The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) encourages global public relations and strategic communications professionals to leverage a new social media promotion spotlighting the power of strategic, local charitable giving and volunteerism in the wake of COVID-19, created (pro-bono) by a PRCA-member firm in the United States.
East Tennessee Foundation (ETF) – a community foundation serving 25 Tennessee counties and a pro-bono client of Fletcher Marketing PR – launched #COVIDgiveWhereYouLive in recent days, while announcing a major donation to a community non-profit that helps prevent homelessness.
The hashtag messaging effort urges corporations, PR firms and individuals to share their local charitable giving or volunteerism success story that helps address coronavirus-related health or economic needs in local communities.
Fletcher CEO Kelly Fletcher MPRCA, said:
“Charitable organizations worldwide that serve vulnerable populations in local communities are among the most hard-hit by the current crisis, because as donation budgets to NGOs are among the first to be cut with the economic side of this crisis, the overwhelming community demand for charities’ services is also spiking.
“We want to share the #COVIDgiveWhereYouLive platform more broadly, for other companies across the world to share their charitable-giving and volunteerism success story, whether on their own behalf or – in the case of PR firms – for their clients.
“Not every company or individual can give a monetary donation right now, but in-kind donations and certainly volunteer service also make a tremendous impact in local communities that are scrambling for resources.
“For example, we’ve seen many individuals help sew masks and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) – in compliance with physical distancing guidelines – to help their local community healthcare personnel stay protected during supply shortages.”
PRCA Director General General Francis Ingham MPRCA, said:
“Our 35,000 members across the global public relations industry are ideally suited and highly qualified to use their powers of strategic engagement and community outreach for good, as our world fights through this global pandemic.
“We encourage use of #COVIDgiveWhereYouLive to spotlight the full range of success stories that promote charitable giving and community philanthropy, with the power of public relations leading the way as a driving force.”
Fletcher added:
“The self-empowerment that results when companies and employees give to charities or volunteer time during a high-stress crisis is also uplifting from a mental-wellness perspective.
“We all can use more of that inspiration!”
Consider including the #COVIDgiveWhereYouLive hashtag anywhere in social media that a charitable giving or volunteerism success story is shared.
