FPRA - Florida Public Relations Association Blog

Since community relations are an aspect of the services we provide as public relations professionals, I’d prefer to call our philanthropic efforts community involvement. Financial contributions are certainly part of community involvement, and many boards require an annual monetary “give or get,” but I’d rather talk about the time and talent aspect of volunteerism.

Community involvement is at the core of our business philosophy at Pecora & Blexrud. Almost 20 years ago, when Ron Pecora founded then Pecora & Pecora, his long involvement and leadership of the Coalition for the Homeless had already established significant relationships in the community. Ron followed his Coalition tenure with long-term positions of leadership with Seniors First, the Orlando Housing Authority, United Way, and currently, the Winter Park Health Foundation.

Ron learned early on that philanthropy is good for business. His time and talent commitment to the community has paid off exponentially in business dividends. In the book The Greater Good: How Philanthropy Drives the American Economy and Can Save Capitalism, author Claire Gaudiani says, “It’s not that Americans have been generous because we’re rich, she argues; we’re rich because we have been generous.”

Community Involvement Starts Early

When we interview new employees, we stress that we want them to be involved in the community. We consider FPRA as a springboard for community involvement. That’s why so many of our young account executives are involved in this organization. Beyond FPRA, we like to spread out our involvement in the community. There’s no reason to have three or four employees on the same board of directors. We do more good for the community and our business if we are strategically placed around the region.

Here are the criteria we’ve established for involvement.

• Choose something that you have a deep and abiding interest in. You won’t do your best philanthropic work if you’re on the SPCA board and you hate dogs and cats. Account Executive Justine Jenkins is on both UCF and Valencia Alumni Association boards because of her love for her alma maters, and Account Executive Rachel Kingston, as obnoxious a Gator Fan as you’d ever want to meet, is involved with Florida Citrus Sports.

• Evaluate the organization’s current board of directors. Can you bring unique talents that currently don’t exist on the board? Does the board already have several public relations people on it? Is there a company represented on the board that P&B would like to have on our client list?

• Make sure that the board learns quickly how your involvement can enrich their organization. For instance, I am a new board member for the Central Florida Kidney Centers, and I recently had the opportunity to provide assistance with marketing new doctors to the facility by writing new brochure copy that emphasized the strengths of the organization and tapping the Economic Development Commission for relocation packages.

• Beyond the public relations capabilities you bring to the table, what can you learn that will expand your business experiences? For instance, I once served on the finance committee for my church and subsequently received a great education on budget balancing.

• Head for a leadership position. Buell Duncan, former president of SunTrust, once told me that there’s no reason to be on a board unless you’re heading for a position of leadership. Achieving leadership positions, according to Ron Pecora, are how relationships are created.

• Engage other employees in brainstorming sessions for your board involvement and support each other’s efforts. For instance, our Office Manager, Linda Knight, is on the board of Executive Women International (EWI), and we support drives that her organization holds for business suits for women re-entering the workforce and recently, for used eyeglasses.

• Look for opportunities to bring board members to your place of business. For example, Senior Vice President Beth Cocchiarella has hosted the New Hope for Kids board at our offices for lunch.

• Look for board opportunities that enhance your client relationships. Candy Crawford, who recently joined our firm as a senior vice president, just went on the board of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. Candy’s love of music makes her a natural for this board, but since the Orlando Performing Arts Center is a client of ours, she is also in a good position to understand the needs of the orchestra as they relate to a new performing arts center.

That’s the criteria we use for our employees’ community involvement, but we also assist our clients with their community participation, employing essentially the same criteria. A primary example, and an overwhelming success story, was the program we designed for clients Bowyer-Singleton & Associates and the Homebuilders’ Association of Mid-Florida. The mentoring program we created for Mollie Ray Elementary School, in conjunction with our clients and P&B volunteerism, raised this “F” school to “A” status in two short years and was the subject of four Orlando Sentinel editorials and significant other positive local news coverage. This program also garnered the 2004 “Children Must Count” award in the Community Partnerships category from the Orange County Citizens’ Commission for Children.

Quantifying Success: Return on Investment

I’m already going to assume that you’re making a significant impact on the organization you’ve chosen to serve philanthropically. I’m sure they’re glad to have your expertise, and I know you feel great about your contributions to their success.

Quantifying success of your philanthropic efforts in terms of the business it creates is another matter…much like quantifying the public relations programs you conduct for your company and/or clients. In other words, it’s difficult to quantify, but the proof’s as substantial as a solid dollar figure in the relationships that you establish in the community and beyond.

At Pecora & Blexrud, how do we like to get work? There’s a simple answer to that question. We like to answer a phone call from a fellow board member who says she’s recommending us, and only us, to a new business coming to town. That’s how we quantify success.

I think the following quote from Henry Luce III sums it up. “Those two classic rivals, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, were right to agree that the ‘pursuit of happiness’ is America’s key value. To this end, profit for profit’s sake may well be less important to America than profit for philanthropy’s sake.”

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Susan Blexrud is Executive Vice President of Pecora & Blexrud.