COMMUNICATIONS TEAM
At Prison Fellowship, you have three key contacts:
- Jim Forbes, director of communications, will coordinate the media coverage, both local, regional and national. Jim is responsible for all things related to Angel Tree media relations. He is also available to give you tips and suggestions prior to conducting local interviews. (Direct: 8540)
- Doris Girgis, senior marketing manager, handles program marketing. She is very accessible and a wealth of information on anything concerning Angel Tree. (Direct: 8547)
- Bekah Stratton is your social media contact and is responsible for all things related to Angel Tree social media. Bekah will be coordinating all of your posts on social media. (Direct: 8508)
This team along with every staff member and volunteer at Prison Fellowship serves as a face and voice of the Angel Tree brand. No matter if you are dealing with media, donors, volunteers, churches, or the Department of Corrections, you will have a major impact on how the public views Prison Fellowship.
While Prison Fellowship works mainly to bring greater awareness to Angel Tree on a national basis, the stories we have to tell and the interest in the program will come primarily at the local level. The information in this toolkit is designed to help you support and grow your Angel Tree presence locally.
SPOKESPEOPLE
National
James Ackerman, and those he authorizes, including Charles Rock, have been identified to speak for the organization with media about Angel Tree and will be primary spokespeople with secular national media.
Angel Tree—Local
- Regional directors, area directors, and field directors
- Angel Tree specialists
- Key local volunteers who know the program well
Others
From time to time, media may be interested in talking to volunteers or participants in Prison
Fellowship's programs. It is important to explain that these individuals are not official spokespeople for Prison Fellowship but they can certainly speak about their personal experiences with Angel Tree.
It is important that anyone speaking with media be asked to familiarize themselves with our key Angel Tree messages and utilize them in the interview as appropriate. While we certainly do not expect people to memorize the key messages verbatim, there is an expectation that they identify the program as "Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree" at least once or twice, and identify it as the only nationwide program that reaches out exclusively to children who have an incarcerated parent.
We ask that churches and volunteers present themselves as partners with Prison Fellowship in conducting Angel Tree in their area, and that they specify it is “Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree” they partner with (as opposed to generic angel trees or that of Salvation Army). We also ask that they identify the numbers of children that Angel Tree is trying to serve nationwide and the number being served locally and through their church. These statistics can be provided by the marketing and communications team.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Public Relations Overview
Public relations is simply communication between you and your various audiences. Effective communication with these audiences will make the rest of your work and outreach easier and more fruitful.
Effective PR includes strong media relations, and strong media relations will yield quality media coverage of your local Angel Tree program. Good media coverage can increase recognition of Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree in your community, which will potentially increase donations and volunteer participation.
The Purpose of PR
The purpose of effective public relations for Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree is to help the Christian community, other key audiences and the general public to understand the mission and purpose of Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree and to engage churches and people to participate in the program. Emphasis on public relations will help to:
- Build credibility for Prison Fellowship within your community
- Promote awareness of Prison Fellowship and Angel Tree in your community
- Increase public support of Prison Fellowship within your community in the form of:
- Volunteers
- Financial support
- Ministry partners
- Business partners and donations
- Increased access to prisons
Who is PR?
Everyone. Any interaction an Angel Tree staff member has with an individual affects how this person interprets the Angel Tree brand, either positively or negatively. Public relations practitioners (PR firms, church coordinators, volunteers, you) use various tools to communicate, including press releases, newsletters and advertising, but most importantly, you, as a Prison Fellowship representative, communicate the Angel Tree brand at every touch point you have with our audiences. These touch points include but are not limited to:
- How you answer the phone and respond to email
- How a church represents Angel Tree to various audiences
- Your volunteers’ words and actions
- Your social media
This responsibility is important because, just as everyone is in PR, everyone is also a reporter. In this digital age, everyone has an immediate and highly visual platform to share a story—good or bad. There are no longer any silos; you cannot segregate messaging for one audience from your other audiences.
Who are Prison Fellowship's key audiences?
Key audiences include:
- Prisoners
- Prisoners’ families
- Church leaders
- Volunteers/potential volunteers
- Chaplains
- Wardens
- Other Department of Corrections officials and staff
- Donors/potential donors
- Government leaders
- Media
Publicity in the media should not replace traditional church and donor communications strategies, because communicating to media is different than to churches and donors, and media coverage is not guaranteed. While news articles, public service announcements (PSAs) and advertisements serve to enhance your efforts of promoting Angel Tree to your constituents, they should not be the only means by which you introduce the program to your audiences. Lastly, be patient—PR outcomes are often not instantaneous, but rather involve a slow build-up.
MEDIA RELATIONS
Why Our Media Coverage is Critical
A primary component to the Angel Tree mission is to deliver our story, our purpose, and our outcomes—whether through television, radio, print or social media. Media coverage is critical is because it educates the public about our mission and the reason behind it while encouraging or inspiring others to give and/or volunteer their time to Angel Tree.
What attracts media attention?
- Human Interest. Simply put, telling people stories. Those of you in the field see these examples each and every day but those watching, reading, or listening don't know about these individual stories. It's our job to get the word out and tell others, which grows the ministry.
- Significance. We need to talk about the overwhelming number of people impacted by what we do, without a lot of statistics that people will soon forget. It’s also important to point out the impact to the community that Angel Tree serves.
- Timing. The media wants the latest information when dealing with our stories. If we have an overabundance of children signed up in one specific area and need more volunteers, you need to communicate that to our staff so that we can reach out to our media partners and explain the urgency of our need.
- Compelling visuals. Any time you have a special event centered around Angel Tree, please share that with our staff. Anything that you feel would be compelling to take photos or video of will help us in our “sell” to the local media.
- "Feel Good" Stories. Especially during this time of the year, the media is looking for stories like Angel Tree that allows the viewer/reader/listener to feel good about what is taking place in their community. It's also important to try and make a connection between the receiver of the message and the message, itself.
What is news?
A newsworthy angle for a story could be:
Prison Fellowship is reaching out to 2,000 children of prisoners—the most at-risk children in south Florida—this Christmas with the help of some 60 area churches and 1,000 south Florida volunteers.
- Because of Prison Fellowship, "Jane Smith" can now give her six children Christmas for the very first time in many years, thanks to this unique ministry.
- "Joe Smith" has volunteered for Angel Tree during this time of the year because of this very personal reason___________.
- The "First Baptist Church of ______" has been conducting an unusual event in the hope of raising money for Angel Tree.
- Prison Fellowship cannot fulfill the wishes of all the prisoners who sign up their children to receive a Christmas gift from their incarcerated parent, so Angel Tree is looking for more churches to help in this effort.
Be Prepared with Story Ideas
Have several Angel Tree Christmas and prison outreach stories ready to share with a reporter or TV/radio producer if/when called upon. Understand your clear strategy and goals and what key messages you want conveyed. Here are some examples of stories worth delivering to the media:
- A personal story of a child or caregiver of a child who received a gift (which often leads to a story of reconciliation between a parent and child).
- A church that is hosting an interesting event for Angel Tree children.
- One or two families buying/delivering Angel Tree gifts in your area who are willing to be interviewed.
- Church members/groups that have unique stories about collecting/delivering Angel Tree gifts and who are equipped to speak on the subject.
Prepare Prison Fellowship's official spokespeople for the story’s delivery and its impact on Angel Tree. Once the story has been delivered and the media has decided to create content around it, prepare your social media channels to maximize full exposure and impact.
Media Relations Tools
The following are just a few ways you can deliver Angel Tree news and stories. Those with an asterisk (*) are specifically aimed at media.
- Customized pitches*
- Background information*
- Photos*
- B-roll video*
- Spokesperson interviews*
- Social media posts
- Newsletters
- Internal publications
Which media to contact:
- Print: Feature/lifestyle/living editors, religion editors, community news editors, reporters who have done Angel Tree stories in the past, photo editors (if you have a good visual to offer them like an Angel Tree party, gift delivery, roomful of volunteers wrapping gifts, etc.)
- TV: Assignment editors, reporters who have done Angel Tree stories in the past
- Radio: Assignment editors, news or program directors (if no assignment editor), reporters who have done Angel Tree stories in the past, talk show producers
- Online: Editors, community news editors
How to contact media:
- Future events: Email customized news releases or advisories about two weeks out from an event you want them to cover.
- Press releases: If you are drafting a press release, please be sure to customize one of the press release templates included in this toolkit. If you have a situation you think is newsworthy but does not fit one of the templates, contact [NAME NAME], who can give you guidance.
- When emailing, paste the release in the body of your email (most editors will not open attachments over concern of computer viruses). Remember that your subject line must be compelling so that the recipient will open it. Examples of compelling subject lines include:
- Scrooge may Rob 550 Pensacola Kids of a Merry Christmas (for a release asking more churches to sign up this year)
- Christmas Story: 60 Churches Are 'Angels' for Detroit's Most At-Risk Kids (for a general release about Angel Tree in Detroit)
- 1: Last Chance to Help DFW Prisoners' Kids this Christmas (last call in Dallas for churches to sign up)
- Place a follow-up phone call 1–2 days after the release is distributed via email.
- Remember to incorporate key messages when calling media.
- Make sure your story is newsworthy.
- Call between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
- Leave a voicemail only once. If you call the first time and get a voicemail, you may opt to hang up and try another time.
- When the reporter answers the phone, say:
This is [NAME] with Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree, the only nationwide year-round outreach to children of prisoners. I want to talk to you about how local citizens are working right now to bring hope to the most at-risk children in [CITY]. Do you have a minute?
If no, ask for a better time to call, or offer to email information (even if you have sent it before; the reporter may have missed the email).
If yes, include the following points in your pitch, but do not speak for more than 60 seconds, unless they ask you for more information:
- Number of children you are trying to serve in the city/county this year.
- Background on a local Angel Tree family or partner church/volunteer who can be featured or interviewed.
- Complete media materials can be found at
Autoreplies
In order to best serve media, during busy times like the Angel Tree Christmas season, please add the following to your office voicemail, to any email autoreply and to any local website you may have:
For media requests, please call [NAME] at [WORK PHONE] and [MOBILE PHONE]. Visit our online newsroom at www.DeMoss.com/AT for more information about Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree.
Maximizing Media Opportunities
Respond quickly – media respect availability and efficiency:
- Promptly return media calls/emails, preferably within 1-2 hours, but always within 12 hours.
- Tell reporters that immediate access to backgrounders on Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree is available at DeMoss.com/AT.
- Respect the reporter's deadline.
- Ask what his or her deadline is for obtaining the information needed.
- Be sensitive to it and honest about your ability to meet it (a brief "No, I can't help you that quickly, but I can get this info to you by [XX DATE]," is preferable to waiting too long before saying, “Yes, I can help,” or over-promising information you cannot eventually deliver by the agreed-upon date.)
Provide photos/graphics/video opportunities – reporters are looking for visuals. You can pitch a photo editor if you have a good photo opportunity or good visual resources. Some examples include:
- Children opening gifts at a church Angel Tree party. Make sure the Angel Tree logo is present (backdrop banner or sign, sweatshirts, packages, etc.)
- People collecting/delivering Angel Tree gifts.
Example: One year in Florida, thousands of gifts were stacked to the ceiling at an old car dealership, wrapped in colorful packages with Angel Tree tags. They pitched the photo opportunity before the local staff bagged the gifts up for delivery. They then pitched the delivery day where families would drive up to the building, pick up a bag of gifts and head off to share Christmas cheer and love with a prisoner's child.
- B-roll is generic video that television outlets can use to show how Angel Tree works. They often show part of the b-roll while the reporter is talking about Angel Tree or during an in-studio interview with a Prison Fellowship or Angel Tree church or family representative who is there to talk about Angel Tree. This b-roll is downloadable online at the Angel Tree newsroom at DeMoss.com/AT.
- There are also print- and web-quality, downloadable photos on the newsroom for Angel Tree Christmas. Print and online outlets, and even some radio, may be interested in using these.
How to respond to negative media coverage
There will be times when Prison Fellowship must deal with negative stories or crisis situations. While a crisis could have a potentially negative impact, the way a crisis is handled and communicated could also positively impact an organization’s brand. Before saying anything to the media, please do the following:
- Immediately notify your supervisor and Jim Forbes, director of communications at (8540).
- Say nothing until asked by Prison Fellowship to do so.
- Never say, "No comment." The best way to handle a reporter who has presented a crisis situation is to say, "I don't have enough information to answer your questions right now. Let me look into it, and I will get back to you." Ask him or her what the deadline is and call your supervisor or Jim Forbes at 703.554.8450 in Lansdowne immediately for follow-up discussion.
Crisis situations may include but are not limited to:
- If a church is broken into and all the gifts are stolen
- If a church coordinator is arrested for embezzling funds from his church, even if he didn’t steal from Prison Fellowship.
- If there is an argument between participants at an Angel Tree party.
- If there is a problem at a gift delivery.
Sending Public Service Announcements (PSAs)
Since the FCC no longer requires broadcast media to provide free airtime to nonprofit organizations, many radio stations and most TV stations no longer run PSAs. When they do, it is usually during undesirable time slots.
For the most part, Christian radio stations still air public service announcements (PSAs). However, many of these run at odd hours, and some stations ask for advertising dollars to do so. Christian radio is the ideal choice for PSAs that target recruitment and participation in Angel Tree.
Please check to make sure a station accepts PSAs before you send them. The public service director or promotions director is the appropriate contact at the radio station.
Ideally, your pre-recorded PSA should be sent to the station about a month before you would like it to be aired. You should make follow-up phone calls to the station about a week after you send it.
Print media do not run free promotions. They always require paid advertising, and those ads are available in section 14 of this toolkit.
Links to six pre-recorded PSAs can be found in this toolkit beginning in [Section ##].
Communicating with Other Audiences
Once you have received media coverage, you will want to maximize it with other audiences to further your public relations efforts. Always check the outlet's website to see if coverage is posted there, then link to it from social media platforms and email blasts.
Broadcast Video Coverage
You can find many stories on the television or radio outlet's website, and you can usually order TV footage. If you have an idea of when the piece will air, email volunteers, donors and other key audiences, asking them to tune in. Always be sure to tell them this is when the piece is "scheduled" to air, in case breaking news cancels or postpones your coverage. Incorporate any footage you capture into presentations at donor events, volunteer events or pastors' conferences.
Print Coverage
Keep an eye on your local newspapers for print coverage of Angel Tree. Check your local paper's websites for coverage and email the articles to your key audiences, like volunteers, partners and donors, as well as other Angel Tree and Prison Fellowship staff. Order reprints of good articles by calling the circulation department of your local paper. You may wish to incorporate the reprints of your print coverage into:
- Volunteer packets
- Donor updates or newsletters
- Church packets
- Media kits for events
THE MEDIA INTERVIEW
First and foremost, we want to serve media well. If, in the interest of time, you need to get the interview information directly from the reporter, ask the following questions:
- What is your deadline?
- How long do you expect the interview to take?
- What would you like the interview to focus on?
- Will the interview be in-person or on the phone?
- If radio or television: Will the interview be live or taped?
- What is the reporter’s name and phone number? Tell him or her you will alert the requested interviewees and get back with him or her.
James Ackerman has asked that whenever a member of the media calls your local office about Angel Tree, you notify Jim Forbes, director of communication (8540). Prison Fellowship will consider the request and determine the best spokesperson, whether it is a local field representative or a national spokesperson, thereby reducing the workload placed on your team.
Exceptions to this rule include:
- Requests from Christian media with whom you have established an ongoing, mutually beneficial relationship.
- If you or a communication volunteer pitch a local news story and the reporter wants to do an immediate interview or set up an interview. Proceed, then notify Prison Fellowship of the opportunity so they can look for coverage and share media clips with you and the team in Lansdowne.
MAKING EVENTS MEDIA FRIENDLY
Special events are useful public relations tools. They can generate positive publicity, dramatize a point, create and maintain community goodwill, provide information, introduce new programs, gain name recognition and raise funds.
There are many events that take place during the Angel Tree Christmas season that may appeal to media, including:
- Gift collection/distribution from a church or central location as volunteers prepare for home deliveries
- Angel Tree church parties
- Gift wrapping parties
- Home deliveries
- Lighting of an angel tree at a local politician’s office or a local church
In many cases, you can increase opportunities for media coverage by keeping a few tips in mind when planning and executing your special events.
Branded Background with Action
Always decide in advance where media might want to take photos and video and be sure that area is branded with the Angel Tree logo—on an Angel Tree banner or on volunteer shirts, etc.
Media are interested in a backdrop with strong visuals and some action. A few ideal backdrop visuals are:
- Volunteers sorting gifts
- Volunteers wrapping gifts
- Volunteers greeting children
- Children receiving gifts
- Children opening gifts
- In-prison sign-up events (consult with public information officers for access/rules)
Equip your partner churches with an Angel Tree banner or some other branded Angel Tree signs or items (use Angel Tree logos on gift tags, hang Angel Tree ornaments on a tree in the room, etc.) to display at church parties and events. Any design or purchase of apparel should be approved by the marketing team for branding compliance. Expenses will be charged to the local field budget, not national Angel Tree or marketing budgets. When this backdrop is captured in photographs or on video, it helps provide visual recognition of Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree, further distinguishing it from Salvation Army’s and other generic angel trees.
Ask your local churches to wear clothing with the Angel Tree logo (e.g., t-shirts, sweatshirts, ball caps, etc.) that you have equipped them with at events.
Timing
Events should take place early in the day, preferably between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Avoid events during the hours of 3-5 p.m., as reporters are on deadline and finalizing stories during that time.
If your event must take place on a weekend (never a good idea if you can avoid it, since newsrooms are typically short-handed on weekends), be sure to include the weekend assignment editor on your media lists. You may also wish to include the photography editor if your event will have strong visuals.
Media are most interested in the most visual element of a formal program. They typically want to get in and out quickly. With that in mind, save the "thank you's," eating, and other housekeeping items for the end of the program and kick it off with the most visually appealing part of the story.
Assisting Media On-site:
- Prior to media arrival:
- Determine what and where media will have access.
- Select a location/backdrop where media can do one-on-one interviews.
- Survey the scene and hang up any banners or posters available.
- Rent a mult-box so broadcast media can access the sound system, if there is one.
- Determine who will serve as spokespeople and equip them to speak to media.
- Provide spokespeople with a copy of the key messages.
- Set up a media check-in table and equip it with press kits or information sheets, such as an event timeline, interview opportunities sheet, fact sheet and press release.
- Designate a person to meet and assist media when they are on-site.
When media arrive:
- Greet them, point out the interview opportunities and event timeline, show them where they can set up their work stations.
- Be available to answer questions or provide assistance.
- Treat media as invited guests.
- Do not evangelize media.
Working with Public Information Officers
As you are likely aware, it is important to develop a relationship with your state's public information officer (PIO). This person plays a large role in determining whether or not media will be allowed access into a prison facility to cover an event you are organizing.
When your event or program is taking place in a prison:
- Call your PIO to discuss your event and let them know you would like to invite media.
- Show the PIO or wardens past media clips or refer them to the newsroom to help build your credibility. (The Department of Corrections (DOC) is normally leery of media coverage because so much of the coverage of the criminal justice system is negative. Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree offers a positive media story.)
- Send any drafts of media releases or advisories to the PIO for review prior to sending.
- It is helpful for media to call you if they are interested in attending an event so you can answer questions, "sell" what will be available to them at the event, and have a heads-up on who you can expect to attend. Then you should send all names to the PIO for media clearance. The PIO has final say over who comes to the prison and the deadline for submitting clearance information.
- Provide the PIO with the key media messages on Prison Fellowship or Angel Tree if they plan to distribute any releases or statements about your event.
- At the facility, defer to the PIO. Meet and greet media, and let them know you can help steer them to program volunteers and organizers, but the PIO can help with requests for interviews with prisoner participants.
- Send a thank-you note to the PIO afterward.
SOCIAL MEDIA OVERVIEW
Everyone is a reporter in this digital age. Social media cannot be an afterthought and should be approached strategically and thoughtfully.
There are a variety of ways for you to communicate the work being done with Angel Tree through social media channels.
Maximize Organizational Accounts
Rather than encouraging coordinators to create localized accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) for their Angel Tree efforts, ask them to leverage existing accounts already in use by the churches, businesses, and other organizations sponsoring these campaigns. For example, if a church already has a Facebook page, then coordinators should promote Angel Tree on that church’s page instead of creating a new one that doesn’t have any followers.
Funnel content from the official Angel Tree accounts to administrators for those church or business channels and ask them to share with their audiences.
Please do not create stand-alone Angel Tree websites or pages. Church coordinators can create a page on their church website, but these should be part of the church website and should not use "Angel Tree" in the URL.
Facebook is a powerful medium for sharing Angel Tree's mission and helping to drive more participation. It is the largest social network on the planet and many people in the target demographic for Angel Tree volunteers likely are active Facebook users.
There are 5 effective ways for organizations hosting Angel Tree parties/outreaches to share more about Angel Tree during the Christmas campaign season:
- "Like" and "share" all of the posts from the main Angel Tree Facebook page (https://facebook.com/angeltree). This is best done through your personal or local account. Facebook’s new algorithm (how it calculates which posts appear on people's news feeds) decreases the reach of pages like Angel Tree's, but posts from the corporate Angel Tree page become more visible as others begin to share them.
- Post photos and status updates about the work you are doing with Angel Tree. Good photos could be taken on shopping trips, at wrapping parties, or of name tags hanging on a tree. Images are more likely to be seen in your friends' news feeds than text-only posts.
- Share any links to blog posts or articles about other people getting involved in Angel Tree. These could be people from the Angel Tree blogger network that began a few years ago or any media coverage Angel Tree may receive.
- Tag the official Angel Tree and/or Prison Fellowship pages in your posts by typing the "@" symbol, followed by "Angel Tree" or "Prison Fellowship" (select the page in the autocomplete drop-down menu).
- Create a Facebook event for your Angel Tree event, where you can add special photos as banners and gauge interest/attendance for the event.
Currently, Instagram is one of the fastest-growing social networks in the world. It is one of the best places to share visually inspiring content. The "life-streaming" photo content option could be a great place to share the pieces of your life that include Angel Tree. Posts could include—just as with Facebook and Twitter—shopping trips, wrapping parties, trees with name tags, etc. Using Instagram to share your work will inspire others to get creative about their involvement with Angel Tree as well. Use the #PFAngelTree hashtag in the caption of your posts.
After making a post on Instagram, we encourage you to share your Instagram photo to Facebook and Twitter straight from the app by clicking the Facebook and Twitter share buttons on the page where you type out your caption. This will help spread your inspirational messages about Angel Tree even further and in less time.
Twitter is a perfect real-time medium to share about the work you (and others) are doing with Angel Tree.
Personal Profiles
All of the above tips are also great methods to employ on individual Facebook profiles, Twitter handles, Instagram accounts, and other social media platforms—including your own. The more people who share content about Angel Tree, the more awareness we can bring to the needs of prisoners' children and families. Encourage your Angel Tree coordinators, their volunteers, staff at local churches, families who purchase Angel Tree gifts, and all others to apply the above techniques, follow and share content from the Angel Tree Facebook page, and use the hashtag #PFAngelTree when posting original content on their own Instagram and Twitter accounts.
PRESS KITS AND NEWSROOMS
Printed press kits and online newsrooms are key research tools for media. While a press release offers a timely news angle or highlights a particular event, press kits and newsrooms provide background documents that give reporters more information about Prison Fellowship and Angel Tree.
In a Digital Age
As the world has moved toward "all things digital," media rely on the Internet for much of their research and on email for much of their correspondence with sources. Prison Fellowship has two online newsrooms for media that are housed at and maintained by our PR firm, DeMoss:
- DeMoss.com/PF is our newsroom for everything related to Prison Fellowship, and its leadership, programs and initiatives
- DeMoss.com/AT is a separate newsroom that makes it easy for media to find resources about this highly visible program of Prison Fellowship without sorting through other information on the ministry's main newsroom
Be sure to let your local media know of these important information sources for Prison Fellowship and Angel Tree. These sites are great resources for you as well. Use the information as source material for letters or packets to pastors, government officials and potential donors, customizing them for each audience.
Angel Tree's Online Newsroom
Because reporters are most interested in a hard news angle, in the media materials we highlight the drastic number of children who have an incarcerated parent, the risks these children face as a result and what the average person can do to help through Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree.
Materials available on Angel Tree's newsroom include:
- Latest national news releases
- Backgrounders
- Angel Tree fact sheet
- Prison Fellowship fact sheet
- Statistics about prisoners’ children
- James Ackerman bio
- Contact information for Prison Fellowship and Angel Tree
- Downloadable print- and web-quality photos, video and graphics
- Contact information for DeMoss staff
Press Kit Materials
- For events, you might consider creating printed kits to have on hand for any media who attend. A printed press kit should consist of the following elements:
- Press release (customized for your city and purpose)
- Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree fact sheet (customized for your city/state if possible)
- Statistics about children of prisoners
- List of churches participating in Angel Tree in your local area (only list churches from whom you have permission as media may choose to contact them for a local story)
- Brief spokesperson bios
- Prison Fellowship fact sheet
- Previous Angel Tree news clips (if you have any or can find them online)
- Your business card
NOTE: You can find templated press releases and advisories at www.AngelTree.org/ATtoolkit. Please do not include any materials in the press kit that were not written specifically for media and have not been approved by [NAME NAME].
KEY MESSAGES
These key messages are FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY, intended to assist Angel Tree representatives when speaking with media.
Christian-targeted messages are in blue italics.
PLEASE IDENTIFY THE PROGRAM AS "PRISON FELLOWSHIP'S ANGEL TREE" THE FIRST SEVERAL TIMES IN AN INTERVIEW SO MEDIA CONNECT THE PROGRAM TO PRISON FELLOWSHIP IN THEIR COVERAGE.
Key messages distinguish you from your peers and competitors. They provide clarity and a solid foundation for all communications, describing:
- Who you are
- What you do
- Why you do it
What Angel Tree Is
- Angel Tree is a program of Prison Fellowship, the nation’s largest outreach to prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families.
- Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree is the only nationwide effort that reaches out exclusively to the 2.7 million children who have a parent behind bars.
- Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree is a year-round effort that extends beyond the Christmas season. It starts with a gift, but is a holistic, relational program that aids local churches in outreach to prisoners’ children and their families.
- AngelTree.org or 1.800.55.ANGEL (1.800.552.6435)
What Prison Fellowship and Angel Tree Do
- While Prison Fellowship works to reconcile prisoners and ex-prisoners to their families, communities, and God, its Angel Tree program addresses the need every child has—the need to feel loved by mom and dad.
- Angel Tree starts with a Christmas gift—given on behalf of the incarcerated parent—to help hurting children know that they are loved and not forgotten this holiday season.
- Last year, Prison Fellowship partnered with 7,698 churches and other organizations to provide Christmas gifts and the hope of the Gospel to 330,000 children through Angel Tree.
- This year we hope to provide gifts to [XXX,XXX] children, including some [LOCAL NUMBER HERE] here locally.
How Angel Tree Christmas Works
- Traditionally, volunteers at local churches across America purchase and deliver gifts and the Gospel message to children in the name of their imprisoned parent.
- Individuals not affiliated with a local Angel Tree church can provide Christmas gifts by making a financial donation at AngelTree.org.
- In areas where there is no local church to provide gifts, other organizations may step up to purchase gifts for children in their community. To do that, you can call 1.800.55.ANGEL.
Why Angel Tree
- Since 1982, Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree has served more than 9 million children of prisoners.
- 7 million children in America will have a parent in prison this Christmas, and it's the kids— through no fault of their own—who are also doing "hard time" as they are separated from mom or dad.
- These children often have behavior and performance problems at school, as well as experience social stigma and shame. Keeping them connected to their parent lowers the likelihood of recidivism for the parent and encourages parent-child bonding—helping to break the generational cycle of crime.
How the Public Can Help
- Pray for Angel Tree and the children of prisoners.
- Register your church or other organization to participate in Angel Tree 2015 and coordinate their program.
- Visit AngelTree.org to donate online.
What Prison Fellowship Is
- Founded by former Nixon aide Chuck Colson in 1976, Prison Fellowship is the nation’s largest outreach to prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families.
- Website: PrisonFellowship.org
How Prison Fellowship Work
- Programs impacted over 1,000 prisons with 25,000 prisoners participating in in-prison classes each month.
- Programs reach prisoners, ex-prisoners, and families of prisoners in all 50 states and in 128 countries worldwide.
- Partnerships with 7,600 churches in the United States.
- Some 11,000 volunteers throughout the United States.
Restorative Justice Approach
Based on the premise that at the heart of every criminal act is a destructive moral decision, Prison Fellowship knows that governments, communities, victims, and prisoners can work together using the biblical principles of restorative justice to:
- Bring crime statistics down
- Help restore shattered lives and families
- Reduce the staggering costs of crime to society
- Make communities safer
Local Church Is Key
Prison Fellowship provides ongoing support, recruitment, research, training, and resources to over 7,600 churches throughout the United States that are involved in organized prison ministry. It also works with thousands more individual volunteers who are active in an outreach to the prison population or inmate families.
- Prison Fellowship volunteers:
- Minister to prisoners
- Assist families
- Help ex-prisoners transition back into society
- Advocate for criminal justice reform
GLOSSARY
To be an effective spokesperson, it is important to use language that will be understood and received well by all audiences, Christian and secular. While many of the following terms are known and regularly used in the Christian arena, they may be foreign to secular media and the general public. This glossary provides suggested alternative words and phrases that can be used effectively in communications with any audience.
While many of these are not generally used in an Angel Tree context, they are offered as a reminder to use clear and understood terminology when speaking on behalf of Prison Fellowship.
MEDIA RELATIONS CAMPAIGN
To help you develop media campaigns for Angel Tree Christmas this year, we are providing a recommended media cycle, template press releases, and story ideas.
You know the stories in your location best, so feel free to revise the templates to tell media about the people and organizations in your area who are making a difference for prisoners' children through Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree.
A media cycle is a recommended schedule for distributing and following up on media materials you have distributed. The timeline is based on your need for coverage, media lead-times and when media are most likely to be interested in a Christmas story. For Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree, the earlier you get in front of media, the better the chance that our Christmas program will be chosen by media over others out there. Early distribution also means early research on your end. It's never too early to have potential spokespeople—volunteers, church coordinators, recipient families, ex-prisoners whose children benefited from Angel Tree—available and prepared to speak to media.
On the next page is a recommended media cycle. You can find templated releases and advisories at in a folder at www.AngelTree.org/ATtoolkit. Templated releases and advisories should be customized for your local media so they see this is a local story, something that involves people and organizations in their coverage area. They usually will not be interested in covering a program based in Virginia unless there is a local angle showing them that people in your community are involved and impacted by Angel Tree. In your local release, you can hyperlink to backgrounders located on the Angel Tree newsroom to provide media with facts and statistics about Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree and the children of prisoners.
[INCLUDE MEDIA CYCLE TO INCLUDE RELEASE DESCRIPTION, MEDIA DISTRIBUTION DATE, FOLLOW UP TIMELINE AND TARGET MEDIA]
Permission to Use Photos, Video, Quotes
For Prison Fellowship events, it is important to get signed releases allowing Prison Fellowship to use participants' photos, videos or quotes in marketing and media materials. If someone does not want to grant permission, you will need to devise a system to "flag" those participants at your event so media reporters/videographers/photographers and Prison Fellowship personnel know not to include them in their interviews, photos and video.
Use the Prison Fellowship Ministries® Release form on the following page to obtain participant consent.
[INCLUDE MINISTRY RELEASE FORM]
ANGEL TREE CHRISTMAS MARKETING MATERIALS
[INCLUDE CURRENT MARKETING MATERIALS: AT A GLANCE, PSAs, PRINT AND WEB ADS]