There’s excitement brewing at CCMC as the second edition of Strategic Communications for Nonprofits becomes available in early October 2008.  

Four of CCMC’s co-founders wrote the book. Our experience goes back to the days when you had to be sure to set out plenty of ashtrays at a news conference! Hack!

Of course, I was just a pup back then. But even old dogs and learn, and teach, new tricks. To give just on example, nowadays many nonprofits skip the classic stand-up news conference altogether in favor of conference calls with relevant documents and presentations on the Web.  Save trees and wear and tear on all concerned.

The book’s first edition has been in print continuously since 1999, in large part because it is a nuts-and-bolts handbook that covers every facet of communications -- from the basics, such as building a media list, to advanced techniques for conducting TV interviews and reaching reporters in a crisis.

The new edition is greatly revised and expanded to reflect the revolution in communications brought on by the Internet.

Aside this radical re-definition of what is news and who is a journalist,  communications used to be a hard sell to funders and to group leadership. Now it’s built in. Beyond strategy, it’s really become part of the culture of any effective nonprofit organization.