Charities Find Receptive Ear at Annual Society Mixer

When Jessica Krell was told about the media mixer taking place at CBS Studios, her immediate response was “I’m there.” As the development director for Our House Grief Support Center, Krell was excited about the prospect of meeting reporters, editors, producers and news directors who could give exposure to her organization and what it does. The Print, Interactive Radio & Television Education Society Mixer is an annual event bringing together members of the media with representatives from not for profits and charities from the greater Los Angeles area. The mixer has taken place for 20 years, the last few at Carla’s Café at the Radford lot. Krell was a newcomer to the mixer, joining those who have previously attended such as Genevieve Riutort, director of development for the Westside Food Bank, and Ana Bustilloz, of the SPCA LA. I had never been aware of the society (which goes by the acronym PIRATES) until receiving an email about the mixer from a member. During an hour or so at the mixer all but one of the people I talked with were unaware the Business Journal even existed. The Los Angeles Business Journal, yes but not the Valley paper. So they certainly weren’t aware of the 72-page paper published last month packed with stories on the business of not for profits or the Not For Profit Leadership Awards that drew more than 400 people to the Airtel Plaza on May 12. The lone exception was Teri Lim from the Arthritis Foundation and that’s because one of the award recipients, Jay Thomas from Six Flags Magic Mountain, participates in fundraisers for the foundation. So it could be said that this mixer was tailor made for me to attend as it gave exposure to the paper and a chance for these charities and organizations to introduce themselves. Not all had a connection to the Valley but most did. Our House has an office in Woodland Hills; St. Anne’s has a thrift store in North Hollywood; the Westside Food Bank provides food to an organization in Van Nuys; and Jennifer Farmer of Pumpkin Pictures is based in Valley Village. All were happy to talk and those who have been to the mixer before told of how their attendance did result in media exposure. Riutort called the mixer one of the top two events PIRATES puts on, the other being the media conference that takes place in the spring. She has done television and radio interviews from having attended the mixer. When Riutort can talk about the work the Westside Food Bank does it inspires whatever reporter or news director she is speaking to enough that they can then turn around and convince their editors to do a story. But Riutort does acknowledge there is quid pro quo in establishing a relationship with the media. A newspaper or television station may want something in return. “When that relationship happens there is a give and take,” Riutort said. “We can give experts for commentary in exchange for getting our stories out to the public.” Farmer has stories to tell as well, and came to the mixer to see if any television stations would be interested in airing any of the 14 documentaries she has made about charitable groups in Los Angeles. Each is 24 minutes long, the right length to fit into a half hour time slot. Among the narrators Farmer convinced to participate in the “Angels Among Us” series are Betty White, Kirk Douglas and Judge Reinhold. She made the films to let others know about the good things these groups are doing, Farmer said. “They (the charities) are so busy helping people they don’t have time for documentaries,” Farmer said. For Krell it was a good thing that the media reps and the charity reps got to know each other. She could give a plug for Our House and its grief counseling services. Grief and sex used to be the two big taboo subjects, Krell said, but now it is only grief when a loved one dies that people don’t want to talk about. It is an overlooked subject and something that no one should have to go through alone. “It’s the one thing that connects us all,” she said. The Language of Business, Part II The story elsewhere in this issue about the closure of the Express Scripts offices in West Hills provided another journey into the vagaries and absurdities of that special language that only those in corporate communications can speak. A call to the Express Scripts corporate office in St. Louis resulted in one of their spokesmen, Thom Gross, calling me back. We didn’t actually speak but instead Gross left a voicemail in which he read a statement that didn’t tell me anything. I would have preferred no call back at all to the dullness of a prepared statement about how as part of its business practices Express Scripts reviews its locations to see that they are operating efficiently as possible to control costs, improve outcomes and meet organizational needs. In fact, the wording was nearly identical to a statement given in April to St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Steve Giegerich when he followed up on a tip about layoffs at the corporate offices. So it’s nice to see that the local press isn’t treated any better than a reporter calling from 1,700 miles away. While digging around in annual reports and press releases I did uncover what I was looking for – the why to the closure of the West Hills offices. In the process I also uncovered abuse of the language in the name of corporate efficiency. In one sentence from a release on quarterly earnings, the phrase “footprint rationalization” is used to explain the West Hills closure and the elimination of one other facility. I am not sure what that means nor am I sure the person who wrote it knows what it means but it makes me think: Ugh. There is no rationalization for such empty words. West Coast WSJ? The chief executive of Dow Jones, the owner of the Wall Street Journal, said that Los Angeles could be the next city to get a local edition of the paper. In an interview with PaidContent.org, Les Hinton said that no final decision has been made but that focus groups show an antipathy by high-end readers to what has happened to the local paper (i.e. the Los Angeles Times). The diminishment of “once great and highly valued local newspapers” opens up opportunities for Dow Jones to start a local edition of the Wall Street Journal, Hinton said. Staff Reporter Mark Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or by e-mail at [email protected].