Promoting Philanthropy? News Publicity and Voluntary Organizations in Canada

Abstract

This paper reports exploratory data from a broader study that examines media representations of the voluntary sector in Canada. It specifically identifies the resources and organizational attributes of Canadian voluntary groups that appear to be important for receiving mainstream news coverage. The data identifies four sets of characteristics of more than 500 voluntary organizations: demographic variables, association type, noneconomic resources, and economic expenditures. These characteristics are examined in terms of their relationship to news coverage. The data suggest that area of activity is significantly related to the amount of media attention that organizations receive. However, the amount of media attention that an organization receives is most strongly influenced by its yearly budget. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to both current debates about advocacy in the voluntary sector and important contextual developments that are transforming the communication environment in which charities and nonprofit organizations in Canada operate. We also draw comparisons to news coverage of the voluntary sector in other liberal democratic countries.

Painting a picture of America's nonprofit foundations: a content analysis of public relations photographs distributed through online wire services

“…Greenberg and Walters (2004) found that nonprofit organizations in Canada were rarely successful in their publicity efforts while Jacobs and Glass (2002) found that nonprofits in New York City often wasted organizational resources on failed publicity efforts. Though focusing specifically on nonprofit foundations, the findings from this study continued the theme of wasted resources as the sampled photographs mostly possessed characteristics that make them undesirable to journalists.…”

Toward International Comparative Research on Associational Activity

“…2 These are the Directory of British Associations & Associations in Ireland (CBD Research, 2000), the Directory of Australian Associations (Crown Content, 2004) and Associations Canada (Canadian Almanac & Directory 2000). United Kingdom Tilanus, 1986) and Canadian (Abelson & Carberry, 1998;Greenberg & Walters, 2004;Handy et al, 2008;Mook, Handy, & Quarter, 2007;Quarter et al, 2001) scholars have similarly drawn from their national directories in sampling the types of groups of interest here.…”

“…Data are assembled from national associational directories, from which there is a strong history of data collection in the U.S. social movement and interest group scholarly research (e.g., Baumgartner & Jones, 1993;Johnson & Frickel, 2011;Minkoff, 1995;Nownes, 2004;Walker et al, 2011), as well as in the United Kingdom (e.g., Jordan, Baumgartner, McCarthy, Bevan, & Greenan, 2012;Tilanus 1986) and Canada (e.g., Abelson & Carberry, 1998;Greenberg & Walters, 2004;Handy, Mook, & Quarter 2008;Quarter, Sousa, Richmond, & Carmichael, 2001). Despite the number of publications drawing from these sources, difficulties in accessing data have previously limited their use to analysis of single organizational populations within single nations (but see .…”

Exploring the use of Facebook as a marketing and branding tool by hospital foundations

“…Although Canadian hospitals are government funded, they still need to seek out additional money to have slack resources at their disposal for new projects and emergencies (Sutherland et al, ). As ever‐increasing public expectations and needs, as well as growing operational costs, show no sign of abatement, Canadian hospitals are constantly exploring additional sources of income (Greenberg & Walters, ; King & Scrimger, ). These supplementary funding sources support capital projects, medical research, and programs not covered by government funding (Healthy Debate, ; Short, ).…”