How can philanthropists communicate their impact to the media?

The media can have a biais towards quantitative results and therefore providing evidence of success can be a first step. However, the aim is to nurture the relations with quality-oriented media to develop narratives with higher human value.

Identify Media Outlets' Focus: Research and target media outlets that align with your philanthropic goals and their audience's interests. Customize Your Message: Adapt your impact stories to resonate with each outlet's audience's specific demographics, interests, and concerns. Use Accessible Language: Avoid jargon and use relatable and understandable language to the general public. Highlight Relevant Impact: Emphasize aspects of your work that directly address the issues and causes significant to the audience. Engage with Audience Queries: Be open to feedback and questions from the media audience to foster engagement and deeper understanding.

Philanthropists can communicate their impact to the media by leveraging social media, traditional media, showcasing impact to donors, and utilising new media technologies. These strategies help philanthropists reach a wider audience, share their impact stories effectively, and inspire others to support their causes.

As institutional storytellers, our team balances the impact of a gift or contributions with the story of the people behind the gift - the philanthropists. Giving is a personal act that is generally aligned with and fueled by values, vision and beliefs. This part of the story can inspire others to give and also inform audiences about why someone chooses to be generous and share. Impact, however, can be concretely described with data and stories by answering: what happened? How is the world different because of this philanthropic effort? What is now possible because of this generous act. There is real inspiration in seeing the direct effect of a gift on people and communities, which is essential to share when describing impact.

Please pitch reporters like an actual person. I write a normal email like I would to someone I work with or need to start working with and include a link to the pitched content. 90%+ of emails reporters get are bad ai copy jobs pasted in an email. If you act like a human, because you are one, immediately your email stands out. Do you ever reply to those spammy emails you get? No, you don’t. Reporters feel very much the same. People naturally ignore or automatically delete anything that even seems spammy.

A while back, while working for a philanthropic foundation, I provided a select group of journalists and influencers with exclusive access to behind-the-scenes insights. It was a fantastic experience! They had the opportunity to conduct interviews with key stakeholders and benefit from exclusive coverage opportunities. This collaboration led to the development of trust-based, long-term partnerships, and significantly amplified the foundation's message. Following this positive experience, these journalists and influencers sought exclusive coverage, adding valuable content and enhancing the foundation's credibility even further.