A Public Relations/Financial Service Provided by Russ Barnes

Q. What Do Service Organizations Need Most Beyond Mission and People?

Service organizations -- such as non-profits, trade associations, think-tanks, publishers, foundations -- need continual publicity, fundraising, and refreshed editorial content.

Public relations has always been, for good reason, a recognized business function supporting service organizations. Even while fundraising is also recognized as a necessity for such organizations, financial skills are not always included in the executive mix for implementing fundraising activity.

Many organization executives and board members assume that finance means accounting. That's only part of what finance encompasses.

Creative thinking is a higher-dimension managerial requirement for bringing about financial contributions. Financial creativity in combination with supporting positive publicity is something no service organization can do without.

Q. What is High-Level Finance for Service Organizations?

A. "Asset Valuation" Allied with Creative Publicity.

Asset valuation combined with creative publicity is an essential ingredient for a service organization to survive and to thrive. Many service organizations have no idea what the dollar value of their assets are, or, in some cases, even WHAT their assets are.

So first, let's take a look at a definition of "assets:"

ASSETS. "The entries on a balance sheet showing all properties, tangible and intangible, and claims against others that may be applied, directly or indirectly, to cover the liabilities of an organization, such as cash, stock, patents, customer lists, copyrights, brand recognition, and goodwill."

Valuation, on the other hand, is a high-level financial activity, applicable to any organization. It provides an assessment of an organization's assets. Then let's take a look at a definition of "valuation:"

VALUATION. "An estimation or appreciation of worth, merit, character, or wealth. A measure of those qualities that determine merit, desirability, usefulness, or importance. Value, account, worth, wealth: the qualities themselves."

How Does Valuation of Assets Help Organizations?

Valuation of assets helps clarify what an organization has, what it owns and what it's worth. It establishes the organization's strength monetarily. It identifies where its assets are, and how those can be leveraged to raise funds, to build constituencies, to engage those constituencies in the programs and causes the organization espouses, and possibly to build new streams of revenue

How Does Creative Publicity Fit into the Picture?

Publicity is the lifeblood of a service organization. Without publicity, no funds can be raised, and there will exist no constituency to participate in an organization's programs.

Let's now take a look at the definition of publicity:

PUBLICITY: "A systematic effort to increase the importance, value, reputation of a thing, organization, or person by favorable public promotion."

Public companies, for example, can increase their stock price by increasing the performance of their product. But stock prices would never rise if there were no public relations and publicity efforts calling attention to the fact that product performance, asset value based on return on investment, or company strategic alliances, are good or improving.

The same is true for service organizations. While not publicly traded, the service organization does, indeed, have "stock," which the organization's constituencies may perceive as having either a low or high value. This perception of the organization's assets makes all the difference in the world as to how effectively the organization can accomplish its mission.

By creating its assets, by knowing what its assets are, by clarifying what its assets are, and by promoting their asset values through publicity, the organization is enabled to accomplish its mission. These are tasks the service organization neglects at its peril.

How Can My Organization Take Advantage of Getting Both Asset Valuation and Publicity Working Together?

Russ Barnes provides to organizations a public relations service with a difference. To provide a more integrated approach to building publicity, raising funds, and improving participation of its constituency, Russ begins each account with an assessment of an organization's assets. The publicity effort he designs and implements flows out of that primary asset assessment.

Asset valuation is an approach Russ has developed in raising capital and arranging strategic alliances for technology and media companies -- a technique he now applies to service organizations. This creative, interactive technique identifies the sum total of an organization's assets (proprietary customer lists, publication channels owned, relationships with vendors, brand recognition within the marketplace, etc.) -- which are then assigned a dollar value using accepted financial methods and expressions.

After the first round of valuations, Russ interviews principals in the organization to identify those assets being produced by the organization which may be by-products of its routine activities, but which are not yet recognized as assets with potential financial and marketplace value.

What Does the Follow-Up Look Like?

Once the assets of an organization are identified and valuated, an integrated program of public relations and business development follows based on the knowledge provided by the asset evaluation. These activities include the following general areas:

* Publicity. generating creative media publicity.

* Editorial Content. providing compelling website/newsletter content for organization constituencies.

*Fundraising. identifying overlooked constituencies as funding sources and designing messages to reach them.

*Revenue. activating new revenue streams from current operations where possible.

What Specifically Can Be Done within an Organization to accomplish this?

Consider the provision of these specific activities:

* press releases, cultivation of the press.
* development of new editorial content materials for websites/newsletters, etc.
* identification of new constituencies, extension of current constituencies; business plans for new revenue.
* development of new messages and communications for fundraising efforts.

What Kind of Service Organizations Can Take Advantage of this Approach?

* non-profit associations
* trade associations
* think-tanks
* foundations and grant-making efforts
* lobbying groups
* trade unions
* non-governmental organizations
* government contractors

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Does Your Organization Qualify?

If your organization has the following characteristics, it is in a position to benefit from a marketing communications program based on asset valuation:

* You are a service organization with a clear mission.

* You wish to apply your creativity to increase both income and constituency.

* You are interested in clarifying the financial value of your current and future assets.

* You are in a position where you want to communicate a positive message to your public through the press.

* You welcome developing editorial content materials to enhance service to your constituencies .

* You are willing to devote organizational resources and attention needed to take advantage of this asset valuation approach to public relations.

Glossary

ASSET: The entries on a balance sheet showing all properties, tangible and intangible, and claims against others that may be applied, directly or indirectly, to cover the liabilities of an organization, such as cash, stock, patents, customer lists, copyrights, and goodwill. The entire property owned by a person or organization.

VALUATION: An estimation or appreciation of worth, merit, character, or wealth. A measure of those qualities that determine merit, desirability, usefulness, or importance. Value, account, worth, wealth.

OWNERSHIP: Having legal title to something, especially tangible and intangible property.

PUBLICITY: A systematic effort to increase the importance, value, reputation of a thing, organization, or person by favorable public promotion.

CONSTITUENCY: A group of supporters or patrons. A group served by an organization or institution; a clientele.

FUNDS: The monetary resources of an organization or individual.

FUNDRAISING: Creating messages and designing campaigns calling attention to the value of an organization's assets and mission. Making a specific offer. Capitalizing on under-utilized assets to create new revenue streams or augmenting existing ones.

Russ Barnes is a marketing and public relations professional who works for service organizations. He is also a journalist whose selected publications may be seen at Biography. Russ Barnes may be reached by email or by telephone at 301-564-3741.

5200 Pooks Hill Road, Bethesda, Maryland 20814, USA.

Copyright 2004, Russ Barnes, all rights reserved. Copying or re-transmission of this work is prohibited unless approved by the owner. Internet links to this document are permitted.