From Lori Walsh, for our 12-week series leading up to GivingTuesday on December 1:

“On behalf of journalists everywhere, thank you for sharing transformative stories. Thank you for being newsmakers who care.”

So, you’re interested in promoting your GivingTuesday campaign. But journalists are not in the business of “promotion.”

Now you’re wondering, “how can my campaign break into the news cycle?” 

Journalists are always developing ideas, meeting with sources, mining data, and finding the best way to share information with their audiences. No one “earns” their spot in the news, and some people might not want to be in the news at all.  

Rather than thinking of an interview on your local morning show as something you have to fight for, let’s reframe who you are and what you are doing. You are a community newsmaker. You have a timely story about people responding to a problem. 

That’s news. Journalists cover the news. 

We want to know who the newsmakers are and what they are up to. Have confidence in your story when you make your pitch. 

Here are six ways to find your way in a swiftly tilting news cycle. 

Be Newsworthy

If you don’t know where to begin, and you don’t already have a contact, think about where you get trusted news in your community. It might be your public radio station. It might be your local broadcast news affiliate. Perhaps you follow an independent journalist’s newsletter or check your neighborhood watch group on a social media platform. 

These are all either news organizations or trusted information stewards. Spend some time studying the people behind the work at these organizations. 

• Do they report thoughtfully on community problems, or are they mainly a political or commercial platform? 
• Do they tend to focus on problems or solutions? Is there a reporter’s work you particularly admire? 

If it’s a broadcast (TV, radio) production, are producers listed in the credits who brought the story to air? The people outside the spotlight might be the ones you need to know most. 

Find two or three reporters, producers, or local storytellers you think might connect with your story and whose audience overlaps with the audience you’d like to reach. Pay attention to what they pay attention to. You don’t want to ask a sports reporter for a story about a feeding ministry, unless maybe the high school basketball team is packing food boxes on Tuesday morning. A technology reporter might not seem like a good fit for a GivingTuesday pitch, unless you lead with the personalized app that your local Meals on Wheels developed to streamline delivery routes.

The biggest, flashiest media outlets are not always the most influential. You’re looking to connect with people who care as much about your story as you do because they care as much about your community as you do. 

One more thing to look out for: Pay-to-play outlets. As the news business (especially newspapers) shrinks and restructures, a crop of news-like publications has sprung up, often online. This isn’t new, but it’s become more prevalent. These are organizations that will report your story for a fee. It can be a shock to reach out to a magazine or online newsletter and find out all those stories you’ve read over the past few years have been paid coverage made to look like traditional reporting. Whether to pay for a news-like feature (sometimes they are called “advertorials”) is up to you. It really depends upon the quality of the coverage and your local community dynamic. 

Make a Human Connection

The worst time to think about getting news coverage is the day before you want to see a story on air, in print, or online. As a journalist, it can be discouraging to find a press release in your inbox from an organization at the last minute, or only when ticket sales or bank accounts are low. Reporters know when they’re being used.

Instead, think about building a genuine relationship with the person behind the work. You’ll have a much better time making a connection if your request is respectful, professional, and realistic. 

Sometimes people are too familiar or ask for too much time from journalists when pitching a story. Having coffee with your local editor is a good idea, but only if that editor is interested in a long-term relationship. Keep your pitches short and to the point whenever possible. 

On the other hand, I once had a guest who stopped by the studio unannounced to pitch an idea. He had a compelling story about a local nonprofit music festival that was drawing songwriters from all over the country. Farmers and high school kids were sitting in song circles with professional troubadours. I probably spent an hour listening to the festival founder lay out his ethos for music, community, and rural America. It was extraordinary. I’ve been covering that music festival now for years. These days he texts me when he’s got something interesting going on. I usually say yes, because I know the story will be interesting, and I want to be the first journalist he calls. 

Beware the Bots

As wonderful as it can be to connect with a local journalist in person, most connections begin in the inbox. And the inbox has become a press release mosh pit.  

Lately, I’ve been getting dozens of AI-generated email pitches per day. Each one strives to convince me they know my station, my show, my mission. Each one tries to convince me their story would be the “perfect fit” for public broadcasting. 

But something is always off. The email generator pulled language from an old mission statement online and copied it verbatim into the opening paragraph of the pitch. The email promises I would LOVE this guest because I once interviewed someone with a similar story, but the new guest is from a different state and not connected to our audience at all. Then, two days later, the same email arrives again, only this time with the phrase “bumping this up in your inbox” embedded. 

This is not a good use of generative AI. 

The advice here is simple: Write your own emails, make your own phone calls. Generosity, volunteering, and philanthropic giving are human endeavors. Embrace the human elements of the process, and you might find yourself getting thoughtful news coverage long after GivingTuesday wraps.  

In a World of Problems, Be a Solution

The tenets of Solutions Journalism are trending in the media business. Audiences want “good news” in a sea of doomscrolling. But real Solutions Journalism is more about people responding to a problem than solving it. Importantly, outcomes matter. Solutions Journalism is rigorously reported and looks at problems, the people who respond to the problems, and it measures how that response succeeds or falls short. Then it asks questions like, “Is this response scalable? Is this response portable?”

If that sounds a lot like running an effective nonprofit, you’re thinking about this correctly. 

When you pitch a story to a local journalist, don’t shy away from the problem. That’s where the emotion is. But don’t stop at the problem. Maybe your community has a spike in truancy, and you run a nonprofit where grandmothers gather in the places kids tend to go when skipping school. Let’s say you’re raising money for training, but you also want to invite more grandmothers to participate in the program. In this case, your pitch might begin with statistics that indicate young people in distress, pivot to the simple (and delightful!) innovation of elders offering wisdom and accountability, and close with a success story of an unlikely connection between a student who needed guidance and a grandmother who yearned for connection. 

In other words, you don’t need a “solution.” But you do need to demonstrate that what you’re proposing is affecting change in some meaningful way. 

Hang a New Door, Keep the Badger at Bay

Every GivingTuesday, I have my eyes open for the unusual pitch. A theatre company raising money for a new curtain. A historic building trying to keep wildlife from infiltrating the basement. A nonprofit that needs new tires for their van. 

These are the small and tangible goals I love to bring to public radio listeners as part of my overall coverage. It’s a reminder that generosity can sometimes be tidy and quick. We are inundated by multilayered problems with complex solutions. Sometimes it’s good to be part of an easy win.

Can you set a goal that’s quirky, memorable, or irresistible? That makes your pitch stand out. You might raise money for lending library toys and call it a “Block Party,” showcasing simple building toys for early childhood development. That theatre curtain might serve as history’s witness to the artistic influence of community productions in a small town. 

Never assume that having a small goal will make it harder to get media attention. Small and particular might be what helps you stand out when reporters are planning their coverage. 

Tell a Good Story, Be a Good Neighbor

In journalism, a good story is, in its essence, a real story. If you land an interview with a journalist who wants to highlight your nonprofit, prepare yourself to explain what your organization does. Instead of starting with how long you’ve been operating, or any of the language that fills up your annual report, just tell me what you do. 

We feed people when they’re hungry. 

We bring health care to people on the streets. 

We pay school lunch debt when families fall behind. 

We help abused animals find safe homes.

We help community members fulfill their Broadway dreams without leaving the farm. 

A good interviewer cares about you as a person, so be prepared for questions about why this work matters to you. Is there something that drew you into this world? Was there a moment when you knew you had to do something? What kind of success stories give you hope? 

A reporter might also ask accountability questions of some kind: 

• How much of the donations go to the mission and how much to administrative costs? How do you turn investment into success? 
• Do private donations really matter? 
• Is philanthropy the most effective way to address this problem? 

Be specific about your goal as well. Are you asking for financial donations? How about volunteers? What about in-kind donations? Are there other actions the audience can take to support your work? 

I recently heard a panel discussion where unhoused people told the audience that sometimes it’s just nice when someone says hello to them, rather than pretending not to see them. I was struck by how simple the request was. If you see us on the street, they said, that doesn’t mean we are asking you for money. We’re your neighbors. Say hi. 

Immediately, I started greeting people on my path to work. I was surprised at how many people smiled and seemed genuinely pleased to say hello. I had underestimated the feeling of invisibility people felt in my community. Before long, I found myself serving food at a family shelter. Not long after that, I donated to a nonprofit I admire. Keep in mind I was never asked to do any of those secondary things. I was simply asked to be a good neighbor, something I already knew how to do. I did what I was asked, and one thing led to another. 

For me, that is the enduring power of GivingTuesday. It’s a celebration of neighborliness. It’s an acknowledgement of our mutual humanity, the struggles we face, and the way we show up for one another. There’s nothing I enjoy more in journalism than a story I feel makes a difference in my community. On behalf of journalists everywhere, thank you for sharing transformative stories. Thank you for being newsmakers who care. 

Lori Walsh is a special correspondent at South Dakota Public Broadcasting. As a host and producer of the talk show “In the Moment” she has interviewed more than 10,000 guests on air, on stage, and online. She also co-hosts Season 1 of the podcast Rivers & Rangelands. Walsh’s work has received several regional Edward R. Murrow awards in the news documentary category. She was the recipient of a 2022 Bush Fellowship. Her newsletter ‘So Much Sunlight,’ is currently on the Substack platform.