Is your PR department web-focused?

One organization we know collected $1 Million online during the Tsunami relief period, after collecting $1000 per month prior to that. A little research indicated they were very high on the Missionfish list of charities, which got a lot of coverage both within the EBay community and elsewhere. The lists of charities that were published by the news organizations, Network for Good, and US AID, were not comprehensive or identical. Your position on them (or absence from them) could have cost you $1 Million (see above).

In Katrina relief, it's happening again. One of our clients has prime position on a list of Hurricane relief charities, allegedly from FEMA (though I can't find the list on the FEMA site) and published by the AP. Unfortunately, the client's phone number is wrong.

However, just because the lists are published online doesn't mean this is a web marketing function. In fact, note that I used the term "collected" above instead of "raised." This is a Public Relations (PR) job with a web twist. Your PR department has to take into account that Amazon.com and E-Bay have bigger reaches, faster, than the New York Times.

So, educate your PR department that they need to cultivate relationships with the big web sites, and get on the right lists. This has to be done before the crisis, though updates during the crisis are just as important.
-Rick...