The View From Here

City of Sammamish volunteer coordinator Dawn Sanders has put together a great resource for non-profit and community groups – a regular monthly meeting to discuss best practices, trends to be aware of, as well as presentations from successful community organizers like United Way and the Seattle Foundation. I get to the meetings whenever I can, and it seems those involved are really benefiting from practical advise on how best to manage their volunteers and achieve their aims.

For more info, contact Dawn at dsanders@ci.sammamish.wa.us.

Here is something I have been meaning to do for the group for a while – a “how-to” guide on the best way to present information for publication in local papers. This is pretty nuts and bolts info, and there is obviously more to it than this. But these are some important basics.

How to get information about your non-profit or community organization
printed in local papers.

It is good to remember that the editor of your local paper receives many notices from community groups each day. While editors are really amazing people with funny jokes, who are really in quite good shape for their age too, they are always looking to save as much time as they can where possible.
What decides between that information that regularly gets printed and posted online, and those that get pushed to the back of the line is:
1. Is the information ready to go? How much work do I have to do to it to get it ready for print?
2. Is it local? Is it timely?
3. Can I get the key points in, if I only have a little room? But is there more info (or a photo) if I have a bit more space?
4. Can I get a hold of someone to answer any questions I might have?

Here’s an example of the kind of notice I always like seeing…
• Get straight to the point – what is happening? What is the purpose of this notice?
“The Pygmy Survival Alliance (PSA) is hosting an information session and open house, between 6 and 8 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 16, at their headquarters, 1595 Gilman Blvd, NW, Issaquah.”

• Next, a bit more info about the event…
“The PSA will present the results of their fact finding mission to Rwanda this past June, including a short film on the trip by team leader Jimmy Smits. Admission to the event is free and all are welcome to attend.”

• Before you lose them, give them the info they need…
“RSVP is not required, but for more information on the PSA and their members, contact Karate Joe at 425-655-6565, e-mail karatejoe@pygmysurvival.com., or visit www.psa.org.”

• I’d like to know a bit more…
“The Pygmy Survival Alliance is a group of Seattle-based doctors and public health workers aiming to reduce infant mortality rates among the native people of Central Africa, and improve their living and working conditions. The PSA was formed in Seattle in 2005 by Dr. Karl Weyrauch, in response to the imminent extinction of these native people due to their forced displacement by the Rwandan government.”
This is sometimes called a boilerplate – not sure why – but it’s a few lines outlining what the group is about. It’s a good idea to include these on the bottom of all your communications. Like a letterhead, only at the bottom. A letterbottom, then.

• Make it as easy as you can for the editor to get in touch with the right person, if he or she wants to follow up.
MEDIA CONTACT: Debbie Doughnut – 425-611-1116, e-mail ddoughnut@gmail.com
In my experience, it is better to have just one “go-to person,” rather than three points of contact who um and ah and refer you back to one of the others. Never good to have to make three phone calls and leave two messages and send four e-mails just to find out whether it is June 26 or June 27.

Important notes:

• Time, Date, then Place. 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 18, at the Oddfellows Arms, 21 Munchkin St., Sammamish.

• Jan., not January. Dec., not December. May, June.

• Don’t include the year, unless it is a few years out. If the person reading it isn’t sure what year the event will be, you probably don’t want them for your group anyway…

• DO NOT WRITE ANY WHOLE WORDS IN CAPITAL LETTERS ANYWHERE IN THE INFORMATION YOU WANT PRINTED, NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU ARE TRYING TO EMPHASIZE IT!! OR EXCLAMATION POINTS!! The key to getting your information printed is making it easy for the editor to cut it into the right style. Having to retype sentences written in capitals into normal text is a hassle.

• Send the info in a text (.txt) file, and in the body of the e-mail too. Don’t send PDFs, or scanned images of flyers – it’s hard to extract the info.

• Always good to send an interesting, relevant photo that will draw attention to the piece (e.g., of the PSA working with the Pygmies), and make sure you include a caption at the top of the body of the e-mail. Send pics as JPGS, somewhere around 1mb is good. Don’t send 20 – three at the most.

• Find out your local paper’s schedule. The Issaquah and Sammamish Reporter gets put together each Wednesday – anything received after Tuesday at noon is going to have a slim chance of running. Make sure you get in two or three weeks ahead of your event/deadline.

• Give the editor a call after you have you e-mailed it, just to check they got it. Don’t ask them to promise you when it will run, because it can’t be done, but explain the timing of the event or why it needs to run before a certain date.