December 8, 1998

The Donnelley Center: Helping students help the community

by Legia Coyi, intern in the Office of Public Affairs, and Angela Anthony, assistant director of Public Affairs

The Donnelley Center for Nonprofit Communications offers it all: a publicity and graphic outlet for nonprofit organizations, an energetic workforce, and a training ground for soon-to-be professionals. The center, located on the third floor of the Communications/Music Complex, is a graphics lab and some would say a second home for advertising and public relations students.

The center was established in 1996 through a $75,000 gift from the Elliott R. Donnelley Family Trust. It is named in honor of 1991 Loyola graduate and Board of Trustees member, Shawn M. Donnelley. Since the initial gift, the Donnelley Trust has established an endowment and given two grants to the center for expansion, transforming the space from 20 IBM typewriters to 15 computer work stations, two black and white printers, one color printer, and four scanners. Since its inception, students have used the center to create advertising and public relations projects for 50 nonprofit organizations. The clientele has ranged from Loyola’s admissions office, which used one of the slogans and brochure designs in a mailing in the spring 1997 to the Greater New Orleans United Cerebral Palsy which received a new logo and an organization identity. Last year, students created a full-scale public relations campaign for the Jewish Community Center. One of the Donnelley Center’s most successful campaigns involved The Big Brothers, Big Sisters organization. The campaign for the national operation placed first in the National PRSSA (Public Relations Students Society of America) Bateman competition, where five Loyola students utilized the Donnelley Center to create the multi-page, color plans book.

Teri Henley, associate professor of communications and the director of the center, says the lab has been an invaluable tool. “Students have the opportunity to deal with real organizations and develop practical solutions for advertising and public relations issues. They leave Loyola more confident and better prepared to function efficiently in the real world.”

Real work environment

The Donnelley Center acts as a student agency where students meet with their clients to discuss the clients’ public relations or advertising needs. Under the supervision of communications faculty, students design and produce all campaign materials. They conduct the research, develop strategy, and execute the project, all within a specified budget. Currently, students are working on campaigns for Goodwill Industries and the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity.

For Habitat, several students worked on revising the logo and a brochure. Outside of these set criteria, 13 students divided into three groups were free to develop new ideas to solve Habitat’s problem of recruiting volunteers and sponsors. After the initial meeting with the Habitat representatives in September, students went through several stages. The first was research, where they conducted phone surveys, focus groups, and Internet research. Throughout the process, students were responsible for keeping in touch with Habitat. They have learned open communication helps to identify possible problems and devise effective solutions. The second stage, as in any real world agency, was strategy development. Here, students decided the creative execution for the campaign–what had to be done and how. All the information discovered was carefully documented in a plans book that will become a hard copy of the campaign for Habitat. The plans book was handed into Habitat before Thanksgiving break and the 13 students will present their final campaign to Habitat board members during exam week this month. It is important to note that this was the format for the Habitat campaign. Henley stresses that each campaign utilizes a different format or procedure so students must learn to be flexible.

In addition to its academic benefits, Henley stresses the center has established “a sense of community among the students enrolled in the advertising and public relations sequences because they spend so much time together working on similar projects and have many of the same experiences.”

Amy Doeer, an advertising student working on the Habitat campaign, can attest to this level of kinship. “All of my friends on campus were made through people I met and worked closely with in the Donnelley Center.”

Pamby Levert, a communications student, says, “Before working on Donnelley Center projects, I knew very little about graphic programs but I have learned a lot from the constant practice.”

Henley says her ultimate goal goes beyond just employment opportunities for students. “I hope this experience will encourage students, once they have graduated, to give back to the community through pro-bono work for nonprofit organizations.”