Cultural Groups Lead Nonprofits in Media Attention, Survey Shows

Title: “Mediamarks 2017"

Organization: M+R

Summary: Large nonprofits got an average of two media hits a week in 2016, or about 103 newspaper articles, radio segments, or similar media mentions during the course of the year — a rate consistent with coverage in 2015.

Cultural organizations drew the most media attention, driven in part by the number of museum openings in 2016, according to the annual study by marketing firm M+R. Social-service groups got the least coverage.

The survey, which M+R inaugurated last year, was based on an analysis of coverage of 50 nonprofits with annual budgets of at least $50 million, selected at random from The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Philanthropy 400 rankings. It assessed coverage by 50 regional, national, and international print, broadcast, and online news outlets.

Among the findings:

• Some things that consistently brought nonprofits coverage were the release of timely or signature reports and the pitching of stories during disasters and humanitarian emergencies such as the Syrian refugee crisis.
• Newspapers did the most coverage of nonprofits.
• Coverage of nonprofits by broadcasters and magazines shrank in 2016, which the study’s authors attributed to media focus on the presidential election.
• Increased public awareness of a nonprofit’s cause or activity was the biggest outcome of media hits, with fundraising and policy changes lagging far behind.
• Regarding social media, health organizations led the pack with an average of 6,111 public shares on Facebook per article, likely due to the consumer-friendly nature of the content.
• Some characteristics of nonprofit-related articles heavily shared on social media include mentions of now-President Donald Trump, listicles, investigative pieces, and positive “good news” themes.
• January is the slowest month for media hits, with nonprofits seeing an average of just four in the first month of 2016.