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Good Writing for Charities
Credit crunch communications
 
www.ngomedia.org.uk
Charity communications teams are being affected by the credit crunch. But surprisingly,for some charities, it means spending
more
not less. For others, it means looking againat the things that work most effectively. ngo.media’s Trina Wallace reports.
People won’t know
what your charity does if youdon’t tell them. That’s the fundamental principle onwhich every charity communication team is based. Butin times of (it’s those dreaded words again) creditcrunch, it is a principle that can easily be lost.Redundancies, recruitment freezes and budget cutscan lead to the easy option: trimming back charitycommunications.Doing so, says Mencap PR manager Sam Heath, wouldnot be sensible. Now is the time to increase yourcommunications work, he says.“Communications is crucial; it’s not something wewant to compromise on, especially in the currentfinancial climate. The credit crunch will affect ourincome in the future and communications work canhelp generate new donors and sponsors. Socommunications is now more important than ever.”Heath suggests that if charity communicators arefinding it difficult to convince trustees and seniormanagement not to cut communications at themoment, they haven’t been doing their job properly.“Comms teams should be working hard to explain theimpact and direction of communications to directorsand trustees all the time - not just now,” says Heath.“Then you will reap the rewards.”
JOB CUTS
At Oxfam, Magda Walter, acting head of PR, agreesthat communications are “vital in these times”because “it’s important that we reach people evenmore”.
 
But like the rest of Oxfam, the comms department iscutting about 5% of staff, mostly through not fillingvacant posts. Overall they’re cutting about 15% of comms projects. Walter says the team are movingtowards a more online-based model of communication because it is the most trackable andeffective medium.“Oxfam UK have been preparing for the economicdownturn for months,” she says. “The financialplanning is reflected in our strategic plans andbudgets
.
We feel we are prepared. We are committedto spending as much as we can on our programmesand will cut variable costs such as direct mails andpaid media advertising.”
TRIMMING DOWN
The NSPCC are making cuts too. The child protectioncharity announced last week that it is planning 150redundancies because of a growing shortfall infundraising income.
 
Alison McKay, media manager atNSPCC, could not confirm whether these would becommunications redundancies.She says the charity will “trim drown” all departmentbudgets but is confident that this won’t affectcommunications output. The charity is
 
offeringinternal communications clients more “cost-effectiveoptions including more digital solutions - but this ispart of our normal process anyway, not just becauseof the economic situation”.“We don’t have the same problem that some charitiesdo convincing other departments of the importance of communications,” says McKay. “We need to reach asmany people as possible to raise awareness of childprotection issues and we’re always careful to be costeffective.”
OVER BUDGET
Save the Children, meanwhile, have just “refocused”their UK work as a result of smaller budgets. Thecharity’s offices in Newcastle, Birmingham, Leeds andin north Wales will close but Dominic Nutt, head of news, claims communications has not yet beenaffected in terms of job or budget cuts or output.In fact, he’s asked his communications director for abigger budget. “I’ve asked for a higher thanbenchmark budget for the next quarter,” he says. “I’mnot sure we’ll get it but requesting it wasn’tdiscouraged.
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