Newspapers are a very effective medium for promotion or publicity at the local level, when aiming at the general public. Television and radio are increasingly the major source of hard news, but newspapers continue to be a popular source for local news and special interest stories.

Community papers (weeklies, smaller dailies, `neighbourhoods', `Sundays') are a particularly valuable resource for promoting volunteerism at the grassroots level. They focus on home town stories about people and events, and can give them coverage in greater depth than metropolitan dailies.

A widely read section of the newspaper, the letters to the editor offer an opportunity to reinforce other promotion efforts. Letters may direct attention to a problem; raise new points about issues in the news; oppose or support the actions of an official agency; or respond to an editorial or column.

Opinion pages (sometimes called `op-ed' because they are opposite the editorial page) are becoming more common and are receiving growing interest from readers. An outgrowth of the letters to the editor section, this section offers a forum for discussions on current issues of public interest in somewhat greater depth. These opinion pieces are generally signed.

`Ghost' features (also known as `matte' stories) are prepared articles that you submit to media outlets. Papers pick them up because they are a free alternative to paying for news articles, but are virtually impossible to distinguish. If they are printed, authorship will not be ascribed. This can be a particularly useful promotion tool when addressed to community newspapers.

News releases

News releases, and the more abbreviated `media notice', tend to be the prime source of communication with the news media, especially in metropolitan areas. In medium-sized and smaller communities, less impersonal channels of access to editors and journalists are often possible.

There are two different types of news releases: those written for the eye to read (for newspapers and magazines) and those written for the ear to hear (for radio and television). Typically, the former type is longer.

Effective news releases require an understanding of the concept of `news value', that is, the aspects of a story that attract an audience. Immediacy, novelty, danger, conflict and local interest are generally considered the major newsworthy elements. (See page 11 for advice on writing a news release.)

News conferences

The news conference goes beyond the news release (although it does not replace it). While having the advantage of being able to reach all types of media at the same time, the a conference requires a lot of planning and is a complex project to organize. Media kits, for example, are generally recommended. Guidebooks on this subject emphasize the need to use news conferences sparingly and to plan them carefully.

Public service announcements (PSA's) and paid advertisements

Almost all mass media reserve some space free of charge for community announcements. PSA's are by their nature short and straightforward. Pre-recorded messages for radio and television are expensive to produce. (See page 12 for advice on developing a PSA.)

Paid advertising offers the opportunity for a more complex message that will run how and when you specify. Unlike the PSA mode, it gives you direct control over the contents and the style of presentation, as well as the frequency and the timing of the message. Since the cost is normally prohibitive for a small organization, consider finding a corporate sponsor for your ads.

Radio `spots'

Paid radio time can be a powerful tool for increasing public awareness provided that the message is sustained over a period of time. It is usually possible to target specific demographic groups among the public by your choice of the radio station. Radio may reach a wider audience than would be otherwise available to the voluntary organization.

Since audiences have become accustomed to a certain level of production quality through the electronic media, a high level of professional expertise is required to produce an effective radio spot. Local stations may offer reduced rates to voluntary organizations for production and air time.

Involvement of media representatives

To ensure the development of effective materials and adequate coverage of your campaign by the media, your promotions committee should if possible include members with media experience. You could consider inviting representatives of the various media outlets (radio, television, and newspapers) in your community to sit on your promotions committee or serve as advisors to it.

NEWS RELEASE KNOW-HOW

Is your organization involved in or about to be involved in something which you believe may interest the media or the public at large? Consider getting your message across in a news release. But remember, most media outlets are swamped with paper. Issuing too many news releases can be a lot like calling wolf —— if you go after the media too often for events or issues that are not truly noteworthy, the media will be less inclined to listen to you when something of major importance finally arises.

If you do have something important to convey, be sure to keep it brief. The rule of thumb for news releases is don't use more than one page unless it's absolutely necessary; never use more than two.

Always include the following:

• The essentials: who, what, where, when, why. State these as early as you can in your release, preferably in the first paragraph, and give prominence to the element that is the most important the who if a VIP is involved, the what if it's a unique or first-of-its-kind event.
• The name of your organization as well as the name and phone number of a person who can be contacted for further information.
• A concise, well worded paragraph on the purpose and activities of your organization, who it serves, and who it represents.

TIPS

Focus your news release on one issue or idea. Your news release will face competition from dozens of others for the attention of a busy editor. The clearer you are about the message you are conveying, the more chance you have of catching that person's attention.

Always type and double-space your news release. Leave the top third to half of the page blank —— this gives news editors ample space to rewrite your headline, or give typesetting or other instructions.

Leave wide margins to allow editors to edit your copy if necessary.

Proofread your news release carefully, and check all facts, figures, and names.

Don't break a paragraph at the bottom of a page. Start a second page.

PSA KNOW-HOW

A public service announcement (PSA) is a good way to let the public know about the work of your organization or to tell them about an upcoming activity or event.

Some General Guidelines

Get the audience's attention immediately with a `grabber.'

Demonstrate that the benefits, tangible or emotional, are for the listener.

Give reasons why the listener should do what you want them to do.

Tell the listener what to do, when to do it, where to go, by saying `write in', `call in', or to simply consider the information.

Make sure the name of your association or organization is mentioned at the beginning and end of your message so that it will remain in the listener's mind after the PSA is over.

Include an address, phone number and contact person's name.

TIPS

Check with the program director or public service director about word count and quantities needed.

Length:

• 30-second PSA = 75 words
• 60-second PSA = 150 words

Read your announcement out loud. The words should roll easily off your tongue. If they don't, rework your announcement so that the announcer who ends up reading the copy doesn't stumble over key words.

Never break a word at the end of a line. Never use abbreviations. You can, however, use contractions.

Provide phonetic spelling for difficult words or names by listing them in parenthesis outside the body of the copy (e.g. at the top of the page) and underlining the words in the body of the copy.

Send the PSA in at least a week in advance. Don't expect it to be used the next day.

PSAs should be typed in a traditional script format. Check with your local radio or TV station's public service director for the station's preferred format.