Why the slow death of print journalism is bad for nonprofits

If you are involved with a nonprofit you might think ‘why do I care if local newspapers are slowly becoming extinct?’ I live in a major Florida city that has seen dramatic cuts to the daily newspaper staff this year. It has reached the point where it is seriously impacting the newspaper’s ability to cover local news and forget about investigative journalism.

So why should nonprofits care? Because coverage in the local newspaper is a great way to reach the typical nonprofit donor. Newspaper readers are older and they tend to have more time to volunteer and more money to donate. Also, not all older citizens participate in social networks so it may be difficult to reach them with those type of media marketing tools. Finally, local television news tends to follow that old adage ‘if it bleeds, it leads.” So, unless your nonprofit is in major trouble you can expect minimal television coverage.

In addition to the news coverage of your nonprofit, your organization should be concerned that there will be less and less coverage of the issues that have created the need for your organization. Therefore nonprofits will have to do more education with potential donors on why their organization is important to the quality of life in the community.

I guess I’m showing my age. I’m an old-time newspaper junkie. In college at Rutgers I used to read three newspapers on Sunday – (The New Brunswick Home News, The Newark Star-Ledger, and The New York Times). I still have to have a paper The New York Times on Sunday to complete my day. It’s sad that an industry that contributes to the general well-being of the community by serving as a non-biased review of the day’s issues is dying.

Rethinking the charitable deduction

A recent New York Times business section article probably put fear into the heart of every nonprofit executive director. The headline in the Richard H. Thaler article was “It’s Time to Rethink The Charity Deduction.” This is certainly something to consider as it is the end of the calendar year when people might be thinking about how to reduce their taxes by making a charitable donation.

But is that really why people give – to lessen their tax burden?

The article goes on to explain why the current system of tax deductions isn’t fair because it amounts to a subsidy for the rich since many people who donate to charity don’t itemize their taxes and can’t take the deduction.

While I sympathize with the concerns of many nonprofits about funding, I don’t really believe that people give a significant amount of money because of the tax burden. They may give some but they really give because of the connection they have with the nonprofit’s people and the nonprofit’s cause.

Changes in the tax code will mean that nonprofits will have to revise some of their campaigns but it is an opportunity to look seriously at a marketing plan that achieves brand awareness and makes the all important emotional connection.