Komen for the Cure: A model for getting a message out to diverse publics

By: Simone Fraid

The Susan G. Komen foundation, now known as Komen for the Cure, is a wonderful non-profit organization that serves the cause of breast cancer awareness well. I have had personal experience with this organization over the years; I have walked in the Race for the Cure, I have volunteered at the Race, and I worked as the OU Undergraduate Intern for Komen for the Cure for a few months last year. They are always eager to spread their message to anyone who will hear it.

Breast cancer affects many different populations, not just the 45 year-old woman many people picture. On their web site, Komen lists certain risk factors and statistics for different groups.

Some of these categories are probably very surprising to people. For example, people often don’t think about men getting breast cancer, or the fact that a lesbian sexual orientation can be a risk factor for breast cancer. Komen works hard to make sure that people aware of the many diverse risk factors in order to properly.

The diverse audience of Komen’s message is reflected aptly in its range of publications. Brochures, Breast Self Exam Cards, flyers and more are printed in different languages, and are specific to different groups. It is interesting to note that they even have publications for couples with advice on how to get through breast cancer together. Also interesting is the fact that they have BSE cards in Arabic, Hindi, and Russian- languages not typically covered by organizations trying to do typical diversity outreach.

With as important of a cause as breast cancer is, it is wonderful that Komen has done so much to reach out to so many. It is fitting that an organization fighting a cancer that affects so many would mirror that in its publicity and messages for so many.

Here is a great example of a targeted effort by Komen.

True Priorities

True Priorities
By Annie Bowen

Throughout college I would occasionally stop and really force myself to consider my future career and the industry/type of job I want to pursue. During this, I would ask myself certain questions like: How much money do I want to make? What is the right balance between time with family and job responsibilities? What type of impact do I want my job to have on society?

Eventually I would get overwhelmed thinking about all of the possibilities. As I near graduation, however, my true priorities begin to emerge. Although I know careers paths are organic and always adapting, there are certain aspects of my dream career that remain constant.

For instance, it is vital that I work for an organization that provides some benefit to society. This could be the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Susan G. Komen for the Cure or another non-profit organization that supports an important cause (like a blood bank or children’s hospital). Second, I want a job that allows for a wide variety of responsibilities such as event planning, writing, design, presenting and developing strategies for both the long and short terms.

I do realize that pursuing a career in the non-profit sector generally means a smaller salary than in other public relations careers (such as financial/stockholder relations), but I genuinely believe that the benefits of contributing to a non-profit organization will outweigh the fiscal disparity.

I also realize that there are numerous obstacles to being hired for a non-profit job, especially since I want to stay close to the Oklahoma City area. My goal, since I will be graduating in December 2008, is to spend as much time as I can researching potential organizations as well as networking whenever possible.

Image available at http://www.wish.org/

Non- Profit Public Relations

Non- Profit Public Relations

Amanda Pardee

Some of the largest and most well- known public relations efforts, that are not profit related, are the efforts focused on causes. These non- profit organizations have grown in number and size over the last twenty years and utilize the same techniques and principles of sound public relations firms across the world. From the nationally known Susan G. Komen run to Lance Armstrong's yellow Livestrong arm bands, public relations is all around and increasing awareness of several causes that deserve much recognition. 

This field of public relations has expanded greatly not only in size, but also in competitiveness. The competition for support, volunteerism and donations requires much media involvement and creativeness. It has been seen at several benefits and other events that celebrities and other entertainment figures attend which in itself increases public relations efforts. There is actually an organization that is committed to increasing celebrities participation and support for various non-profit organizations. The basic techniques used by public relations practitioners such as publications, events, etc., increase awareness for these causes, but there have actually been some steps made to create specific non-profit techniques to increase desired results. The non-profit PR team of 2007 was Mission Children's Hospital who took on their challenge and reached an outstanding donation amount of $11,016,000.

Non- profit public relations is an opportunity for practitioners to establish prestige due to the benefits these efforts in the end provide. Non- profit efforts might not provide the tangible results sometimes desired in public relations campaigns, but they provide measurable increases in contributions to something beyond that. Having success in these efforts not only causes a boost in public relations, but a sense of satisfaction for helping a cause that is truly worthwhile.