[csaa-forum] Nonprofit Communication Call for Papers

[Roumen Dimitrov]

[Apologies for any cross-posting]

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 recourse more and more often to the help
of professional communicators. Resource-rich organisations increasingly
employ internally and hire externally media, marketing, advertising and
public relations experts. Governments on all levels (the "fist sector")
strengthen their communication prowess gradually; businesses (the
"second sector") do it exponentially. Only few decades ago, political
mediators, who communicated the organisation's messages to a variety of
publics, were locked manly in government bureaus and party rooms. Today,
they have spread across all sectors of the global yet fragmented
society. Their importance as public speakers, moderators and translators
from myriad of private interests, values and discourses into the
language of the public sphere 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 between themselves, for
the scarce resource of public attention and media publicity - the
"oxygen" of the civil society? To what effects 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 the nonprofit
communications? 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 at 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 15 January
2007 for publication in the second part of 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.

Dr Roumen Dimitrov

Lecturer in Public Relations

Unversity of Western Sydney

School of Communication Arts

Locked Bag 1797

Penrith South DC NSW 1797 Australia

Phone +61 2 9852 5434

Fax +61 2 9852 5424

Email r.dimitrov at uws.edu.au 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://bronzewing.cdu.edu.au/pipermail/csaa-forum/attachments/20070403/96ea9fee/attachment.html