Communications and Public Relations Committee Report
The communication world is exploding across the globe – 80% of the globe now boasts satellite coverage, with another 15% expected soon. Previously geographically isolated illiterate communities are now cell phone savvy. Social media is a vital component of revolutionizing political landscapes as witnessed in North Africa, the Middle East and beyond. Facebook, the 3rd largest global community, is growing 170 times faster than the fastest growing country in the world. Twitter and tweeting are common terms and practices, especially among the youth and young adults. News goes viral in a matter of seconds, reaching the masses instantaneously. Consequently, expertise in communications for the growth of our foundation and fulfillment of our mission and vision is considered a critical component in our advancement as an international foundation.
Given our desire to raise awareness of KBNF and our project work, we have focused primarily on maintaining a dynamic website, aimed at providing a minimum of three news features, articles and announcements weekly. AHA Creative Strategies, our public relations firm, has been exemplary in ensuring we continue to submit current material. Importantly, many valuable contacts and donations are now arising from our website.
Facebook beginnings commenced earlier this year. Attention to target audiences and having enough worthwhile material daily to keep the reader keenly interested will be a focus of 2012.
This past year, KBNF acquired media attention through an unrelated foundation circumstance that was handled expertly by our PR firm, AHA Creative Strategies. KBNF received admiration and support for the expert handling of the media. We now have developed a proactive media policy for future media enquiries. Media training, provided by AHA, is anticipated this year for KBNF spokespersons.
Over the past 12 years, KBNF has made thousands of contacts and keeping track of everyone has been a mammoth challenge. Bonita Ma and Christina Chiu assisted with updating the North American Ghanaian Church lists this past summer. The communications team has been revising the master database of contacts for the purpose of advancing donor and member involvement. This tedious task is ongoing and we anticipate that with the implementation of DonorPerfect, a fundraising software system, the task of maintaining the contact list will be streamlined. Much appreciation goes to Norm Glass, Anne Brozenski and Jocelyne Lapointe for their faithful master contact upkeep over the last several years.
Jocelyne, as KBNF Board Secretary, continues to manage the KBNF information account, info@kbnf.org, from Ghana. Christina Chiu, KBNF Executive Assistant, is now receiving all KBNF phone calls and managing administrative matters. She can be reached at christina@kbnf.org. Previously, KBNF executive members managed all email communications through personal email accounts. Recently, three kbnf.org accounts have been established for executive members.
KBNF administrative business cards have been redesigned that harmonize the KBNF brand, and letterhead will soon be available produced in a complementary style.
Christina Chiu joined KBNF in late January as our Executive Assistant, and has embraced a key role in liaising between the executive, members, AHA, stakeholders and the community at large. As KBNF grows, we are indebted to her service in skillfully managing – often times – high volume communication workload.
Recognizing the critical role communications will play in the year(s) to come, we continue to pursue excellence in all facets of communications and in the utilization of communication tools, with the ultimate goal being to raise the human, material and financial resources for critical health care needs in Ghana and West Africa.
A deep heartfelt thank you for the sound and faithful leadership of Derek Agyapong-Poku over the past year. Also, another thank you to Ruth Atherley and Paul Holman of AHA Creative Strategies, for their wise counsel, patience, superb work ethic, and gracious consultant service.
