RIVER at P.O. Box 8395, Cincinnati, OH 45208 US - Publicity Guidelines for RIVER Communications

Background Over time, various River Boards have spent significant effort examining which fundraisers it is appropriate for our group to promote. Upon first consideration, some organizations seemed to be compatible with the Catholic faith, only to find later that these organizations supported or engaged in activities contrary to Church belief and teaching. Because the River Board has limited time and resources to devote to researching such organizations, it adopted a publicity policy with the following objectives: 1. To have a policy for promoting fundraisers with clear guidelines that can largely be enforced objectively, rather than subjectively, and thus be acted upon most efficiently. 2. To avoid to the greatest extent possible the possibility of inadvertently promoting/supporting activities which are counter to Catholic belief and teaching. 3. To allow River to promote some fundraisers, but limit the extent of this promotion to activities clearly compatible with the Catholic faith. The Board acknowledges that some very worthwhile causes will not be promoted by River under this policy, but believe that this is a necessary consequence of maintaining functional efficiency. Future River Boards are encouraged to use great caution in utilizing the exception provision contained in paragraph 4, which requires a unanimous vote of board members. Past experience demonstrates that one exception leads to the case being made for others. Exceptions also often do little to advance River's mission, but can easily become counter-productive, resulting in time-consuming debates and controversy that detract from the Board’s other work. Guidelines River regularly sends out information pertaining to upcoming events. In order to best serve our organization and its members, the following guidelines should be followed when submitting something for email distribution. 1. The Activities Coordinator is the main contact for all publicity announcements sent via email, with the assistance and guidance of the remainder of the River Board. 2. Activities organized as a River event, should be done with the assistance/approval of the Activities Coordinator. The Activities Coordinator will be able to determine if there are other activities in conflict with the date or if the activity is in line with the mission of River. He/she will also assist in determining the proper means of publicity, including email and the newsletter. 3. Activities that are sponsored or organized by other organizations are subject to be sent out at the Activities Coordinator’s discretion. While River supports the activities of other organizations and seeks to work in partnership with other organizations, publicity of events that do not fall in line with River goals and mission will not be publicized. Those events which are in conflict with a River event date may not be publicized, depending on the magnitude of each of the events. 4. Information pertaining to an individual and his or her individual activity will be limited to: -prayer requests -activities open to all members. The Activities Coordinator must approve such activities. Requests for publicity of fundraising events will be honored if the beneficiary organization is listed in the current edition of The Official Catholic Directory (a.k.a., the Kenedy Directory). Other requests for publicity of fundraising events are not encouraged and will be honored only upon a unanimous vote of all five board members. Requests for roommates, forwarded “spam” email, items for sale and other items of a personal nature will not be distributed. Individuals are encouraged to send out such email on their own, using their personal address book. 5. In order to have an item publicized through River’s email address, the event’s description should be sent to RIVER@CatholicWeb.com. The description should include the following information: What the event is Where and when Directions Who is the sponsor (if it is outside of River) Who is the contact and how to best get a hold of that person Any special instructions (deadlines, things to bring to the event, etc.) When the notice should be sent out to the members Any link to any information about the event that is available on the Internet. This email should be formatted and ready to be sent without editing by the Activities Coordinator. 6. Information regarding activities needing to be publicized via email should be sent to RIVER@CatholicWeb.com no later than Wednesday noon of the week you would like it sent out. Emails to the general organization are usually sent out on Thursdays or no later than noon Friday. If there is need for information to go out with different timing, this must be agreed upon in advance with the Activities Coordinator. 7. Ultimately, all items that are to be sent out via the River email address for publicity are at the discretion of the Activities Coordinator and the River Board. Anything that is in conflict with River’s goals and mission, River’s prior planned activities, or with the general welfare of the organization and its members will not be publicized. February 12, 2005

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