Genevieve Frederick of Carson City, Nevada writes:
“I am the executive director of Feeding Pets of the Homeless, an organization that helps to feed pets of the homeless and disadvantaged in cities across the country.
“We enroll members who collect pet food and partner with a food bank that distributes the pet food to those in need. When pet-related businesses and veterinarian clinics and hospitals join, they received step-by-step instructions on how the program works and how they can receive publicity while helping pets in their community.
“We are going from for-profit to non-profit which will allow us to offer grants to vets so they can provide medical care for the pets of the homeless. What are some additional steps we can do to make our organization more visible?”
I recommend the first thing you do is write a press release about your new program that you are doing with veterinarians, and then follow-up to secure interviews. I think media will be very interested in this story. In addition, in talking to someone at the CBS-TV affiliate here in Pittsburgh, television stations are now doing stories based on what their media consultants are telling them that listeners want to hear!! Pets is on top of the list for television stories!
Best Friends is the largest no-kill animal sanctuary in the country. They put out an excellent magazine with readership in the many thousands, and it includes news snippets of innovative programs around the country. I bet if Genevieve writes to BestFriends.org or sends a press release, they’ll be interested in her program.
This is a great program!
I would suggest capitalizing on the support you have received from your US Senators. Could the co-author a letter to Nevada state representatives challenging each of them to encourage their constituents to donate pet food?
Each member’s district office could be a donation point. The representative bringing the most pet food to their local shelter by a certain cutoff date would ‘win’ and be presented with a certificate from your organization. It’s a great press idea for the politicians in an election year, and will enable your organization to expand throughout Nevada.
When this program is a success, collect all the press clippings from around the state and use them to replicate the same program in California and other states!
Good luck!
Kathleen
1) Re-do the website before pitching to any reporters. I didn’t see a media room or how the organization was different than any other pet-related organization. Also, the founder profile talks more about her personal publicist accomplishments than about her organization. Keep it focused!
2) Reach out to university organizations (greek organizations) that are always looking to support new causes, and then use that opportunity to pitch to the media. This is a great way to get local support.
3)Visual aids work! Create a viral video with touching pictures of the homeless pets and distribute it using YouTube, etc. This will also get media attention. Make sure you put your website address and non-profit affiliation on the bottom of the video.
I envision a tiein with the homeless shelters or outreach programs who go out at night to pass out blankets. You would not be going along but taking pet food to the main location for them to dispense.
If you had volunteer in each city coordinating for the same night, it could make national news with the
right publicity hounding. Just a pic of each reporter
on the screen reporting from 4 cities would make an
impact. The TV stations get warm fuzzy points and
both you and the homeless programs get needed coverage.
Here in Washington DC they are winding up a HUGE yearly campaign to encourage people to give to charity. Thousands of charities have 5-digit codes assigned and they advertise in Express,the daily free newspaper owned by the Washington Post and given out to Metro riders (that is the subway). Government employees, of which there are several hundred thousand in the DC area, are heavily leaned on to support the campaign. I suggest you get your charity listed. I thinkt he acronym for the campaign is CAFC, but I am not certain.
Contact area schools and churches. Many, if not all would love to have service groups or youth groups help out with this. Even contact area pre-schools. My niece had a birthday party for her daughter and instead of birthday gifts the children brought food, leashes and dog toys to donate to Stray Rescue of St. Louis. Speakers that would visit community groups would be wonderful as well, with a slide show of some of the photos on your website. It would move me to action.
One great way to gain Publicity was to ask the Publicity Hound. I read about you in the newsletter, went to your website, ordered two autographed books and will tell people I know about this cause. Also, I belong to Papadopters and Suncoastbutterflies. We often cross post info that has to deal with pets/dogs in need. Do you have information for other dog rescue groups?
Being homeless is a terrible situation, which no one should ever have to experience. Consider hosting a writing and/or poster contest at area schools on the issue of homelessness (including homeless pets) to increase the visibility of Feeding Pets of the Homeless.
Share the contest information also with each family and faculty member, and announce writing/poster winners throughout the school system, on their and your website and in the local media.
Additionally, moving from a for-profit to a non-profit status will offer you savings in postage and other areas. Be sure also to collaborate with other non-profit organizations through cross-promoting and combining mailings and other communications for additional savings and increased visibility.
The best of luck to you and your wonderful organization!
Partner with a local pet store, especially a very upscale “chi-chi” kind of dog/pet store, and hold a community event in a local park. The creators of BowWow Boot Camp (www.bowwowbootcamp.com) did this and they were very successful in pulling in major media. They also created their own holiday called National Canine Health and Fitness Day and registered it, and thereby pulled in more media exposure. You could something like that for “National Helping Homeless Animals Day.”
Make T shirts for the homeless to wear. Gives them a clean shirt and you publicity. Include your telephone number in huge letters and your website on the shirt. Give the volunteers at the shelter the shirts too, they will wear them in the community. Get a business to underwite the cost, in return for their name on the shirt, or do a group of businesses on the back. You can also send them in response to a donation, and you could also sell them. Do a fundraiser with high end pet stores, perhaps a share of the days’ proceeds on a specific day. Pennies for Homeless Pets. People really pay attention to T shirts.
Why not create an Internet-based marketing campaign? It would be both inexpensive and effective. Create either one or a series of videos about your program for YouTube (perhaps you could even highlight some of the pets in particular and what you’ve done for them) that showcase what it is your organization is doing. Next, create a blog featuring someone who is out there in the trenches day after day. I’m sure the emotional involvement in this program is great for those involved in the organization, and it’s that kind of personal involvement that will get your organization noticed on the web.
Being in Carson City, you are not that far from the University of California at Davis. Students from all over the US and foreign countries attend the UCD veterinary college which is still, I believe, the largest on the West Coast. Put together a nice tight presentation and contact the college.
Another possibility is 4-H Groups; high school requires community-service hours and collecting pet food for distribution at homeless shelters should qualify.
Pets of the homeless need food, but they also need grooming. How about holding a dog wash? Hold it in a warm month, in the parking lot of a business partner (vet clinic, etc.)for visibility.
Come up with a hook, such as “Extreme Makeover, Hound Edition.”
Also, what about the grooming of the homeless themselves? Here in Colorado Springs, there are a lot of homeless veterans. Each year a non profit event call “Operation Stand Down” – the vets can come, get a meal, a shave and haircut and a set of clean clothes. This helps the ones that are able, to get a job.
Good luck on your group.
Like the “Extreme Makeover, Hound Edition” idea.
Maybe within the same show provide dog obedience training for the homeless and their dog and free micro chipping.
Some homeless become very attached to their dogs so when pets become lost they often want to find them but can’t because of lack of resources.
In New Jersey there is a “Homeless Tails,” which is a 5 minute show on public television that features homeless pets. Perhaps they would include your site in their resource page? Or do a story about your organization?