Community & Charity PR Agency.
If your charity or not for profit organisation needs help to be visible in all the right places, then Altitude can help. We have significant experience in the charity sector having supported both regional and national charities. We’ll help you develop key messages and turn them into eye catching campaigns and stories. We understand that budgets have to go a long way in the charity and not for profit sector and that’s why we work closely with you to understand your priorities.
Our team works as an extension of your team. This means we’re here to take the strain, whether that’s helping with media enquiries, setting up interviews, operating a press office, briefing stakeholders or writing content. The Charity Commission recently updated its guidance on charities and social media, particularly with regard to risks and responsibilities. Social media failures can result in regulatory action and it is vital that strong policies and processes are in place. Altitude can support charities to establish compliant and effective ways of using social media.
Charity PR can also be an effective way to boost donations. Find out more in our recent blog - ‘What Is 'Charity PR' & How Can It Help With Fundraising?’
What Is PR In the Community & Non Profit Sector?
Charity PR is public relations activity specifically tailored to the charity, not for profit, community, voluntary, or third sector. Charities engaging in charity PR use this discipline for many different reasons. These include managing reputation, increasing profile, evidencing work and outputs, sharing research findings, satisfying funding requirements, driving donations and funding, engaging with volunteers, attracting service users, empowering communities and fostering goodwill with stakeholders, including politicians. Charities use PR to manage information and to educate, inform and mobilise support. PR is a powerful and highly valued tool in the charity, community and not for profit sector communications toolkit.
Why Do Non Profit Organisations Need PR?
PR is a vital strategic function at the heart of charities and non profit organisations, including community and voluntary organisations. Effective communication helps charities articulate their purpose and the tremendous impact of their work. Engaging in consistent PR enables a charity to build advocacy, support and engagement. Communication and PR must be aligned to a charity’s organisational strategy and strategic PR can hugely benefit an organisation’s performance both financially and reputationally.
PR, in its simplest form, is essentially strategic storytelling that helps bring projects and campaigns to life, securing buy-in and support from a range of stakeholders.
Charities also require PR to manage reputation and ensure a strong focus on achieving goals, even when times are tough. PR helps convey messages, build support and drive activity.
How Can a Specialist Charity PR Agency Help?
As a specialist charity PR agency, Altitude is perfectly placed to help you and your team. We can act as an extension of your team or we can manage projects on your behalf. Using a specialist agency saves you time and stress. A specialist charity PR agency will already have access to media databases and media monitoring software, which can be costly. This means you don’t have to find the money in your budget.
Agencies like Altitude work year-round so there won’t be down-time for holidays or sickness and our team can support you with job shares or sharing the load with part time communications professionals in your team. Charity PR agencies understand the importance of strategic communication and messaging and can help you cut through the noise. By working in partnership, a PR agency can help you improve your profile and unlock potential.
As a specialist operating in the PR and not for profit sector, agencies like Altitude have excellent media contacts across the sector, instinctively know what journalists want, and know how to make a small budget go a long way. Whether you are seeking peace of mind, to mitigate risks or to unlock potential in your organisation, Altitude can help.
Why Choose Altitude For Your Non Profit & Charity PR Needs?
Our community PR team has significant experience working on behalf of charities and we know how to get results. Not only have we delivered national campaigns on behalf of clients, our director Jane worked as Head of PR at both a national road safety charity and leading UK environmental charity prior to joining Altitude. We understand the pressures charities operate under and we appreciate the need for excellent communication and strong governance.
Charity clients like our creative ideas, flexibility, accountability and inclusive way of working with existing teams. They also like our data-led approach, industry accreditations and how we contribute to their organisational success.
The Alexandra Rose Charity hired Altitude to help communicate its new £500,000 pilot for fruit and vegetables on prescription - the first time social prescribing has been used in this way in the UK. We worked closely with the charity’s in-house marketing manager and chief executive and developed a strategy which matched the charity’s capacity and budget. We developed key messages, prioritised stakeholder engagement to mirror the organisation’s five year plan, and drafted a media release and statements. We spoke to journalists, set up interviews, managed photoshoots, liaised with trustees, arranged podcasts and kept the charity informed every step of the way.
The carefully managed campaign resulted in substantial coverage in The Guardian, Big Issue, GP Online, Grocery Gazette, Evening Standard, Pulse and Cities Today to name a few. It was shared across social media receiving plaudits from government advisors, health professionals and industry leaders. The campaign was praised by judges at the Chartered Institute for Public Relations Excellence Awards and was one of the reasons Altitude was named New PR Consultancy of the Year (2023) at the PR industry Oscars. Alexandra Rose Charity received enquiries from corporate sponsors, increased donations and opened up new lines of communication with government departments throughout, and following, the campaign.
Community PR Frequently Asked Questions
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A non profit or not for profit organisation is an organisation that exists for social or public good or to pursue a social cause. Not for profits are legal entities and are structured so that any surplus goes back into the organisation’s funds. One example of a not for profit organisation is a charity.
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PR helps charities explain their values, ambition and activity. It drives interest, can underpin fundraising, attracts volunteers and helps charities truly connect with those they’re aiming to support. PR can bring a charity’s ethos to life. It can also help enormously when things go wrong. Good planning and smart communications can help when the going gets tough. PR has an enormous role to play in the charity and not for profit sector. It’s an integral function that can make a critical difference to both the success of a charity and its campaigns.
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Community relations is a subset of PR. Businesses operating in any sector can engage in community relations and it is often now referred to as CSR or corporate social responsibility. Community relations can also refer to communications targeted at particular communities. This is sometimes called stakeholder engagement or community-focused PR. .
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Increased profile drives fundraising. The more visible your charity is, the easier it is to engage potential donors, funders or those looking to leave legacies. Evidencing your work through PR campaigns, case studies, interviews and social media helps to explain the difference you are making. PR amplifies your work and helps you celebrate your success. This drives interest in your charity and greatly supports the work of fundraising colleagues and corporate donors’ CSR teams.
Evidencing your incredible work through PR and media relations also helps future funding bids and gives you media coverage to share with supporters, donors, staff and volunteers. PR and fundraising teams work most effectively when they work in tandem.
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One of the greatest challenges for non profit organisations or charities is lack of budget. Budgets are often tight and that means you have to be laser-focused with your brief when working with an agency. As PR specialists, who often work in the charity sector, we are well placed to advise on how to make budgets go further.
Another challenge faced by charities is lack of resources. Many communications or marketing teams are part time and in larger charities, a marketing manager might be expected to manage all elements of marketing including PR, advertising, social media, corporate literature, newsletters, PPC and SEO. The remit can be huge.
At Altitude we can give you support where you need it. We’ll work with you to complement your own activity and support you where you need additional help or extra creativity. Get in touch to discuss how we can help.