Communicating to the public the need for conservation and the importance of your land trust is a critical challenge.  Outreach strategies usually involve lots of focus on defining your message to key audiences, crafting text and graphics within an overall “look and feel”, and building capacity within your organization’s people to deliver those messages effectively.   GIS can add extra muscle to these tools – here are four ways:

 1.  “Showcase” graphics:  Posters that integrate maps with text, photos and other graphics can be powerful communication tools at conferences, festivals or other public events and can build internal understanding among board and staff.  These can be designed in GIS or can be done in illustration software, with GIS maps exported into that file.

2.  The news media:  Many newspapers can run your map if it is given to them in a digital format (usually a PDF, or Portable Document Format) – this helps ensure that the images they use are read as you intend them to.  GIS maps can also be created to support press releases, and larger posters can be created that form backdrop displays at press conferences. 

3.  Maps in reports:  Maps that clearly convey issues or accomplishments can be a great asset to reports and presentations.  Using map projects you’ve already developed in GIS, you can export them as digital images to be placed in word processing documents, layout programs and PowerPoint presentations.  You can also help designers working for you by providing them with these images when they are doing brochures or other offset-printed material. LEARN MORE about offset printing of maps...

4.  Maps on the Web:  You can post effective maps on your web site quite easily.  Save the map as a JPG (if many colors) or GIF (if just a few colors) and place it into your web page.  If you know how, you can put "hotspots" on the map that allow users to either get more information or click to a blow up of that section of the map.  You can also use services like Google Earth to upload and share your map data.  LEARN MORE about getting your maps on the web...

MORE INFO:

Fenton Communications - Marketing firm that has good resources for non-profits

Resource Media - Nonprofit consulting group that specializes in media campaigns