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July 2003

Nonprofits find help in PR class

Bobbi Reid Doggett

PUR 4800 – Public Relations Campaigns: This course involves students in the practical analysis and development of specialized communication materials…

Forget what the UNF course guide says about this class. This is the one that pulls together everything public relations students have learned in class and lets them find out firsthand what it’s all about. The students work as an ad agency on a public relations and awareness campaign for an area nonprofit agency.

Bobbi Reid Doggett, who began teaching at UNF five years ago, took over the Public Relations Campaigns class two years ago.

“Students have said to me that this is the one course that they’ve finally got to use what they’ve been learning in class,” she said.

Doggett runs the class as she would an ad agency. Students must apply for the various jobs, from campaign director to production/presentation directors, during the first week. Then, they meet their client.

Doggett selects the client based on interviews she has prior to the semester’s start. She ensures the client understands that the class is not a fund raiser, and she looks for how well the leadership might work with the students.

“I don’t want the organization to pat them on the head and say ‘That’s a nice student project,’” Doggett explained.

Nonprofits are an ideal choice since they often lack the resources to accomplish their goals. The campaign class’s reputation has spread through the nonprofit sector, and Doggett usually has several organizations to choose from.

For the spring, the class worked with Guardian of Dreams, which provides scholarships to low-income families for St. Pius and Holy Rosary Catholic schools.

Jim Selzer, executive director of the 7-year-old Guardian of Dreams, described the organization’s approach to public relations and donor communications as a “ramshackled house” in need of a coherent, integrated plan. With only one part-time paid employee and almost all monies going toward the schools, the campaign class was a “cost-free opportunity” to do something positive about the group’s role in the community.

“I could sense at that time that this was going to be a real positive experience,” Selzer said of his early meeting with Doggett.

And was it?

“In my assessment, it was a home run,” Selzer said.

The class went to school functions and surveyed the public. They designed
a logo, business card and letterhead, and created a web site and public service announcements. They even included a cost estimate for the yearlong campaign. The class presented the campaign to about 18 members of the organization in April at UNF.

“We had a need and we saw the energy and enthusiasm these students had, and it all came together,” Selzer said.

"Many of us who were in that meeting have had extensive experience with ad agencies.... And this group of students did a very credible job," he added.

The class's work sparked enthusiasm and a donation - $2,500 toward implementing the campaign. While not all aspects of the campaign will be implemented, Selzer said the class's work will keep them moving forward for three, maybe five years.

Guardian of Dreams also got a summer intern. Victor Stutzman, whose role was graphic designer, is implementing some recommendations, particularly the web site.
Stutzman, who expects to graduate in August, said the capstone class was a great opportunity to put his classroom work to use in a fun way. Guardian of Dreams, he said, also was a project the class could get behind.

"We just really saw firsthand what this organization was about," he said.
Stutzman's sentiments were echoed by others.

"I think this is the most important class we take," UNF student Eve Apel said after the presentation.

Selzer heard about Doggett's campaign class from Susan Lanahan, who took part in the fall 2002 class for Jewish Family and Community Services.

The other two Doggett-led campaigns were for Lutheran Social Services and Nassau Habitat for Humanity.

Jewish Family presented a problem: How to make the community aware of its adoption services and its senior services. The class tackled the issue and came up with plans for both.

"The class was great and inspiring," Lanahan said. "All the ideas were good."

While the organization expects to make changes to the class's plan and has hired an agency to help, the process is slow since changes to the 85-year-old organization have to go through committee and the board.

"I think the information the class gave is very good for agencies to view how the outside world looks at them," she said. "I also think the class has to be invaluable to those students trying to really understand what will be expected of them."