Media Outreach for Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity Guide
Main Thrivent Builds resources:
 www.thriventbuilds.com/resources
 Press releases – pre-approved with fillable and customizable text
o General
o Program specific
o Groundbreakings, wall raising, dedications
o Fundraising events
o Sample media plan
 Invite the media to cover special events like fundraisers, groundbreakings, wall raisings, and
home dedication events
 www.thriventbuilds.com/newsroom
 Fact sheets in newsroom under “Media Kit”
 Partner family bio outline
 Media Relations on FieldNet
 Thrivent Builds Media Contact Callie Briese – 612-844-7340
 Thrivent Builds Event in a Box on FieldNet
Purpose of media outreach:
Media outreach increases awareness of Thrivent Financial, through the Thrivent Builds program, and
helps build your personal brand and differentiates you from your competitors as someone who is
passionate about activating community members to help fight inadequate housing.
Program specific media worthy components:
 Thrivent Builds Homes – National Announcement in January/February to announce the annual
Thrivent commitment. Yearlong opportunities while the build is ongoing. Especially events like
groundbreakings, wall raising, and dedications. Themed build days like “Women’s Build” or
“Veterans Build” also newsworthy.
 Thrivent Builds Repairs – Flexible one or two day events to promote the improvement of your
community. Multi-project “repair blitzes’” to coordinate with national days of generosity or to
address a community need are newsworthy.
 Thrivent Builds Worldwide –Utilize the life-changing one- to two-week experience to tell a story
in the media and really capture attention. Destinations include both international and domestic
US locations.
Do’s and Don’ts for media outreach with Thrivent Builds:
Do:
 Utilize web resources like blogs and sharing content from websites
 Get to know the media folks in your area and have your short list of publications, stations,
websites, etc. that you will want to distribute your news to. Build a relationship with the
appropriate contact for “good news” stories.
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Send press releases as text in an email, not an attachment
Send to multiple people like the editorial/news department
Say “thank you” to reporters, editors, publications that run your story
Don’t:
 Attach press releases to email; instead send them as text in the email
 Complain about minor inaccuracies
 Ask to see a story before it’s published
Here are some easy steps for more effective news release distribution that only
cost your time.

Choose one or two free news release distribution sites (any more than 3-5 is usually a waste of
time). Some sites will actually get your release added to news search engines. For example,
PR.com’s free option will pretty much always get your release picked up by Google News. And
that will make your release available via search. Note: A list of hyperlinks to many of these sites
follows on page two of this document.

Send it to the Associated Press. It never hurts to try, and if they deem your release newsworthy
enough to pick up, you just might get some extra media coverage out of it. Just email or fax the
release to the appropriate editor, writer, or regional bureau depending on your location and news.

Send it to your local newspaper or other media with an additional local spin on it. Can you
obtain some local housing statistics to beef up your story? Perhaps you could tie it to another
community event that is happening at the same time. Send it to the most relevant journalist or
editor at your local paper. Try to build a relationship with the editor or writer whenever possible
while you’re at it.
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Send it directly to niche or industry outlets. If you know of the top blogs, magazines, or
websites in your area that deal with affordable housing, family issues or other related areas, see if
they have news release submission guidelines, and submit it directly to them. Don’t just assume
they’ll find you through Google News or a news release distribution site. Work on the bigger ones
first, and submit to as many as you have time for. If you get bigger pickups, they’ll often lead to
smaller niche blogs and other such copycatting of your story anyway. Again, try to build
relationships with these contacts, if you can.

Add your news releases to your own website or blog. The purpose of a news release is to bring
exposure, but that becomes difficult if it’s not easily accessed. On top of putting the news out to
your regular supporters or website visitors, placing it on your own site also allows you to archive
your releases for journalists who visit the site wanting to learn more about your organization or site
history. If you don’t have a news “room” or at least a news release archive on your website, we
strongly suggest that you add one. (See the “Thrivent Builds News” section of the Thrivent Builds
website for an example). Once it’s available, you can take that opportunity to add other social
media tools and links to related sites or web pages. For instance, you could add a link to the
Thrivent Builds videos on YouTube or links to www.thriventbuilds.com and www.habitat.org.

Set up Google or Yahoo media alerts about your affiliate. It’s easy to do, just go to
www.google.com/alerts, enter your Habitat affiliate name as the search term, and fill in your email
and how often you want to be updated. Then, Google will email you anytime it finds reference to
your affiliate on the Internet! This is a great way to see newspaper stories, blogs about your
affiliate, and more, as they appear on the Internet.
List of free news release distribution sites:
Make sure you check to see if your local newspaper’s website has an option to upload news releases
directly to their site, too. Large daily papers often have this feature on their sites to encourage the
community to post their own news.
1888PressRelease.com
24-7 Press Release
AddPR.com
eCommWire.com
Express-Press-Release.com
Free-News-Release.com
Free-Press-Release.com
Free-Press-Release-Center.info
FreePressIndex.com
FreePressRelease.co.cc
i-Newswire.com
MediaSyndicate.com
MyFreePR.com
NewswireToday.com
PageRelease.com
PR.com
PR9.net
PR-Inside.com
PRCompass.com
PRlog.com
PRurgent.com
PRzoom.com
PressAbout.com
PressBox.co.uk
PressFlow.co.uk
PressMethod.com
PressRelease.com
PressReleasePoint.com
TheOpenPress.com