Articles, Letters, and Other Media for Lay Publication
Articles and letters in the lay media can create awareness of your condition, and that awareness can come back to you in many ways. It can reassure individuals with a connection to your condition but who do not feel the need to actively seek information. It can alert potential members to the existence and contact information for your organization. And it can inform potential donors of expertise and money.
One place to start is the health section of your local metro daily newspaper. Newspapers are responsible for reporting on studies and new treatments and for explaining the impact of legal and scientific news on individuals. They are eager for sources that can share the human dimension of this kind of news, so staying in touch with them—and knowing the kinds of issues relevant to your organization—can yield excellent access to free publicity.
A helpful organization in this vein is www.helpareporter.com. It offers lists of reporters who are looking for sources, with paragraph descriptions of what they want. Some organizations might be able to benefit from answering queries and getting quoted, others might issue them, and still others might find both beneficial. Their slogan is "Get Sourced. Get Quoted. Get Famous: www.helpareporter.com Putting Journalists and Sources together, one quote at a time."
Publicity can lead to donations in many ways: by informing potential donors of your organization, by informing the community about special needs or initiatives of your organization, and by forming materials that can be used in future press kits. Those kits, in turn, can enhance the value of a pitch to a potential donor or sponsor as well as offering your membership ways to share your organization's message and to show the kind of work you are doing.
