There are more than 1.2 million nonprofits in the US and, Art Feinglass notes, "all need good PR."
His new handbook serves as a primer on basic PR skills, but does little to offer experienced pros with an understanding of nonprofits' specific PR needs.
All would be better served if the author, who teaches PR as an adjunct professor at NYU and has his own New York firm, provided a deeper understanding of the specific needs and issues of the nonprofit world.
How does management differ from for-profits? How do you work with the development office? How do you educate unsophisticated nonprofits on the media, many who no longer treat them as sacred cows?
It is also disappointing that the book doesn't address the significant differences between the PR needs of small social service agencies with virtually no money for PR and major nonprofits with budgets that rival those of some corporations.
The nonprofit field can use a good textbook. This isn't it.
Title The Public Relations Handbook for Nonprofits
Author Art Feinglass
Publisher John Wiley & Sons (May 2005), 311 pages
Reviewed by Barry Wanger, Wanger Associates
