Spreading the word about AFAR's work

AFAR recently joined forces with Upstart Vision, Inc., a Washington D.C.-based public relations and marketing firm, to help advance efforts to publicize its work and to assist in fundraising. Washington is home to thousands of philanthropic foundations and to the media covering health, fundraising and research.

AFAR was initially funded by anonymous gifts and private individuals. "Now we are ready to take the next step and move into the public funding sector," says Elizabeth Griffin, AFAR's COO. "We need to approach the media to announce that we are seeking funding from the general public and we need to approach public and corporate foundations for larger grants. We believe that Upstart Vision can help us more effectively meet these goals."

Upstart Vision's tasks are to generate publicity for AFAR in the foundation and fundraising community as well as in the general business community. "An important goal will be to arrange meetings with corporate foundations," says Mike Smith, president of Upstart Vision. "Initially, we are targeting the Midwest- specifically the cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago, and Detroit." Smith brings broad experience to his work. He spent 10 years in the public relations and marketing field with such major firms as Edelman PR Worldwide in Washington, and Burson-Marsteller in Chicago. A Certified Association Executive, he also has extensive experience in foundation fundraising and has worked with the National Association of Manufacturers, one of the nation's top corporate foundation groups. These contacts will be introduced to AFAR.

AFAR chose Upstart Vision because of its affiliation with numerous foundations and Washington-based fundraising groups and because it has effectively served other organizations and individuals in the field. Upstart Vision was able, for example, to arrange television contacts for Dr. Patrick Carnes with Fox News and East coast CBS affiliates when he was speaking recently on behalf of the National Council on Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity and The Meadows.

AFAR also plans to enlist Upstart Vision's help as it begins working with the internet and the computer world to identify cybersex as an industry/community problem. Smith recently arranged an interview with Wired magazine in New York to discuss this issue, and it believes that the computer industry can help by supporting AFAR's research. "Cybersex is a rapidly growing, though relatively unacknowledged, problem," says Griffin. "For example, nearly 16% of internet users have problems with sex on the net; as of January 1999, there were 98,527,275 unique visitors per month on the top five free porn websites; and 70% of all e-porn traffic occurs Monday through Friday between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m."

This new relationship with Upstart Visions will help AFAR more effectively meet its goal of reaching and building relationships with corporations and the general public.