During the past week, it was announced that due to changes in their granting process, Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization would no longer be funding breast screening exams at Planned Parenthood, the nation’s leading sexual and reproductive health care provider and advocate. This announcement (along with the attempt by Komen to minimize the backlash) has resulted in a public relations firestorm in which the Komen organization is being accused of bending to the pro-life/anti-abortion political machine.
In a backlash following this change in granting policy, scathing articles have been written about the Komen organization, a top Komen official has resigned from the organization, and Planned Parenthood has raised $400,000 in a 24-hour period. You can’t go anywhere online – Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo news – without seeing references to this media maelstrom.
No matter on which side of the debate you personally find yourself, in the midst of the argument there is much that nonprofits can learn.
Walk your Talk:
The Komen organization states that their mission is to end breast cancer forever. However, their actions, denying further funding to an organization whose mission states at the outset their goal to “improve women’s health and safety,” appear to be in opposition to that mission. As Mary Elizabeth Williams wrote in her Salon.com article, women’s healthcare is “about screening. It’s about treatment. It’s just that simple. The further away an organization gets from that mission, the more women suffer.”
When your actions do not align with your mission in the eyes of the public and your contributors, you get yourself into hot water. What to do? Be clear, across your entire organization, about your mission, your motives, and your actions.
Be transparent:
Part of the uproar about this decision by Komen is the taint of political pressures that have forced the organization to “cave” and make this decision. With social media, the hint of coercion or dishonesty can catch like a wildfire and spread across networks and news channels, impacting your supporters, your community, and your ability to achieve your mission.
What to do? Be honest and clear with the media. Don’t try to “spin” your organization’s events and actions. If you are honest up front, people can react, but there won’t be the fuel of dishonesty to fire public outrage.
Damage control is costly:
Let’s face it, life is messy. Things go sideways, even when you are pursuing your passion and living your mission. When things go awry, it is important to make strides to adjust, to compensate, to make things right again.
The term damage control originated with members of the navy and coast guard as the actions taken by a crew to prevent a ship from sinking. Damage control is what the Susan G. Komen organization is doing now. In the name of damage control, Komen founder and CEO Nancy G. Brinker put out a video this week to explain the organization’s policy. But in this communicator’s mind it is not enough to hold back the torrent of criticism that is threatening to sink the organization.
In a public relations sense, damage control is the most costly form of communication. It costs the organization most in terms of good will and donations. The Komen machine may come out of this ordeal without sinking, but hopefully they will learn a little bit about managing their own mission and communications in the process. For the rest of us, the call to action is simple – don’t mess up. But if you do, respond quickly, honestly, and from the heart to keep your ship afloat.
At DMD, we know the value of mission and message. When combined in the right way, these things can support your organization so you can continue to do the good work you are called to do. When they are not aligned, the result is a PR mess that can rock your organization’s core. We talk about these aspects of your nonprofit communication plan in our complimentary Claim Your Spotlight video series, 4 Keys to Taking Your Nonprofit from Invisible to Inspirational. Sign up for the series today and let us know in the comments section below how your mission-driven organization manages your public and media relations.
