Moving Upstream: Prevention communication & fundraising

Building vibrant sexual violence and domestic violence prevention programs require more than a curriculum and presentations. In the Spring/Summer 2011 issue of Moving Upstream, the Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Action Alliance‘s newsletter on primary prevention of sexual violence and domestic violence, there are several articles that that highlight how to raise funds for prevention and develop strong communications strategies.

Margaret Mikkelsen, Executive Director of Sexual Assault Resource Agency, discusses how her agency embarked on a “Campaign For Prevention” to raise funds. She wrote:

In our first fundraising letter for this campaign, we included a survey of teachers where we asked them to identify problem behaviors they see that are connected to SARA‘s work. They gave us a list that included examples of sexual harassment, older students coercing younger students into sex, bullying using homophobic slurs, etc. So then we connected our prevention work to all of these very real behaviors, describing how our programs positively impact each behavior. We talked about how we will see an increase in empathy, bystander skills, respect, personal boundaries, and an understanding about gender roles as a result of our prevention work.

In another article, Brad Perry looks at how to create sexual violence and domestic violence prevention messages that stick. He warns against creating messages that “preach to the converted” – that is those messages that are caught up in jargon, based on assumptions that are not accepted by the intended audience, and resonate only with prevention practitioners.

Click here to check out these articles. What do you think about this articles?

The Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Action Alliance is holding its prevention conference Building Futures III on August 2-4, 2011 in Richmond, VA featuring many of the best prevention efforts such as Men Can Stop Rape, Bringing in the Bystander, Expect Respect, The Line, Youth Radio and Project Envision.  I will not able able to attend in-person this year, but recommend you check it out (unless you are in California where you should attend the CALCASA Leadership Conference.)