Public Relations of Sight Savers - Research Paper Example

? Public relations Methodology The study on Sight Savers is both exploratory and descriptive. The research seeks to describe the internal operation of the organization and determine the possible sources of funds for the organization how it uses its money and how the prevailing circumstances in the society affects its daily operations. It is understandable that charity organizations exist to better the society. They are non-profit organizations whose sole mandate is to specialize in the delivery of aid in a single sector and ensure that it sustains itself for the entire period that it seeks to be in operation. The non-profit generating aspect implies that such organizations do not make profit or gain financial benefit from their operations. The structures of such organization are simple enough to include only the donor and the benefactors. Such organizations therefore act as the link between the willing donors and the needy members of the society (Grunig, 1992). The key mandates of such organizations are to identify the sector of the society that requires aid, fairly identify their beneficiaries without bias and to solicit funding to run the projects they seek to operate in. charity organizations survive mainly on donations from well wishers, this therefore implies that the organizations must uphold credible reputation in the society. The reputation built by such organizations must border on credibility and effective financial management and transparency. Exploratory studies simply espouses on the structure of the organization as it is and further tries to analyze how both internal and external factors affect the organizations service delivery. In collecting data, the research uses a number of data collection methods key among which include the use of questionnaire. Questionnaires are lists of structured questions answered by the respondents and later analyzed by the researcher. Questionnaires are more advantageous in this study since they are convenient. Most of the respondents in the study are employees of the firm and are therefore busy in most of the occasions, they thus can never afford time, the researcher therefore simply mails theme the questionnaires, which they answer at their convenience and mail back the completed questionnaires to the researcher for further analysis (Clow & Baack, 2010). Additionally, the research employed the use of interview as a means of data collection. This was largely used on the available respondents. Interviews unlike the questionnaires are more comprehensive. The researcher through the follow up questions asks for clarifications, which constitute a greater source of information. Furthermore gives the interviewee an opportunity to observe the body language of a respondent, the body movements are never concrete source of information as one would be compelled to allude to the possible conclusion but such are of essence in this study especially being an exploratory research. The body language is further analyzed and from them the interviewer asks the follow up questions. Observations are an additional method of data collection that the research intensively employs. The structure and the operations of the organization form a great part of the research process. An integral observation of the daily operations of the organization and the effects of both the internal and external factors are keenly observed to help come up with the conclusion part of the research. Observations gets subjective at times but with the complement of the other methods of data collection, the shortfalls of any one data collection method are overcome and the research ends up with an exhaustive data that if effectively analyzed gives the internal operations and the role of public relations in charity organization (Guild & Saxton, 2011). Result analysis The research findings were varied, government emerged as the greatest source of funding for Sight Savers with an annual allocation of three million pounds. The second greatest source of funding for this charity organization is the philanthropic citizens and corporate organizations. In the year 20011, Barclays bank invested five hundred thousand pounds on the eye treatment program in the larger Wales region (Barclays. 2012). This was the greatest donation in the history of the organization from a single corporate organization. Other great corporate donors include Standard Chattered Bank, Etihad Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Coca coal, Procter and Allan, Bill and Belinda Gates foundation and P & G group among many others. Citizens through individual donations also help raise a sizable amount of money capable of running the activities of the organization for a given period. However, the donations from the corporate societies and members of the public are never guaranteed and cannot therefore e be effectively budgeted for until they are collected. From the above findings from the research result it became evident that every policy or occurrences that affect the financial stability of the corporate organizations and members of the public affects the funding for the charity organization. The global financial crunch of the year 2009 affected a number of corporate organizations thereby affecting the public. In this year the organization collected an e=average of five million pounds in the entire year. This was the smallest amount of money ever collected in the history of the organization it thus compelled the management to cut their spending and reduce their coverage. Conclusion The organization has a number of key stakeholders all of whom are affected by the financial situation in the larger economy of the country. The organization depends largely on the type of relationship it forms with the rest of the society. To gain acceptance from the public, the organization ensures that its presence is felt by the very needy in the society. The organization has over two hundred employees both employed and volunteers, all these are effectively remunerated and are always in the best mental state to carry the duties of the organization truthfully and with integrity. Lack of integrity and mismanagement of finances is the key cause of lack of trust by the public and corporate organizations, a feature that can possibly result in the dissolution of an organization (Davis, 2007). The government is the greatest source of finance for the Sight Savers, the money from the government is guaranteed and can therefore be budgeted for unlike the money collected from the public and other well wishers. To guarantee the financial support of the government, the organization must maintain an effective working relationship with the government. This it achieves by letting government official accesses its financial books and scrutinize the financial management of the non-profit organization. The organization heavily relies on other corporate organizations to roll out some of its activities. It is therefore compulsory that it maintains a god relationship with most of these to secure such partnerships as it did with the Barclays bank, such projects reduces the organization’s spending thereby enabling it to impact many lives within a short period. In brief, the viability of charity organization entirely depends on its public relations with the public, government, and corporate organizations among other key stakeholders (Deloitte, 2011). Sample questionnaire How many programs can the organization roll out in a month? …………………………. What is the average cost of such? …………………………………………… Which are the sources of funding for the organization? .................................... On an average how much does each contribute in a year…………………………… How does the organization ensure financial efficacy? ……………............ How does the organization hire its employees? ………………………………… How many employees does the organization currently have? ………………….. Bibliography Barclays. 2012. UK Charities: Sector outlook Third quarter 2012, available at: http://www.business.barclays.co.uk/BBB/A/Content/Files/Charities_Outlook_Q4.pdf (accessed on: 30/11/12). Charity Comission .2008. Going Green: Charities and Environmental Responsibility, available at: http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Library/guidance/rs17text.pdf (accessed on 30/11/12). Clow, K. E., & Baack, D. 2010. Integrated Advertising, Promotion and Marketing Communication. 4th Edition, London: Pearson. Davis, A. 2007. Mastering Public Relations, 2nd Edition, Palgrave, London. Deloitte. 2011. Internal Audit for Charities and Non-Profit Organisations, available at: http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom UnitedKingdom/Local%20Assets/Documents/Industries/uk-charities-internal-audit.pdf (accessed on 30/11/12). Guild, M. & Saxton, J. 2011. The socio-economic trends affecting charities today, available at: http://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/library/look-nfpsynergy-have-done-my-pest analysis/ (accessed on 20/11/12). Grunig J.E, .1992. Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence, Erlbaum. Kim, JN, et. al. 2008. Breaking Down the Stakeholder Environment, in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. Lerbinger, O.1977. ‘Corporate use of Reseasrch in Public Relations’, in Public Relations Review, volume 3, issue 4. Watson, T. 2012. The Evolution of Public Relations Measurement and Evaluation, in Public Relations Review, number 38. Appendices Table 1 Research Design 1 DEFINING A RESEARCH PROBLEM (WHAT) A RESEARCH PROBLEM IS THE FOCUS OF THE STUDY. IT REFERS TO WHAT THE STUDY SEEKS TO FIND OUT CHOOSING A METHOD- QUANTITATIVE AND /OR QUALITATIVE (HOW) SELECTING THE RESAERCH METHODOLOGY DEPENDS ON THE NATURE OF THE RSEARCH. THE ANTICIPATED RESULTS ALSO INFLUENCE IT SELECTING A SPECIFIC RESAERCH APPROACH (SURVEY, OBSERVATION, FOCUS GOUP, INTERVIEW) IN CHOSING A SPECIFIC METHOD OF DOING RESEARCH, FOCUS IS ON THE ANTICIAPTE RESULTS, MARGIN OF ACCURACY, AND RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR THE RESAERCH AGREEING RESAERCH INSTRUMENTS (WHAT QUESTIONS YOU WILL BE ASKING) QUESTIONS ASKED SHOULD SEEK/ CONFORM TO THE RESAERCH OBJECTIVE ANALYTICS THESE ENETAIL THE STATISTICAL AND INTERPRETATIVE MECHANISMS USED IN THE RESEARCH HOW TO MEASURE SUCCESS SUCCESS IS MEASURED, IN A RESEARCH, AS A COMPARISON TO THE NULL HYPOTHESES Table 2 WHY SITUATIONAL AUDIT Categories of Research Scope of Research Environmental monitoring Issues and trends in public opinion Issues in mass media (and new media) Social events that may impact on your organization Competitor communication analysis Public Relations audit Assess an organization’s analysis Communication Audits All internal and external communication consistency & thematic analysis Specific audit Social audits Social performance (CSR?) Table 3 QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES Quantitative approaches Content analysis and surveys General results that can be compared Results can be generalized Easier to conduct & complete Limited by structure of questions (yes/no binaries) and likert scales Qualitative Approaches In depth interviews and focus groups Useful for insights and motivations Explore unknowns and unpredictable behavior Time heavy Can be expensive Qualified researchers Limited generalization Read More