Nonprofit organizations do incredible work. But getting the press to notice that work? That’s a different challenge entirely.
Most nonprofit leaders have sent at least one press release into the void. You craft the announcement, hit send, and hear nothing. No coverage. No follow-up. No acknowledgment it was even received.
It’s frustrating. And according to Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases and a press release strategist who has worked with thousands of organizations, it’s almost always fixable.
Tosha sat down with Mickie on a recent episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast to break down what actually goes wrong, and what nonprofit leaders can do to turn their media outreach into results.
The Core Problem: You’re Writing for Yourself, Not for the Journalist
The most common mistake nonprofits make with press releases is writing them from the inside out. You know what matters to your organization. The problem is you’re not writing for your organization. You’re writing for a journalist, and through that journalist, for their audience.
“A journalist is the gatekeeper on behalf of their audience,” Mickie explains. The question they’re always asking is: what information is going to be engaging and useful enough that my audience actually wants to read it?
When a press release doesn’t answer that question clearly, it gets ignored. Not because the work isn’t valuable, but because the pitch doesn’t make the value obvious to someone outside the organization.
Human Interest Is Not Optional
Journalists want stories. Not summaries. Not achievement lists. Stories.
Mickie uses a simple framework: the story arc. Someone had a problem. They encountered something that changed things. Now they’re in a different place. That transformation is what journalists want to write about, and it’s what audiences want to read.
For nonprofits, this means spotlighting individuals. Not just aggregating impact.
“67% of people are in this situation, and we’re addressing that” is too generalized. But “here’s someone we helped, here’s where they started, and here’s where they are now” is a story a journalist can actually work with.
A lot of nonprofits are hesitant to do this. There are real concerns around privacy, and a discomfort with putting individuals in the spotlight. But the point is direct: that individual story is the mechanism that makes people care. It’s worth figuring out how to do it ethically and well.
What Journalists Actually Look For
Beyond the story arc, Mickie identifies a few specific things journalists respond to.
Data points. Numbers add credibility and give journalists something concrete to anchor a story around. If you have relevant statistics, include them.
Strong, specific quotes. This is where most nonprofits fall apart. Press release quotes tend to be written by committee, polished into something safe, and completely forgettable. Mickie offers a useful test: if a journalist could paraphrase your quote without losing anything, the quote isn’t strong enough. The best quotes use active verbs, say something specific, and have a quality that makes paraphrasing feel like a downgrade.
Candid photos. Journalists publishing online know their audiences engage more with real, candid images than with professional headshots. What you take on your phone is often more effective than what you’d get from a polished shoot.
You Don’t Need a Big Budget to Get Started
For small or under-resourced nonprofits, the idea of a PR strategy can feel completely out of reach. Mickie reframes it.
Start by building a Rolodex. In most local markets, there are fewer than ten journalists who would ever write about your organization. Find out who covers nonprofits, human interest stories, or the sector your work touches. Get their contact information. Call if you can’t find it online.
Then pitch them. Not with a formal press release, necessarily. Just a few clear, compelling sentences. Here’s what we’re working on. Here’s why it matters. Here’s the person whose life it’s changing.
Show up consistently. Journalists may not respond to 90% of your pitches. That’s fine. Keep feeding them ideas. Keep making their job easier. Over time, relationships build and coverage follows.
Stop Sending Announcements Nobody Cares About
One category of press release Mickie specifically calls out: the new hire announcement.
Unless you’re announcing a major executive position, that type of release doesn’t rise to the level of media interest that warrants spending money to distribute it. You might send it to a local business publication or a sector trade magazine, but paying for newswire distribution on a standard hire is not a good use of limited nonprofit resources.
The broader principle: if your press release doesn’t have a hook, don’t send it. Or find the hook before you do.
Earned Media Is More Valuable Than You Think
When you do get coverage, what happens next matters just as much as the coverage itself.
Most nonprofits let earned media live in one place, maybe their website, and never leverage it anywhere else. That’s a missed opportunity.
Media coverage is a credibility signal. When donors see it, they feel validated in their decision to give. When wavering donors see it, it can keep them engaged. When staff see it, it can strengthen their connection to the mission.
Share it in your donor communications. Post it on social. Read it at your next team meeting. The coverage you earn should travel through your whole organization, not just sit on a webpage.
The Bigger Issue: Nonprofits Play It Too Safe
There’s a pattern that shows up beyond just press releases. Nonprofits, across their marketing and communications, tend to soften their language. Use cautious phrasing. Avoid anything that might sound controversial.
It’s understandable. Leaders are accountable to boards, donors, funders, and the communities they serve. The risk of saying the wrong thing feels higher than the risk of saying nothing memorable.
But it comes at a cost. Missions that genuinely matter, crises that are genuinely urgent, get communicated in language that doesn’t carry that weight. The press release or the social post or the newsletter goes out, and it doesn’t move anyone because it wasn’t designed to.
If your organization is working on something that really matters, your communications should sound like it.
Where to Start
If you’ve been sending press releases and hearing nothing back, the fix usually comes down to a few things.
Build a short list of local journalists who cover your space. Pitch them regularly with a few focused sentences and a real story. Include a quote that would actually be a loss to paraphrase. Add a candid photo. And when you do get coverage, use it across every channel you have.
That’s not a complicated PR strategy. But it’s the real one.
Mickie Kennedy is the founder of eReleases. Nonprofits can learn more at CauseWire.com, which offers national press release distribution at a significantly reduced cost for smaller organizations.
Connect With Mickie Kennedy
🌐 Website: https://www.ereleases.com/causewire/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/publicity/
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