O'Brien, M.

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WestminsterResearchhttp://www.westminster.ac.uk/westminsterresearch Movement for ChangeO'Brien, M. This is a copy of the final version of an article published in Communications Director, 01/2015, pp. 42-45.  It is included here with permission, and available from the publisher at:http://www.communication-director.com/issues/anticipation-and-disrup...The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners.Whilst further distribution of specific materials from within this archive is forbidden, you may freely distribute the URL of WestminsterResearch: ((http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/).In case of abuse or copyright appearing without permission e-mail repository@westminster.ac.uk?????????? ??????????????????????suﬀragettes chaining themselves to railings, mass demonstrations, and speeches delivered (in one striking 1908 example) to members of parlia-ment by a spokeswoman on a boat, branded with the Votes for Women slogan, �oating on the �ames. Gandhi’s salt march in India in 1930 also used mass rallies of ordi-nary people to draw media and poli-ticians’ attention to social injustice. Many not for pro�ts have drawn on Gandhi’s legacy of non-violent di-rect action, notably the UK’s Cam- T he not for pro�t sector has been an in-novator in communications for more than a century. From the suﬀragettes’ early use of what we would today call branding – their distinctive green, purple and white colour palette, the consistency of the Votes for Women and Deeds not Words messaging across lea�ets, banners, badges and even tea sets - not for pro�ts have been trailblazers. �e suﬀragettes had a sophisticated approach to media management and pioneered the use of photocalls. Around the time when Ivy Lee famously wrote the �rst press release, the suﬀra-gettes had press secretaries who gave journalists written brie�ngs and alerted them to photo opportunities such as Photo: 350org / Flickr With a rich history of campaigning for change, not for proﬁts remain some of commu-nications’ leading innovators.By Michaela O’Brien ??????????????????????? ????? ????Looking back at landmark communications????????????????????????? ??????????????????????help them engage supporters, politicians and other deci-sion makers across all media and social media platforms through the power of individuals’ stories. And the sector leads the way in exploring the power of framing, informed by ideas drawn from psychology, to shape campaign com-munications.Looking at the way technology impacts on communica-tions, we can see that the not for pro�t sector has once again been a pioneer. Greenpeace has always been an early adop-ter, producing video news releases in the 1980s and beam-ing images via satellite from its ships in mid-ocean to the world’s broadcasters, while Friends of the Earth pioneered geographical information systems (GIS) in the early 1990s to create publically accessible, localised maps of ground wa-ter pollution and toxic waste sites. In 1996, Friends of the Earth launched its �rst campaign website during the New-bury Bypass campaign, the biggest road protest that had been seen in Britain. While the media focused on dramatic imagery of security forces using heavy machinery to remove protestors from trees along the proposed bypass route, the Friends of the Earth website described sustainable alterna-tives to the road and was lauded in PR Week and Design Week as getting across the full story that most media re-ports had overlooked. Nearly 20 years later, communicators in every sector are using online media to bypass journalists in their gatekeeper role and to inform and engage support-ers directly. Friends of the Earth’s current high pro�le Bee-Cause campaign, with its interactive map showing support-ers’ action to protect bees, draws on 20 years of innovation in GIS and online communication. ONLINE PIONEERS More recently, the new breed of not for pro�ts such as 38 Degrees and Sum of Us have pioneered innovative ways to engage supporters through social media, mobilising people with concerns about social justice who previously would have struggled to connect with each other. By combining online and oﬄine tech-niques, they have created a new, nimble approach to citi-zen participation which won the �rst policy U-turn of the current British coalition government when 38 Degrees’ landmark Save Our Forest campaign killed plans to sell oﬀ the country’s public forest. Change.Org (originally a not for pro�t and now a social enterprise) estimates that paign for Nuclear Disarmament with their landmark march to the atomic weapons research establishment in Aldermaston in 1958 and sit-ins and die-ins (still a popular photocall technique used today) in the 1960s.Campaigner Paul Hilder trac-es the origins of social change campaigning back to the 1600s, and cites the campaign to abol-ish the slave trade as “arguably the �rst popular movement for policy change sustained over decades”. �e campaign’s techniques were not dissimilar to those used today by many not for pro�ts: a network of local groups holding public meet-ings and distributing information to raise awareness; a large petition delivered to members of parliament, a supportive, high pro�le politician (William Wilberforce) leading the campaign inside parliament. Hilder goes so far as to say that “much of the repertoire of social campaigning had already been developed by the mid-nineteenth century”.In the 1960s, social changes such as the rise of women’s and gay rights and other identity-based movements signalled the start of a new wave of social change campaigning. By the 1970s, the increased popularity of television let huge audiences see the media-friendly and highly visual tactics of new environmental organi-sations like Greenpeace, whose non-violent direct action followed the Quaker tradition of bearing witness.Not for pro�ts have developed their tactics as the media has changed and helped develop today’s media management ‘toolkit’ of sta-tistics, case studies, photocalls, hu-man interest and expert opinion, along with storytelling and content creation. Today many employ com-munications professionals with the enviable job title of storytellers to Not for proﬁts have developed their tactics as the  media has changed.?????????? ?????????????????????????????????????5,000 online Change.Org petitions launched in 2014 achieved their social change goal: one victory an hour. �ey include the success of Fahma Mohamed, a school pu-pil from Bristol, whose petition attracted nearly 250,000 signatures and secured agreement from the government to urge schools in the UK to protect pupils at risk from female genital mutilation (FGM). �e most dynamic of the longer standing NGOs have been rapidly evolving their campaign communications to adapt to the changes and opportunities oﬀered by social media. Greenpeace’s IceClimb event in 2013, for exam-ple, trended on Twitter and led news bulletins, integrat-ing media interviews, live web streaming and social media engagement simultaneously as its six climbers scaled the Shard in London as part of a campaign to protect the Arc-tic from oil drilling.�e sector is a big employer of communications profes-sionals, attracting those keen to tackle the world’s most intractable problems – poverty, the causes of ill-health, social injustice, environmental degradation and discrimi-nation. Networks like Charity Comms, with a member-ship of 4,000, and the eCampaigning Forum with nearly 3,000, bring them together to share best practice in com-munications. �e Chartered Institute of Public Relations and Public Relations Consultants Association both have for not for pro�t sector groups. ACADEMIC CONTEXT Yet this vibrant and important branch of our profession is remarkably under-reported in mainstream textbooks and teaching. Some key text books like Ralph Tench and Liz Yeomans’ Exploring PR include a chapter on not for pro�t public relations as a special-ist area. A few degree courses oﬀer an optional charity module since we pioneered that at the University of West-minster in 2007, but the MA we set up last year in Media, Campaigning and Social Change is remarkably the only UK university course of its kind, looking at the communi-cations role within social change campaigns. Too often, the richness of communications within the not for pro�t sector is discussed solely in the context of risk management, rather than in the context of open de-bate about topics of public interest, or in the context of sustainability and social justice. Academic and best practice texts on public relations of-ten privilege the corporate voice and position NGOs as a risk for ‘legitimate’ corporate public relations to manage. James E. Grunig’s in�uential situational theory of pub-lics, for example, enshrines activists and NGOs as ‘active publics’ which pose a risk to ‘legitimate’ corporate prac-titioners. Others, such as Denise Deegan’s guide Managing Activism also assume an oppositional rela-tionship. For Deegan, risk means risk to corporate reputation caused by social change campaigns, rather than any risk to employees, society or the ecosystem caused by the ac-tions of corporations. As Jacquie L’Etang wrote in 2009: “�e domi-nant paradigm in public relations is �rmly rooted in the concerns of US capitalism... Activists appear to be constructed as problematic in public relations. �ey are the other, the im-plied organisational opponents.”Some academics are beginning to acknowledge the role not for pro�ts have played in developing the pro-fession, with American academics Tim Coombs and Sherry Holladay and Australia’s Kristin Demetri-ous among those leading the way in challenging the corporate-centric view of public relations.Today, many not for pro�ts have large budgets, professional manage-ment, codes of conduct and special-Change through innovation The use of branding and other commu-nication techniques in social campaign-ing were already developed by the mid nineteenth century The not for proﬁt sector continues to innovate and today is one of the largest employers of communicators The sector was usually discussed from the business perspective only in terms of risk management, though lately it has gained wider focus Increased budgets and sophistication have brought new challenges for balanc-ing storytelling and respectful framingEXECUTIVE SUMMARY????????????????????????? ??????????????????????A growing sector also wields greater power and recently the spotlight in the UK has been on the in�uence of not for pro�ts in the lead up to a general election, and with the in-troduction of the Lobbying Act 2014. Critics of the sector’s in�uence tend to con�ate the terms political and party po-litical, but this is a distortion of the not for pro�t role. Few would want to restrict their scope or in�uence by aligning themselves to a speci�c political party. In fact, registered charities are not allowed to do so. But working on the is-sues that aﬀect some of the most vulnerable people in our society – for example those with mental health problems or physical disabilities - inevitably requires addressing the social, political and economic reasons why they face those problems, and targeting campaigns at the causes of social injustice. Yet not for pro�ts as diverse as Save the Children and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) have been attacked for campaigns that highlight the causes of poverty or harm, rather than simply patching up the re-sulting injury. As the RSPB’s Martin Harper said earlier this year: “For 125 years, the RSPB has been campaign-ing to change law, policy, attitudes and behaviour to bene�t wildlife – this is central to our charitable purpose.”ADDRESSING PROBLEMS, CREATING CHANGE At the heart of not for pro�t communication is the desire to solve a problem. �e UK’s National Council of Volun-tary Organisations describes campaigning as “an activity that aims to create change. It brings energy and passion to public debates and ensures that a wider range of voices are heard – including the voices of the disadvantaged.” No wonder it attracts criticism. As Danielle Stein and Craig Valters wrote in 2012: “Any change process in the social world will inherently engage with and run up against struc-tures of power and interest… be they state apparatuses, so-cial norms or economic pat-terns.”NGOs and charities are part of a rich and vibrant not for pro�t sector that oﬀers lessons for all communications profes-sionals. �is article has touched on just a few of the factors that shape the sector and make it worth more attention. ist staﬀ liaising across international oﬃces to run strategically planned campaigns. With this increasing sophistication and professionalisa-tion come other dilemmas. For ex-ample, some wrestle with the role of the communicator in-house. How should fundraising, campaigning and communications work together? �e diﬀerent specialisms can com-pete for control of messaging and budgets just as marketing and public relations have battled for dominance in organisations in the corporate sector. �e tension is complicated in the not for pro�t sector by the val-ues-based approach. Is it acceptable to use images of starving children in Africa to raise funds for a develop-ment charity, because they work well in fundraising campaigns, when these images can be counterproduc-tive? Recent research from Common Cause argues that this type of im-agery perpetuates the belief Africa cannot solve its own problems, even-tually undermining the public under-standing and support that is needed to reduce global poverty. Tackling these issues, and making best use of technology, is beginning to create a new role that I term the campaign communicator, which blurs the lines between siloed functions and works across disciplines. NGOs such as Action Aid are leading the way in balancing storytelling, respectful framing and engaging calls to action in their work on campaigns like the Tax Justice Campaign. Rethink are doing similar work on their cam-paign Time to Change.Photo: Private Michaela O’Brien  University of Westminster, LondonMichaela O’Brien has worked in senior communications roles for a number of not for proﬁts in the UK and Australia, and is course leader of the Media, Campaig-ning and Social Change MA and senior lecturer on the Public Re-lations MA at the University of Westminster, London.NGOs and charities are part of a rich and vibrant not for proﬁt sector that offers lessons for all communicators.

Movement for Change

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Movement for Change

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