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Challenge Description
Chess Girls DC is the non-profit organization that was founded in 2013 by Robin Floyd Ramson in Washington, DC. The organization seeks to inspire girls to play chess, thus developing spatial thinking skills and promoting personal development. The growth of confidence in girls is the paramount goal of this organization, as it clearly stated on its official website. The girls of different backgrounds in chess may enter the organization. Chess Girls DC members participate in local and national tournaments, making a significant contribution to the development of this game and acquiring a sense of meaningfulness. The organization uses social media, in particular, Instagram, Facebook, blogs, etc. to communicate its goals and values to the wider public.
The key challenge encountered by Chess Girls DC is the lack of constant funding that creates a shortage of coaches and equipment for appropriate training. The parents of girls emphasize that the value provided by the organization is rather important for their children as it integrates them into an optimistic and creative atmosphere. However, budgeting issues impede the process of training and force coaches to work as volunteers. Also, the situation is complicated by the fact that the volatile economy makes it even more difficult to initiate successful leadership and attract external funding. In this regard, It becomes evident that the key challenge to be overcome is associated with the attraction and motivation of potential funders, including companies, organizations, funds, and other sponsors that may help Chess Girls DC to remain effective in pursuing its mission.
Objectives Identification
Considering the challenge that was started in the previous section, it is necessary to identify a set of realistic and measurable goals. To overcome the lack of funding, the following goals are to be accomplished:
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to foster awareness of chess and its importance for children, particularly, girls about small and large companies;
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to increase public awareness of the organization and attraction of public attention to the problem,
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to increase the indicators of funding by 25 percent from the start of the campaign.
If in commercial organizations, the main goal is profit, and it can be measured, then in non-commercial activities, the paramount role is taken by the social transformation (Black, 2013). This is also a type of profit, but for society rather than for a single organization. Since Chess Girls DC does not bring material profit, it needs benefits, funding, and other financial support to existing.
The clear and transparent definition of goals will help in selecting the types of PR actions that are suitable for Chess Girls DC. Even though most PR actions are aimed at gaining wide popularity among the public areas such as relations with investors or government, they are focused on identifying a very specific and small audience, establishing the contact with it and maintaining the connection in the long-term perspective (Zadek, Evans, & Pruzan, 2013). When defining goals, the special preferences of the target audience were taken into account, making sure there is no contradiction between what the organization wants and what its audience pursues to gain. Therefore, the unity of interests is read in the set goals of the PR campaign about the target audience that will be identified in the next section.
Target Audience
PR campaign refers to a set of sequential actions aimed at building effective relationships with the public. The latter implies groups of people inside or outside the organization, with which the organization interacts in one way or another (Black, 2013). However, PR activities are not aimed at the general public as they are directed at a carefully selected group of people from the wide public. Moreover, this means that most of the activities are directed at these different groups in different ways. In other words, there is not, for example, the broadcasting of messages aimed at the mass market as a whole with the help of the media, as it often happens in advertising (Zadek et al., 2013).
Among the representatives of the target audience, there are potential customers (parents), partners other niche companies, suppliers, etc., opinion leaders people to the opinion of which a significant part of the target audience listens to, and media, including the Internet, television, printed publications, and so on. If the public is too diverse, some parts of it should be ignored, while some other audiences can go out simultaneously through different media, for example, daily newspapers and television. It is more appropriate to send special messages to specific categories of the public.
However, the core target audience is shaped by both small and large companies that value corporate social responsibility and are potentially ready to support the initiative of Chess Girls DC. Why do companies participate in sponsoring and put CSR on the top of their values? In addition to human motives, there are several business reasons as well. For example, participation in charitable actions and events along with the support of non-commercial projects or organizations improves the reputation of a company, showing that it is a responsible and reliable organization. At this point, sponsoring is interpreted as a measure of reliability. As soon as famous companies stop their financial support for non-commercial organizations, they are more likely to experience the decrease of clients as for the latter, the termination of charitable assistance is recognized as the first sign of the near collapse. Reliability, legality, and financial well-being serve as indicators of a companys success. If a company can allocate a certain amount of money to support chess organization, then customers consider that it has enough money for commercial activities. The mentioned characteristics, or the so-called culture of the target audience, motivate it to sponsor.
The power of influence of CSR adhering companies is quite strong and able to affect not only Chess Girls DC but also other companies to support it and also other members of the organization. In their turn, the influx of new members is likely to promote the rapid growth of the organization that will make it possible to move to the next level of development and participate in more championships, pursuing its mission and providing better personal and professional opportunities for girls. Ultimately, the participation in resolving social problems enhances the internal climate in a company and means that decent and qualified people work for it, who prefer not only to earn money but also to be necessary and responsive to people. These platforms seem to be the most relevant ways to share the mission of the organization and achieve the key goal. The specific platforms to reach the target audience are social media and special events that may include concerts and chess marathon that will be discussed below in detail.
Strategies and Tactics
The competent PR strategy helps to address the key challenge since the effective activity of the organization depends on the communication system. Black (2013) states that the effective PR campaign should emphasize the advantages of a product or a service in comparison with what the competitors offer and try to increase the interest to the organization. Sometimes there is confusion between the concepts of strategy and tactics as if they meant the same issue. However, the strategy determines the approach and the point of application of the activity, while tactics explain how this should be done (Black, 2013). Tactics may include joint sponsorship along with advertising and placing on the corporate site of the company links to the web-resources of sponsors.
The main idea to be revealed to the target audience is important to explain the necessity of funding. It can be identified as follows: in addition to the fact that chess is an exciting game, it is also extremely useful for the harmonious development of various aspects of personality, for example, logical and intuitive thinking, long-term and short-term memory, and the ability to concentrate attention. Children engaged in chess show better results at schools rather than their peers.
The opportunities of the social networks, blogs, websites, and online media allow providing a full-fledged work on the development of PR strategy. According to Newsom, Turk, and Kruckeberg (2012), the concept of PR strategy in the Internet context is not already unique, yet it is a rather effective tool for establishing communication with the target audience and corresponding achievement of goals. To convey the necessary information to the general public or a certain target audience through social media, the following means may be used:
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Press releases (sent by e-mail, presented on the online conference, or with the help of the other systems of the Internet-notification);
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Presentations of conducted studies and reviews, official documents, comparative studies, and information on the current state of affairs;
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Personal contacts with media representatives: interviews, press conferences, and briefings (Newsom et al., 2012).
Social media is extremely important for non-profit organizations since they are the ones that disseminate information about their needs. To achieve a full reflection of all activities, Chess Girls DC will take into account several factors in the relationship with the press. Media initially focused on providing services to such organizations, since they provide social services to the society for a free membership, and the media usually feel the commitment to convey information to the public. Also, while composting materials for the media, one should avoid any inaccuracies and analogies, the incorrect interpretation of which can lead to negative consequences for the organization (Newsom et al., 2012). Public relations help non-profit organizations to solve the problem of fundraising. The attraction and creation of financial resources, financial planning, and the combination of the above will contribute to the stable operation of the organization.
The official website of Girls DC may be used in terms of fundraising. If there are no changes on the website: no news, photos, videos, reports, etc., it cannot create a trustful and transparent atmosphere. Currently, the organization actively performs on Facebook and Instagram, yet it may also call for action. The significant part of the visitors are potentially ready to support the organization, they just need to be asked about it and given them an instrument (Uzuno lu & Kip, 2014). The noticeable button like Give support now or Help the project may be quite beneficial. The site should give maximum opportunities to make a donation both online and offline. Thus, all online fundraising is not so much a request for money as a creation of a system of trusting relationships with thousands of people. Then technology moves to the background as relationships turn out to be more important.
In order not to gain the trust of potential sponsors on the Internet, it is extremely important to remember the three rules, including the safety of a person who leaves his or her contact details on the website, privacy policy, and report and transparency of collected and disbursed funds (Uzuno lu & Kip, 2014). Along with the official website, MySpace, Foursquare, Facebook, and so on provide not only the platform for fundraising, but also attract supporters, organizing help and information (Cho, Schweickart, & Haase, 2014). Also, social networks give charitable organizations a new and greater degree of openness and transparency.
The tactics will focus on the following aspects:
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Making sure that the corporate website provides users with new opportunities and benefits;
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Ensuring the participation of key executives and other representatives of the organization in programs organized by trade associations;
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Participating in online forums and conferences (DiStaso & Bortree, 2012).
Another strategy of information dissemination may be conducted through the media kit that is the key way to present the organization, its product, service, leadership, and members and determine the subject and the main idea of the program (DiStaso & Bortree, 2012). It seems also relevant to point out the fact that the core elements of the press kit are a folder with files in an official style and with the logo of the organization, basic materials about the company, its management, advantages, press releases, or special studies helping to position the organization. Also, it is possible to include photos of coaches, illustrative materials about the organization, and brochures about the events conducted by it.
Timeline
When planning the PR campaign, it is of great importance to have a clear idea of the time interval that will be required to achieve the identified objectives. To accomplish the campaign, as stated by Zadek et al. (2013), it is better to determine the time that is necessary to implement each of the planning points and draw up a timetable for progress towards the key goal, so that at any stage, it will be possible to monitor the progress of the project. More to the point, in case some section fails, it will be achievable to make the required adjustments to the PR campaign plan without spending significant time and effort.
Graphic 1 presents a timeline for the implication of the PR plan, consisting of four sections and six months in total. The first milestone focuses on the preparation of the PR campaign that may involve leadership discussion, consultations with specialists in the PR sector, and conversations with children and their parents regarding the perspective actions of Chess Girls DC. Such a collective preparation will increase awareness of all members of the process and promote sharing creative ideas. The second milestone refers directly to the performance of the strategies and tactics that were listed earlier in this paper. Three months seem to be an appropriate period to initiate all the options and attract as many new sponsors as possible. After that, the subsequent milestone implies the analysis and evaluation of the results that were achieved in the course of the PR plan. One month is relevant to take into account all the characteristics of the implemented actions and let the target audience to ponder over the sponsoring issues. Ultimately, the last point called post-campaign refers to the dissemination of the results through the official website and other online platforms as well as to contact the organizations that provided their support with the aim of continuous collaboration.
Evaluation
The methods for evaluating the results of the PR plan are to be identified at the planning stage. During the execution of the campaign, it is possible to check the efficiency and suitability of the selected evaluation methods, since the PR plan sets certain objectives, based on which one can compare the achieved results. Even if the goals are set in qualitative rather than quantitative terms as it is in the case of Chess Girls DC, evaluation helps to verify the selected strategy, tactics, and progress.
The analysis of the outcomes in terms of conducting the PR campaign does not significantly differ from the analysis preceding the formation of the communication strategy of the organization and consists of the collection and processing of information that is necessary to achieve the tasks set. Such analysis will allow determining priorities, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of the issue, and identifying supporters and opponents (Zadek et al., 2013). It will focus on the conditions and processes that determine the organizations position and its relationships with various social groups, including potential partners, competing structures, and media. The precise attention will be given to encountered obstacles and negative phenomena that raised in the process of the PR campaign, as their underestimation can negate all the planned activities.
It is very important to understand how effective the organizations PR plan will be in attracting additional funds for its implementation. Such an analysis is reported to answer three main questions:
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the extent, to which the objectives of the campaign corresponded to objective needs (the effectiveness of the goal);
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the extent, to which the results are consistent with the goals (campaign effectiveness);
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how effective were the resources spent to receive the result, such as money, time, people, etc?
Among the expected effects, there are
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raise of awareness and recognition of the organization among the representatives of the target audience;
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increase of financial support;
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formation of the membership-attractive image of the organization, increasing the interest of potential members and their parents.
Thus, the presented PR plan focuses on six sections and explains all the steps that are rather important to initiate the successful PR campaign and increase awareness of the needs of Chess Girls DC. It was identified that the target audience is both small and large organizations that are interested in CSR and support for non-profit organizations. The online platforms will serve as the key way to reach the target audience using the official website, social media, etc. In total, it is expected that the PR plan will take half a year and increase Chess Girls DC funding by 25 percent.
References
Black, S. (2013). Practice of public relations. New York, NY: Routledge.
Cho, M., Schweickart, T., & Haase, A. (2014). Public engagement with nonprofit organizations on Facebook. Public Relations Review, 40(3), 565-567.
DiStaso, M. W., & Bortree, D. S. (2012). Multi-method analysis of transparency in social media practices: Survey, interviews and content analysis. Public Relations Review, 38(3), 511-514.
Newsom, D., Turk, J., & Kruckeberg, D. (2012). Cengage advantage books: This is PR: The realities of public relations. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Uzuno lu, E., & Kip, S. M. (2014). Building relationships through websites: A content analysis of Turkish environmental non-profit organizations (NPO) websites. Public Relations Review, 40(1), 113-115.
Zadek, S., Evans, R., & Pruzan, P. (2013). Building corporate accountability: Emerging practice in social and ethical accounting and auditing. New York, NY: Routledge.
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