Communicating Causes

Strategic public relations for the non-profit sector

Nicky Garsten, Ian Bruce

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9780815394006
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351022200
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Non-profit organizations (NPOs) across the world are facing criticism alongside approbation. In order for NPOs to effectively support their causes, they require public trust. The editors of this book have persuaded PR experts from the UK and around the world, from a variety of PR specialisms operating across different organizational forms, to share their knowledge and experience. These contributions are scaffolded with authoritative academic and practical advice, as well as solutions.

The book starts with foundations that underpin communications for causes. These include arguments that support the importance of non-profits in civil society; lessons in corporate governance; and a new approach to issues management. PR planning subjects tailored, or specific, to the sector include: strategic global communications planning, agile digital communications; branding internal communications and the securing of meaningful outcomes. Corporate partnerships are examined with a new 'Fit to Partner Test' and consideration of the mandated corporate social responsibility (CSR) in India, corporate volunteering in Brazil, and CSR in South Africa. Relations between governments and non-profits are also considered, both generally and with a particular focus on China.

Communicating Causes looks at effective strategy and practice of PR in the modern non-profit. Including forewords by both John Grounds and Jon Snow, the expert perspectives offered in this book provide valuable support to current and future communicators.

PART I

Civil society, governance and issues

1

Non-profit PR as the Voice of Civil Society?

Brian Lamb

Introduction

A crucial component of civil society is the non-profit sector. Public relations (PR) contributes to the understanding of the role of non-profits in society by communicating the mission, values and aspirations of non-profits to the public, government and market.

In reflecting the needs and aspirations of civil society PR practitioners need to understand the role of the non-profit sector, how this has developed, and why non-profits’ future role cannot be taken for granted. PR practitioners also need an awareness of the sector’s values and debates about the ethos and impact of social marketisation.

By drawing attention to social problems PR practitioners highlight unmet need, raise public awareness and mobilise public opinion to achieve positive social and political change. Effective PR creates the conditions for securing additional services, legal rights, resources and improved conditions for non-profits’ beneficiaries and ensures entitlements are claimed and maintained.

To achieve this PR needs to establish the legitimacy of non-profits as civil society’s organized voice. PR promotes the effectiveness of non-profit provision to meet the need it has identified and provision it has created through enhanced entitlements. It also secures acceptance of the sector’s moral legitimacy through mobilising and reflecting the values of civil society.

The concept of civil society can be viewed as having three elements. One is an associational life of people coming together in groups separate from state and markets, which is central to the debate about why the sector exists at all and its role. A second is the notion of developing the good society. The third is the idea of a public sphere, where debate and deliberation about what constitutes a good society and the public interest takes place (Edwards 2009, 2011). Defining the role of non-profits and their relationship to civil society is a major area of debate (Wagner 2012) and as Garton (2009: 23) argues, ‘there is no single purpose, form or mode of behaviour which captures the essence of the sector’.

Non-profits’ role and the contribution of Public Relations

How we think of the definition and role of non-profits in relation to civil society will significantly influence how we see a good society being achieved and how it is promoted. One of the most influential definitions of the non-profit sector (Salamon 2014) suggests that to be part of civil society an organization must be:

self-governed;

private, independent from the state, market and informal sector;

creating social value but not be non-profit making or reinvest profits in producing social value;

non-compulsory.

Further, as (Garton 2009) notes, if it is a charity it should be non-party political.

There are different views of the definition of the non-profit sector. Salamon (2014) defines the sector mainly in terms of its economic contribution. Others have built on the idea of democratic civil renewal as non-profits’ unique and defining contribution to public life in civil society though associations (Putnam 2000; Edwards 2009; Wagner 2012). In the UK charities have been the predominant organizational expression of the non-profit sector (Garton 2009) and ‘values driven’, in that they are ‘primarily motivated by the desire to further social, environmental or cultural objectives rather than make a profit’ (Cabinet Office 2006: 8). Often the concepts of third sector, voluntary organization and social enterprise have been used interchangeably and in doing so have created confusion (Wagner 2012).

Growth of the non-profit sector

Salamon (1987) and Garton (2009) have summarised the main theories for non-profit sector growth from which this author has derived associated PR strategies (see Table 1.1).

TABLE 1.1 Theories of Non-profit Growth and PR Strategies

Theory(from Salamon and Garton)	Potential PR strategy for the non-profit sector(from Lamb)
Market failure– public goods are not easily provided for by the market which the non-profit sector steps in to provide.	Focus on the gap in provision/market failure for public goods and how the sector can fill this. Focus will be on stressing how non-profit values and approach differ from private market solutions.
Contract failure– non-profits are thought not to have been corrupted by the profit incentive or are a better proxy for demand and therefore are more trusted to provide public goods.	Focus on the unique role of the sector in not being driven by the profit motive and build public trust and confidence in providing public services with added value.
Government failure– public goods are not provided by the state or there is a failure of social rights to fully meet need.	Focus on the gaps in provision, what is needed to fill this by enhancing rights, regulation or provision and promote the sector’s role as a change and delivery agent which then delivers the services commissioned as a result.
Voluntary failure– the state steps in to support the sector only after voluntary sector responses on their own have failed because of the lack of capacity to deal with the problem as part of civil society.	Focus on the need for greater state or private sector support so that the sector can support civil society and increase social goods. Civil society does not have the capacity to address issues on its own but needs to work with the state as a partner.
Ideas about non-profits’ origins often reflect one or a number of these theories but only taken together do they suggest a complete explanation of the development and role of the sector (Garton 2009).

Non-profits’ expanding role

Most characterisations of non-profits agree that they should not been seen as residual, simply filling in the gaps left by state and market (Kendall 2009). Hybrid organizational forms that span elements of civil society, market and state are not easily defined as belonging to any one category, having developed in response to the changing demands of government and markets. Billis (2010) argues these different hybrid organizations can still be considered part of the sector as they still encapsulate values in service provision organizations which also reflect wider civil society values not just market or state driven ones.

The dichotomous approach which assumes ‘thickening state’ equals ‘thinning civil society’ (Eberly 2000: 13) is not really consistent with the development of the sector. Recent historical studies have argued for a ‘moving frontier’ between state and non-profits in which ‘the state and the voluntary sector have complemented one another’ (Hilton et al. 2010: 1). The UK non-profit sector has largely been defined by its relationship to the development of state provision (Alcock 2010). There are also good reasons to expect state and non-profit provision to grow in parallel. Both are responses to the same social pressures for expanding public goods. The state brings the ability to generate resources while the non-profit sector the capacity to deliver services, support and expertise (Salamon 1996; Murdock 2009).

Growth in different directions

Salamon (2012: 15) has characterised non-profit activity as potentially being pulled in different directions. This is summarised and reframed to draw out the PR implications in the third column of Table 1.2.

TABLE 1.2 Voluntary Sector Impulses

Type of impulse	Context	Strategy and style of organization and support groups relevant for PR practice
‘Voluntarism’	Social problems rooted in disadvantage. Support to overcome individual problems.	PR stress on self-help, and mainly pastoral care and support on a temporary basis. Dependant on volunteers, donors or members.
‘Civic activism’	Social problems are a result of power structures which can be challenged with the support of the sector which engages with citizens.	PR stress on participation and advocacy. Community organizing though citizens and community assets.
‘Professionalism’	Social problems rooted in particular individual’s challenges and problems which are addressed through the sector providing services and support.	PR stress on culture of performance management, stress professionalism in messaging and governance by professional regulation. Established services as part of statutory infrastructure. Often supported by government contracts or funding.
‘Commercialism’	Problems rooted in ineffectiveness or inefficiencies in current markets for care or support.	Market mechanisms to achieve social positive social outcomes. PR stress on sound business management and social entrepreneurship are harnessed to social ends through the production of social revenues using optimum business practices.

PR strategies to promote greater voluntarism or civic activism may differ markedly to those promoting professional service delivery or social enterprise. However these activities are not necessarily mutually exclusive as human service organizations following a professional impulse may also be involved in civic activism (Han 2017; Hasenfeld et al. 2014).

Values in the non-profit sector and civil society

Across the spectrum of non-profit activity there is evidence of values which reflect the ethos associated with civil society. Survey research in the USA found that advocacy and service organizations share values such as being ‘productive, effective, enriching, empowering, responsive, reliable, and caring’ (Salamon et al. 2012: 4) which appeal to civil society sentiment of respect for the individual and their welfare. Edwards (2009) also argues that whichever notion of civil society is subscribed to, all share a notion that collective, creative, and value-based action provides an essential counterweight to individualism, cynicism, and the overbearing influence of state authority. These values are so powerful in appealing to public sentiment that different groups with different visions of the good society will contest for ownership of them as Salamon (2014: 5) argues: ‘Diverse and often conflicting interest groups, from left-wing social movements to conservative think tanks, claim proprietorship of the third sector concept because of the emotively desirable connotations it evokes, such as public purpose, freedom, altruism, civic initiative, spontaneity, or solidarity.’

Critiques of the non-profits’ role in social marketization

The role of non-profits in promoting civil society values has been questioned where social marketisation, through contracting out state services to non-profits, has been perceived to undermine voluntary ethos including the following.

1. Lack of public accountability with ‘(t)he tendency, especially for service provision organisations to lack accountability to the public and be driven by staff and funder interests’ (Calhoun 2011: 318)

2. Compromised capacity to advocate. In service organizations ‘Advocacy goals are focused primarily on brokering resources and promoting the organization rather than substantive policy change or client representation’ (Mosley et al. 2012: 841)

3. Undermined independence: professionals working in human services fear a greater engagement with state commissioned services necessitates subservience and a lack of independence to advocate for their clients (Glennon 2017)

4. In-equality of voice: ‘individuals and groups who have fewer resources or who are already less advantaged in society are less likely to become involved in voluntary associations to promote their interests, satisfy their needs, or make changes in policy favourable to them’ (Kamerāde 2015: 2)

5. Lack of enhanced political participation: ‘a very fragile empirical basis’ (Decker 2014: 45) for the assumption that countries with higher levels of third sector participation also have higher levels of political participation generally.

Does social marketisation shackle non-profit advocacy?

Overall there is little evidence that social marketisation – in the form of contracting for services – reduces advocacy in human service providers. An empirical study of non-profit advocacy in the UK concluded that ‘social marketization is positively related to the influence of third sector organisations on government policies, and can strengthen the development of civil society, rather than erode it’ (Han 2017: 1223). Hasenfeld and Garrow (2012: 93) found that the ‘degree of reliance on government funding does not predict whether organizations will engage in social-benefit advocacy, organizational advocacy, or both’. Similar research from the USA and UK confirms this view (Smith and Pekkanen 2012; Lamb 2014). Human service organizations have been slower to use advocacy but are now finding it a ‘necessary way of coping with the uncertain, complex environments in which they operate’ (Almog-Bar and Schmid 2014: 28). Further larger organizations with greater numbers of staff and volunteers can be more active in advocacy and PR because more resources equal greater capacity. Government funding has also provided an incentive to advocate as a means to protect funding (Mosley 2010: 71).

The role of the state; and making markets through advocacy

The state sets specific legal boundaries and regulates the limits of engagement in the political process for charities through charity law and the regulation of advocacy and campaigning which can be seen in countries with common law jurisdictions such as the UK, USA, Canada and Australia (Garton 2009). Therefore the overall regulatory context, contracting regimes and the acceptability of advocacy within specific legislatures will influence the range and focus of issues taken up, style of advocacy and campaigning undertaken and willingness to risk upsetting funding arrangements (Hemmings 2017; Hasenfeld and Garrow 2012; La...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of boxes
• Notes on contributors
• Foreword
• Foreword
• Introducing Communicating Causes: Strategic Public Relations for the Non-Profit Sector
• PART I: Civil society, governance and issues
• PART II: Communicating to build trust
• PART III: PR in the broader non-profit sector
• PART IV: Around the world: global and national non-profit communications
• Index