Family foundations are known for giving back to communities, supporting nonprofit organizations and individuals through grantmaking and significant financial support. This support in turn provides grounding for grantee organizations and individuals to operate and better provide services to their communities. Many family foundations also simply help elevate the names and work of their grantees. Enter public relations (PR) for family foundations, something we Fearey know well.
Here are three ways that family foundations leverage public relations to assist their grantees:
1. Boost grantees’ credibility and visibility: PR about a Foundation’s grantmaking activities help boots grantees’ awareness in the communities they serve.
This includes highlighting grantees and their success stories on the foundation’s blog or social media channels, through marketing collateral such as brochures, or videos about the foundation’s work. One common practice of family foundations is dedicating landing pages online to illustrate the impact of grantees, as seen on the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation’s “Partners in the Spotlight” page. These combined marketing efforts connect the foundation and its grantees, highlighting the partnerships solidarity and amplifying the stories and missions of those they fund.
2. Illustrates their values and attracts like-minded organizations: Public relations helps family foundations illustrate intentions and communicate their values, all while highlighting grantees doing work related to those values.
In the process of using PR to tell stories, a family foundation communicates its values to the rest of the world. A family’s core values and beliefs are woven into the brand messaging of the foundation. Public relations tactics can often help communicate those values and attract other potential grantees and partners, as is the case with these mission videos from The Ford Family Foundation and The Russell Family Foundation.
The Russell Family Foundation: We Are Listening.
Values are also reflected in the types of giving by a foundation.
3. Assists grantees with their own unique goals: Public relations helps family foundations report on results and announce grant awards and recruit future grant applications and potential awardees.
Private family foundations’ grants are publicly viewable, yet no matter how available this grant information may be, public relations can help spread the word even more. Through an integrated media plan, a family foundation can leverage PR to distribute press releases and advisories to members of the media and can complement it with targeted social media promotion around it.
As grantees’ visibility is boosted throughout the media, other individuals and organizations may be funneled to the grantees’ websites or future events to learn more about the grantees themselves. These announcements pique curiosity about the grantees. If a grantee is doing important and interesting work to be awarded funds to continue their mission, many members of the public will want to learn more about that grantee. On another level, if a nonprofit is looking for more funds, that organization might be able to seek out and apply for applications from an organization focusing funding on issues and values that align with their own.
Public relations can help family foundations take a humble yet impactful approach to their communication strategies. What starts as an independent giving institution with funds to award mission-driven folks can evolve into a foundation with a platform to help amplify its grantees’ mission and impact.