Each year the Los Angeles Chapter of PRSA (PRSA-LA) offers a grant to nonprofit organizations to support the development of marketing materials and to conduct public awareness of their programs and services. Each year some 35-40 grant requests are submitted, but the Chapter is only able to support one nonprofit a year with this grant. In an effort to give back to the Los Angeles community and provide assistance to nonprofit organizations that might otherwise not have the funds for this type of service “Quality Time With PR Minds,” a free one-day event for nonprofits that provides pro-bono consultation in public relations and marketing, was created on behalf of PRSA-LA. The first event was held on October 30, 2004, with 40 public relations professionals offering consultations to 20 nonprofit organizations including California Black Women’s Health Project, PATH (People Assisting the Homeless), Eisner Pediatric & Family Medical Center and Padres Contra el Cancer as well as many others. In 2005, we had two “Quality Time” events, both sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, which more than 80 nonprofit organizations attended and during which 140 public relations professionals donated their time. These organizations represented such important community services as support for the homeless and hungry, medical services for the underserved and disabled, and education services for various ethnic communities in Los Angeles. In 2006 we held our fourth Quality Time event at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, CA with 35 nonprofits and 85 PR volunteers in attendance. In 2007 we had 15 nonprofits and 45 PR professionals representing community services, arts and education programs. Some of the nonprofits in attendance included: Center for Lifelong Learners, New Directions for Youth, Hands 4 Hope, People Assisting the Homeless, Shane’s Inspiration and WriteGirl. This year’s event was held at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica on October 11, 2008 and included 32 nonprofits and 55 PR professionals. Some of the nonprofits in attendance included American Red Cross, Chrysalis, United Way, Special Olympics, LA Commons, Watts Learning Center, Hispanic Outreach Taskforce, Blood Bank of San Bernardino, Black Women for Wellness, Open Paths Counseling Center, Catholic Charities, Koreatown Youth & Community Center, House of Ruth, Tavis Smiley Foundation, Inside Out Community Arts and many others. Each nonprofit who attended was so grateful for the time and attention – here’s what a few of them had to say:
“Thank you! It was a wonderful event and I truly enjoyed it. The specialists were great!” “Thank you so much for including Special Olympics Southern California as part of your PR day. I met some really creative people and reconnected with some PR folks I haven’t seen in years. This is a wonderful service that PRSA provides and I would recommend it to any nonprofit who needs to find ways to connect with their constituents and donors.” “Thank you so much for organizing a fabulous day - I am still downloading all the information and leads shared - the PR minds were very generous in giving...from suggestions to contacts, we look forward and will be sure to share the results of our session.” “Oh, thank YOU!!!!!!!! It was an incredible experience, and I thank you so much for all the work you did to put that together. A million thanks!” “I brought two Board members from Connections For Children. Both of them thought the event was very worthwhile and did get a lot out of it. I was very impressed with both groups that we met with. We are putting together our notes and moving forward with the ideas we got from the event. We hope that you will invite us again next year. And thank you for bringing together such a wonderful and well needed event.”
The 2009 Quality Time With PR Minds event has not yet been scheduled, but the annual event is typically held each October. If you have any questions, please contact Quality Time Founder & Creator Dawn Wilcox at .
