Three Reasons to Choose Nonprofit PR
Edward Downes, an associate professor of public relations, teaches a course in nonprofit PR. Photo by Katherine Taylor
Three Reasons to Choose Nonprofit PR
Edward Downes on the pros of a nonprofit PR career
Although Edward Downes has climbed the corporate ladder, even spent time on Capitol Hill, when he looks back on his career in PR, it’s his work for two nonprofits—a child welfare organization and food trade association—that has brought him a lot of satisfaction. It’s a lesson that Downes, an associate professor of public relations, brings to COM students through a course he designed on nonprofit PR. He shared the pros of a nonprofit career with COMtalk.
1. Find fulfillment
Downes says that because many nonprofits do humanistic and social services, the work is often very fulfilling. “In the nonprofit arena, you have an opportunity to explore communication management differently and oftentimes find great purpose in what you’re doing.” Many people are drawn to nonprofit PR, he says, because they are looking to further causes that are important to them. “Your life’s work can address the issue—equal rights, hunger, poverty, and more—in which you believe deeply.”
2. Gain valuable experience
Downes says that working in the nonprofit sector imparts valuable, often transferable skills. “At many nonprofits, you can get a lot of experience at a young age so you then have a broad set of skills that you can draw from.” He recalls his own experience working for the nonprofit the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association early in his career. “I was in my mid-20s, and already I was giving speeches before large groups, I was giving radio interviews, I was helping produce videos and I even helped testify before Congress.” Downes says that some of his students who eventually went into nonprofit PR gained a breadth of skills early on—honing their writing skills, managing extensive databases, working on strategic plans—that they then brought to subsequent positions at corporations.
3. Shape your community
“PR professionals working in the nonprofit sector play a vital role in shaping communities’—and the world’s—economic, political, social and cultural climates,” says Downes. He gives students in his class a taste of the diverse communities they can reach by partnering with different nonprofits for case studies and site visits, including Women’s Lunch Place, a Boston-area organization that provides a daytime shelter and meals to women in need; Boston Health Care for the Homeless, a program that works to provide quality healthcare to homeless individuals and families in the Boston area; and Konbit Sante, a Maine-based organization working to help develop a sustainable healthcare system in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti. “Through your work at nonprofits, you are helping to lift up people in your community who are in need.”
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