<nettime-ann> CFP: Third Sector Review: Nonprofit Communication

[Craig Bellamy <craig.bellamy@kcl.ac.uk>]

.
*Call for Papers*

*Third Sector Review, Volume 14, No 2, 2008, Special Issue:*


 */Nonprofit Communication/*

*Theme Editor: Roumen Dimitrov*

The communication environment of nonprofit organisations has changed 
dramatically. Globalisation, deregulation and privatisation processes 
have prompted organisations to resort more and more often to 
professional communicators. Resource-rich organisations increasingly 
employ internally and hire externally media, marketing, advertising and 
public relations experts. Governments on all levels (the “first sector”) 
strengthen their communication prowess gradually; businesses (the 
“second sector”) do it exponentially. Only few decades ago, political 
mediators, who conveyed the organisations’ messages to a variety of 
publics, were locked mainly in government bureaus and party rooms. 
Today, they have spread across all sectors of the globalised and yet 
further fragmented society. As public speakers, moderators and 
translators from a myriad of private interests, values and discourses 
into the language of the public sphere, their importance grows by the day.

How do nonprofit organisations (the bulk of the “third sector”) respond 
to the challenges of this new communication environment? How do they 
cope with the mounting competition, including among themselves, for the 
scarce resource of public attention and media publicity – the “oxygen” 
of the civil society? To what effect does the professionalisation of 
communication lead in a sector that essentially defines itself as 
voluntary, non-professional? Do the vast majority of nonprofits, which 
are resource-poor, have alternative options, which could possibly offset 
the advantages of the few big and wealthy agencies? How successful are 
the new communication strategies and tactics that the nonprofit groups 
employ in response? Who are the winners and who the losers in this 
contest? What are the ultimate lessons learned?

The following gives some indication of the range of possible topics, but 
is not intended to rule out other questions.

   * /Mapping nonprofit communication:/ What interdisciplinary mixes
     and new approaches could sharpen theory and research of nonprofit
     communication?
   * /Nonprofits as news-sources:/ What are the new strategies to build
     media/cultural capital and shape the nonprofit organisation as a
     reliable, sought-after subsidiary for journalist news?
   * /Communicating voluntarism: /How does communication relate to the
     recent change in the patterns of giving, where time (mutuality) is
     down and money (donations) is up?
   * /Going online:/ How do e-advocacy and e-campaigning facilitate
     and/or impede the mobilisation leverage of nonprofits?
   * /Expertise for nonprofits:/ Can community organisations make use
     of communication expertise in areas such as marketing, advertising
     and public relations?
   * /New alliances:/ How successful are the new alliances such as
     online “networks of networks”, academia engaged in community
     advocacy, and joint ventures between agencies and businesses?
   * /Grassroots communication:/ Do professional skills contradict
     voluntary engagement?
   * /Pro-active accountability:/ Can organisational reports serve as a
     tool to attract larger and better targeted publics?
   * /Learning from the future: /What is the future of nonprofit
     communication? Are there recent campaign cases in areas such as
     advocacy, social services, fundraising and representation, which
     may probably flag new directions and developments?

Papers should be between 4,000-6,000 words in length, double-spaced in 
Times New Roman, 12 pt, with 2.5cm margins. Please include a brief (100 
word) abstract and 3-5 key words. As papers are blind reviewed please 
indicate your name and affiliation on a separate page.

Please send submissions by email attachment to

Theme Editor

Dr Roumen Dimitrov

r.dimitrov@uws.edu.au <mailto:r.dimitrov@uws.edu.au>

Abstracts should be sent to the theme editor by 1 August 2007.

Following proposal assessments, papers for refereeing will be required 
by 1 November 2007, with any revisions to be completed by 1 March 2008.

/Third Sector Review/ is explicitly cross-disciplinary, with both 
theoretical and empirical papers invited from a range of disciplines and 
fields of practice. Critiques of existing theory or practice are 
invited. Contributions are encouraged from both practitioners and 
academics. For Australian academic authors, /TSR/ is a DEST recognised 
journal.


_______________________________________________
nettime-ann mailing list
nettime-ann@nettime.org
http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-ann