What do Meg and Paige think?

This week I chose to comment on Paige Weiners and Meghan Parmentier’s blogs. Paige’s blog focuses on public relations fashion. Her blog this week focused on the results of research in fashion. Her blog was very well written and made me see that there is a lot of hard work that goes into marketing clothing. I found it interesting that she included tips on what is too much information to give the general public. It is important, as Paige pointed out to know your audience not only when you are seeking research but also when you are presenting results.  I also enjoyed how Paige used the example of Tory Burch’s new rain boots to demonstrate that not all results are relevant to a consumer. Meghan’s blog focuses on food and public relations. This week specifically she spoke about research results and what occurs when these results are inaccurate. It was interesting to learn that by publishing inaccurate results it can affect the population as a whole. When information is misleading or completely false it can cause the public to worry as Meghan pointed out. It is very important then to make sure results are accurate so they do not cause harm to people. Meghan’s blog then made me think about where I retrieve my information from. I am know going to make sure all my information comes from reputable sources and am going to double check that information against other sources. Overall both blogs were interesting to read and made me reconsider the positives and negatives of research results.

Research Results

Research is crucial in nonprofit organizations. This is because research needs to be conducted in order for the organization to find who is donating and why. Research is also important to see what the company needs to improve and what areas they need to be focusing on. In addition, research helps nonprofits see who needs help and in what ways. The most important part of the research process is the results because this helps nonprofits continue successfully in the future.

A specific instance of research and the importance of the results are shown in an article on the Habitat for Humanity website. The article discusses the importance of having a home and the benefits.  The fact that Habitat for Humanity has done research, which yielded results that proved home ownership has benefits, is very helpful to Habitat. This is because potential donors know for a fact that their money will help people buy a home. This in return will help people and children in the long run. The research points specifically to the benefits of having a home for children. Children are able to have a place to do their work and not be distracted which leads to increases in percentages on standardized tests. Specifically children of homeowners score nine percent higher on standardized math tests and seven present higher in reading. The results also show that children of homeowners have less behavior problems.

The results of the research are extremely important for Habitat for Humanity. It helps them spread their message of the importance of affordable housing. It also shows that if people donate or volunteer to build the houses that they will directly be aiding members of the society.  Thus the research can help in gaining more donations, which will help in buying building supplies. As a new intern at Habitat for Humanity I can see the importance of research and the results that come about. It is always important to gain more donors and volunteers.  By having research that proves the importance of homeownership it is sure to increase donors and volunteers which is always needed.

Nonprofits and Ethics

In the nonprofit world it would seem that unethical behavior does not come into play. Non profits are working for the people. It would not make sense, to do something that would hurt the very people they are aiming to help. Unethical behavior however, does exist in the nonprofit community. In fact many nonprofit agencies are falling behind when it comes to ethics. An example of this is seen in the article  “Ethics and Nonprofits”. This article focuses on unethical practices in nonprofit organizations. One organization in particular that the article focuses on is the Red Cross. The Red Cross is a well respected organization. I have donated to the Red Cross in the past because I felt confident about where my money was going.  I however did not realize that the Red Cross has not always been accurate with telling the public where their money is being placed. An example of this occurred after September 11. Many people donated money to the Red Cross. They believed that their money was being donated to families of the victims. Not all the funds however were sent to the victims’ families. In fact the Red Cross put aside more than half of the 564 million that was donated for other operations and future reserves. People were unaware of this until the Red Cross issued a report detailing this. People were outraged by this and as a result the Red Cross image took a hit. This is because the Red Cross did not do a clear job of showing were the funds were being placed until after the funds were donated. Their report was not properly made and thus many people were not aware of where their money was actually being placed.

Another area where ethics comes into play is in the research phase. Research ethics focuses on proper conduct during the researching phase.  This means that when nonprofit agencies conduct research they need to adhere to certain standards. An example of unethical research would be surveying people on why they do or do not donate and then changing the answers to please your boss. Another example could be misleading people on what the actual survey is about.  Although the Red Cross example does not exactly focus on the research phase it does show the end results of research which is a report. Since the Red Cross report was unclear and also unknown to many people it led to unethical behavior. People who were doing research on where the money was going did not know that it would not all go to victims families. This is because the report was not published and previous research on where donations go was not available. The Red Cross then in essence withheld certain parts of their research and was also not clear in their practices which are unethical.

The idea of people being unethical in nonprofits is a very scary concept. Non profits are the organizations for the people by the people. If these organizations are unethical it leads me to believe that other more business orientated organizations are unethical as well.

Non Profit Public Relations

Nonprofit organizations are very important in today’s society. Through non profits, all groups of people, ranging from age and race are able to receive different types of funding or aid that they cannot seem to get on their own. There are thousands of nonprofit organizations across the world. Some of the nonprofit organizations are better known than others. A nonprofit company differs from a profit company in that a nonprofit organization does not distribute its surplus funds to owners but rather, invests the money back into the organization. Behind the scenes of a nonprofit are the people who keep the agency afloat, by promoting it to the community and by gaining donors. These people are public relation professionals.


In this blog I will be discussing the roles of a public relations professional in a non profit. I will be highlighting how they manage to keep a nonprofit company alive and what tools are needed to do this. I will also examine different nonprofit organization, their missions and what leads to their success. Through this blog I hope to explain to others the importance of nonprofit public relations and the hard work public relation professionals put in each day.

Below you will find a link to a nonprofit organization in New Haven, Conn. This is just one of the many organizations that are helping to make the world a better place.

http://poverty-action.org/