August 2000

Publicity—A Double-Edged Sword

Animal-welfare organizations also find that publicity can have a negative side. Although it can stimulate contributions, it frequently increases demands on the nonprofit as well. Jo Anne Normile is president of the Communication Alliance to Network Thoroughbred Ex-Racehorses (CANTER), a Plymouth, Michigan, organization that finds homes for retired racehorses that otherwise would be slaughtered. She describes the situation CANTER is facing:

This year numerous national magazines have written articles on this unique Michigan based program and CANTER is proud to announce the addition of new programs operating in other racing states. Within the last three months we have added a CANTER in Illinois, a CANTER of West Virginia, a CANTER in Minnesota and in the starting gate is a CANTER in Ohio. Inquiries from other racing states are received on nearly a daily basis.

That's the good news for our nation's racehorses but unfortunately the sudden interest in the program means three times as many horses being processed through the program yet we are operating on a 1999 budget. Fundraising at this critical time of explosive expansion is our deepest concern.

Other nonprofits report the same problem. Nicholas Carter of Border Collie Rescue notes, "Though the demand for adopting a dog has increased, so have the requests to relinquish dogs to our care." According to Ann Seidner, Cats Exclusive is "receiving many phone calls from people who want to surrender cats. We have a waiting list and try to coax the people into keeping the cat until we have room." Richard Hoyle says that Mini-Pigs "has been featured in newspapers, magazines and on the local television stations out of Washington, DC. The result has been an increase in the number of calls we get to rescue or take in pet pigs, but virtually no offers of support."

Publicity has generated an additional difficulty for Border Collie Rescue. Carter explains, "Because of the success of our program and the international attention it has garnered in the media, we have acquired a small group of personal critics of our program that have spent a great deal of time trying to inhibit our progress. Combating false rumors and negative opinions concerning our organization is not a task that we were expecting to encounter in our growth, nor one that we are particularly fond of addressing. Time spent battling false accusations and rumors could be better spent on something far more important—helping Border Collies in need."