Clinton School student Jeerawat Na Thalang has partnered with the Arkansas Coalition for Excellence (ACE) to complete a media strategy guide for local nonprofits.
The guide is designed to enhance communication between the media and nonprofits, validate the nonprofits’ activities and attract interested people to join their causes. Jeerawat created the guide as her final project in the Clinton School Master of Public Service degree program.
Jeerawat researched three statewide print media outlets, sent out surveys, conducted interviews with representatives from media and nonprofit circles and analyzed the results.
She has worked under the supervision of Clinton School faculty and ACE executive director Hunter Phillips Goodman.
“It is crucial that all sectors—media, nonprofit, for-profit, education, and government—work together to build a strong, vibrant business environment where nonprofits thrive” Goodman said.
A native of Thailand and a former journalist, Jeerawat combined her knowledge of the American nonprofit sector with her media background to provide her recommendations.
“I hope that this paper should provide insights for nonprofits that wish to promote community outreach through the media,” Jeerawat said.
After five months of researching articles in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Business and the Arkansas Times, Jeerawat found that nonprofit news and social issues have received substantial coverage from local media.
She also found that circumstances have a demonstrable effect on the frequency and prominence of media coverage of nonprofit activities.
Nonprofits have been portrayed as both service providers and advocacy groups, Jeerawat said. The latter has been evident in news articles that quoted nonprofits’ representatives as advocates during the state legislative session.
The guide also suggests ways to improve media relations. For instance, nonprofits should initiate meetings with reporters and news editors. The survey and interviews show that one of the challenges is that nonprofits sometimes have different views about newsworthy items from reporters and editors.
There is no set formula for nonprofits to successfully gain media exposure; much depends on being timely and newsworthy, Jeerawat said.
ACE’s mission is to strengthen Arkansas nonprofits. ACE works toward a common vision of building a strong, vibrant, united and effective nonprofit sector that is well-positioned to meet the diverse needs of all Arkansans. ACE is the state’s association for nonprofits and a member of the National Council of Nonprofits.
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