The goal of this project was to give me an opportunity to think and work strategically on behalf of the Child Advocacy Center and to produce communication materials based on the information and knowledge I built throughout my spring semester about effective communication. This project consists of an organization profile, fact sheet, news release and social media analysis.

1. Heather Ellis
ALEC/ADPR207
Final Client Project
28 April 2016
Final Client Project: Child Advocacy Center
Introduction
Throughout the semester, I have learned a great amount of information about
public relations, whether it’s the different models of public relations, different forms of
public relations, opinion leaders, knowing your audience and more. At the beginning of
the semester, I chose to analyze the Child Advocacy Center of Lincoln, Nebraska. When
it comes to trying to get a specific message out to a community. When it comes to public
relations within different audiences, it’s important to know different tactics and
strategies. In this client portfolio, you will see an organizational profile, a fact sheet, a
news release and a social media analysis about the Child Advocacy Center.
The first communication tactic in this portfolio is an organizational profile about
the Child Advocacy Center. When representing the Child Advocacy Center or any non-
profit organization, you must showcase a clear and in-depth understanding of your
organization; with this, you should know a bit of history about your organization, why it
was founded, what groups of people it serves or works with, what type of organization it
is and more. The second communication tactic in this portfolio is a fact sheet. A fact
sheet is one of the many strategies available to share information about an organization.
Fact sheets also give an organization’s ability to represent large information into smaller
pieces. However, they can also be used to show an organization’s stance on an issue

2. while incorporating important details; with this, readers/audiences are allowed to gain
fast and essential information when needed. The third communication tactic in this
portfolio is a news release. Today, news releases are one of the most used communication
tactics a professional can use. News releases are essentially a strategy organization’s use
to share information about using various media outlets. For example, as an organization,
you’re able to write about something your organization is doing, going to do or just did.
Writing new releases as much as possible can boost an organization’s reputation, which is
very important! The final communication tactic in this portfolio is a social media
analysis. Throughout the years, the use of social media platforms have grown
dramatically; social media allows you to communicate to a variety of audiences using
strategic communication principles, so it’s important that your organization has a strong
social media presence (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.).
Throughout the semester, I had to focus on a variety of different elements in order
to create my client portfolio. In order to create this client portfolio, it was important that I
did some more in-depth research about the Child Advocacy Center. For example,
researching different articles about the Child Advocacy Center and what they have done
that has affected the Lincoln community helped me write my news release along with
researching different events they have put together. Researching my organization’s
directors, donators, history and more helped me create an organization profile for the
Child Advocacy Center. Keeping up with their social media platforms (what they have
retweeted on Twitter, what statuses they’ve posted on Facebook, etc.), and more helped
me write my social media analysis while emphasizing more on its Twitter account.
Researching and keeping up with the Child Advocacy Center helped me create this client

3. portfolio because without this information, I would’ve had no content about the
organization or the opportunity to produce communication pieces for this organization.
Summary
Overall, the Child Advocacy Center does a good job communicating to its public
audiences. For example, this organization does a good job with using the information
model of public relations, which is essentially a new standard of honest and accurate
dissemination of newsworthy information. When it comes to being a non-profit
organization about child abuse, it’s very important that the Child Advocacy Center is
honest and informative about the information they are presenting to the public. Without
having honest and accurate information, you will not be able to gain the public’s attention
or get the help you need from surrounding communities.
Even though the Child Advocacy Center does a good job communicating to its
public audiences, there’s always room for improvement. Three specific suggestions I
have for this organization in order to improve its communication would be to have a
stronger social media presence (new media), incorporating more tactics for employees
and creating more personnel releases.
Having a stronger social media presence and creating new media is an amazing
way to get content to audiences! For example, the Child Advocacy Center should be
posting more statuses and pictures on Facebook, retweeting more relevant information on
Twitter and even consider creating an Instagram account. It can also create podcasts,
wikis, bogs and more. Along with social media, the Child Advocacy Center should also
create new tactics for employees. For example, having more speeches, special events,
videos, intranets and more will help improve its communication to different audiences.

4. Lastly, the Child Advocacy Center should start focusing more on personnel releases.
Creating more personnel releases will help communicate to audiences how amazing the
employees are at this organization, which will draw more people in. Incorporating these
three strategies will help the Child Advocacy Center communicate to its audiences better
and will make this organization more successful.

5. Organization Profile
The Child Advocacy Center is an important organization in the Lincoln area for
both children and parents. The Child Advocacy Center is to provide the Lincoln
community with a safe haven for children who struggle through child abuse. This
organization creates a safe and child friendly environment for children, as well as
professional medical evaluations and interviews. Not only does the Child Advocacy
Center create a comfortable environment for abused children, they also provide a place
children can call home that have been kidnapped, sexually abused, exposed to possession
and more.
The Child Advocacy Center in Lincoln opened in 1998, which served children
that have been abused both sexually and physically. The Center offers forensic
interviews, medical evaluations, advocacy and support, court school, case coordination,
mental health services, community education and professional training. Specializing in
the medial and psychological field, this sets the Child Advocacy Center apart from many
other organizations that focus on child abuse. In December 2010, a new 15,000 square
foot building was built in Lincoln, Nebraska. About $2.5 million dollars were made from
both private and public donations. The new Lincoln Child Advocacy Center is five times
larger than the old center that was torn down in 2010. Having a significant amount of
donations from both private and public parties shows the love and support the Child
Advocacy Center has here in the Lincoln and Lancaster area.
The Child Advocacy Center is a non-profit organization, which can also be
referred to as a voluntary sector. This organization provides a comfortable environment
and gives away positive energy to children and families, rather than just taking money

6. and making a profit. The Child Advocacy Center greatly appreciates volunteer and
donations, but their number one priority is making sure they have a safe environment for
the children. This organization is also a Lincoln based organization and is not affiliated
internationally or with the government. Having these benefits within the Child Advocacy
Center allows the organization to focus on the children and dedicate their services to
something more than just money.
When it comes to maintaining an organization, it is important that you have strong
public relations strategies. Three major public relations strategies the Child Advocacy
Center practices most are consumer relations, employee relations and community
relations. The Child Advocacy Center practices consumer relations because this
organization has numerous clients. This organization depends on consumers in order to
raise awareness, money/donations, time, volunteers and more. The Child Advocacy
Center also practices employee relations because this organization is successful when
their employees are aware, informed and passionate with the organization and their
mission. For example, most posts on social media platforms are of employees
volunteering, speaking at an event, getting along with the children at the center, and
more. If you do not have strong, dedicated employees then your organization will have a
negative environment. Lastly, the Child Advocacy Center practices community relations
because this organization is located in the Lincoln and Lancaster communities, so it’s
important to have communication/engagement with the community. By doing this, the
Child Advocacy Center will gain new/more relationships with people in the community.
Along with public relations, it is important to establish strong tactics. With this, the Child
Advocacy Center uses tactics such as: advisory boards, brochures, direct mail, position

7. paper, e-mail, engagement with schools, children activities, special events, newspapers
and more. Having these public relations strategies and tactics within the Child Advocacy
Center will make the organization more confident, strong and successful.
The main stakeholder groups at the Child Advocacy Center are: employees,
communities and schools. Employees are a strong stakeholder group the Child Advocacy
has is because the employees are what makes an organization successful. With this,
employees have an important stake to the Child Advocacy Center because if they do not
follow the mission statement and attitude of this organization then they will get a bad
reputation. For example, if an employee disagrees with a certain rule at the organization
and they decide to post on social media bashing the Child Advocacy Center, then they
can make create a bad reputation for themselves and the organization. Your employees
must always follow the mission statement and attitude of this organization in order to b
successful. The second stakeholder group the Child Advocacy Center has is communities
within Lincoln, such as Nebraska City and York, Nebraska. This organization strives on
individuals from the Lincoln and Lancaster communities because that is where they get a
majority of their volunteers and donations. Recently, the Child Advocacy Center opened
a new satellite office in Nebraska City and spread the word through television
commercials, newspaper articles and more. There, people who weren’t close to Lincoln
had the opportunity to go to the new location to get help. It is important to make
surrounding communities more aware of the Child Advocacy Center, so that they can
receive more donations and help more children that are victims of abuse. The last
stakeholder group the Child Advocacy Center has is schools. The first signs of child
abuse are recognized in a school and/or a classroom. Schools in the Lincoln and

8. Lancaster area are a strong part of this organization due to the fact that a large number of
the children that come to this organization are recommended from their teachers.
Children are very important to schools and they want children to have a safe environment
both inside and outside of the school environment. The main interest these three
stakeholder groups has are making sure the Child Advocacy Center succeeds and that
they provide a home for as many abused children as possible.

9. Fact Sheet
Changing
the child abuse system
In this room,
Sarah is referred
to a counselor,
who will help her
heal.
In this room, Sarah
can see a doctor.
Sarah comes to the
Advocacy Center
with her mom.
Sarah's mom talk
to an advocate.
5025 Garland Street Lincoln, NE 68504
Phone (402) 476-­3200
E-­mail lynn@smallvoices.org

10. News Release
Heather Ellis
April 9 , 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Lynn Ayers
5025 Garland Street
Lincoln, NE 68504
Phone (402) 476-3200
New Satellite Office Opens in Nebraska City
LINCOLN, Neb. (April 8, 2014)– At the Child Advocacy Center, employees and
children have been celebrating due to the grand opening of the new satellite office in
Nebraska City. This new satellite office is located in a local space at 6142 Highway 75
that was donated by the Women’s Distribution Services. “WDS is committed to building
safe and strong communities and we are pleased to partner with the Child Advocacy
Center as they provide crucial services to child victims of abuse in Southeast Nebraska,”
said Jennifer Maier, CEO of Women’s Distribution Services.
Opening an additional satellite office will offer support and forensic interviews to
children who are suffering from abuse, neglect, sexual assault and more. The office in
Lincoln sees more than a thousand kids a year on average, so opening another office will
allow children to escape the terrible situations they may be dealing with.
The Child Advocacy Center located in Lincoln also allows families from surroundings
cities to come to Lincoln and get the help they need. However, the new satellite office
will allow families that are closer to Nebraska City to get immediate help, support and
more whenever they need. “Looking into it, we made the right decision to build a new
satellite office in Nebraska City so we could do more for families in need,” commented
Lynn Ayers, Executive Director of the Child Advocacy Center.
Families from the surrounding counties of Nebraska City have utilized this new satellite
office and are very pleased with the services they have provided thus far.
The new satellite office has received numerous donations from the National Children’s
Alliance, Protect Nebraska Kids Foundation, Hawks Foundation and the Grainger
Foundation. The Child Advocacy Center has continued to seek individuals and volunteers
for additional support and donations. Snacks, bedding, water, books and more are needed
for this satellite office.
###

11. About the Child Advocacy Center
The Child Advocacy Center is a non-profit organization based in Lincoln and has been
providing services to child victims of abuse and neglect and their non-offending family
members in 17 counties in the Southeast Nebraska area since 1998. Visit us at
www.smallvoices.org

12. Social Media Analysis
Introduction
Throughout the semester, our class focus has been to communicate to a variety of
audiences using strategic communication ethics. We have also focused on several tools
that will help communicators, but the number one tool that will help us communicate to
different audiences is social media. When focusing on a brand and social media use, it’s
important to have social media presence; with this, you should think about your
character/persona, tone, language and purpose.
Purpose
For my social media analysis, I chose to analyze the Twitter account for the Child
Advocacy Center of Lincoln, Nebraska (@LincolnCAC). Analyzing this account, I found
that the purpose of this account is essentially to make individuals more aware of the ways
you can help children that are victims of child abuse, whether you’re a bystander of
sexual abuse or you know somebody who is a victim. For example, they have multiple
tweets about who to call in emergency situations that involve child abuse in Nebraska.
They also have tweets about certain events they host for people that witness a boundary
violation, or see a situation in which a child is vulnerable. Having an account like Twitter
that is specifically for ways to help children that are victims of abuse will spread
awareness and be beneficial to children, families, the Child Advocacy Center and more.
Character/Persona
Analyzing the Child Advocacy Center’s Twitter page, the character/persona
they’re presenting is more professional. Since child abuse is a sensitive subject
throughout the world today, it’s important that it’s discussed in a professional manner.

13. Throughout the Child Advocacy Center’s Twitter feed, I noticed that they write more
professionally and without exclamation marks when talking about child abuse/awareness.
For example, the Child Advocacy Center tweeted about how the children are counting on
us by reporting child abuse with a link attached, “About Finding the Courage to Talk
About Sexual Abuse” from YouTube. From this tweet, their character is very
professional, which is what I would picture them to be if they were a specific person. On
the other hand, when they are tweeting about an event or raising money they tend to
lighten up the mood by using exclamation marks and pictures, but still maintaining a
professional platform.
Tone
The character/persona of how the Child Advocacy Center sounds like has a huge
factor with what the general vibe of this organization is, which both honesty and
personal. A majority of the tweets that are on this Twitter page are child abuse statistics,
especially because April is child abuse prevention month. For example, the Child
Advocacy retweeted a post about how 1 in 10 children will be sexually abused before the
age of 18, 1 in 5 children are solicited sexually while on the Internet, etc. In order to gain
awareness, it’s important that your honest and present accurate statistics. The Child
Advocacy Center also does a good job of presenting individuals on their Twitter account

14. who have survived child abuse, which is why their tone is also personal. For example,
they have a tweet and an attached link about a UNL student sharing her story and journey
of child abuse when she was younger.
Language
One important aspect of an organizations social media brand voice is language.
Looking through my organizations Twitter feed, I came to the conclusion that its
language is simple. A lot of their tweets are very to the point and easy to understand; with

15. this, the Child Advocacy doesn’t use any language or words that their audience won’t
know. They also don’t use certain “slang” or “jargon” words that companies or people
use today on Twitter because they want to follow their organizations character, which is
professional. For example, the Child Advocacy Center tweeted a picture of one of their
representatives at the United Way of Lincoln’s combined federal campaign fair. Attached
to the tweet was a description about where the picture was taken and what it was for; with
this, the Child Advocacy Center is able to inform their followers in a simple language
about what their organization is up too. I believe tweeting in a language that is more
simple and detailed will make it easier for followers to know what is going on, as well as
appealing to target audiences.

16. Child Advocacy Center and Social Media
One of the main purposes of using social and digital media is to have genuine
two-way communication between the Child Advocacy Center and their publics.
Analyzing the Child Advocacy’s Twitter account, I believe that they only use this
specific social media platform to push information out rather than taking the time to
respond to feedback from other followers. Overall, the Child Advocacy Center does a
poor job with Facebook and Twitter, considering those are the only two social media
platforms they use. With Twitter, they only push information and events out to their
followers because they are never responding to other individuals/organizations tweets or
following up on certain events they post about. For example, they had an event in
February for “Boundary Protecting Children from Boundary Violations” where
individuals could attend for free, but days after the event they never followed up about
how the event went, how many people went, etc. I believe that an organization this size
fighting for a cause so big should be more involved with their Twitter followers and
social media in general.
Conclusion
Overall, the Child Advocacy Center does a good job incorporating
character/persona, tone, language and purpose when using Twitter. Even though its
Twitter usage is low, the handful of posts it has are beneficial and communicates to
audiences well. For future reference, the Child Advocacy Center should focus on its
social media presence because that will help them engage with audiences and be more
successful.