Chesapeake establishes grant program

Chesapeake Energy Corporation has established a grant program to help Tarrant County non-profits who use the services of the nation’s only student advertising/public relations agency dedicated to serving non-profit clients.

An urban pioneer in the Barnett Shale, Chesapeake is the #1 driller in Texas and the largest independent producer of clean-burning natural gas in the U.S.

The agency, RealWorld Integrated Marketing Communications at Texas Christian University, was established by the TCU Schieffer School of Journalism to give students practical experience in advertising/PR while meeting the integrated marketing needs of non-profit organizations.

Chesapeake has awarded the student agency $10,000 to establish the Chesapeake Energy Fund for Non-Profit Communications.  Grants from the fund will be used to pay agency fees for non-profits who cannot afford to initiate publicity, promotions and advertising projects with RealWorld.

Tommy Thomason, director of the Schieffer School, said Chesapeake’s establishment of the fund was “a great example of a corporation and a university uniting to serve the real human needs of a community.”

"RealWorld works with many small non-profits who cannot afford even the minimal fees the agency needs to charge to underwrite our own costs in beginning a project,” Thomason said.  “We hate to see worthy projects sidetracked.  This gift will help small non-profits get their message to the public.”

RealWorld Integrated Marketing Communications was established in 2006 as an innovative approach to providing agency experience to undergraduates.  It is one of fewer than 10 such student agencies at American universities, and the only one that exclusively serves the non-profit community.  Two advertising/PR professionals work with students to turn each project into a teaching opportunity, Thomason said.

“Chesapeake appreciates the importance of education and the need for effective communications in all businesses,” said Julie H. Wilson, vice president of corporate development – Barnett Shale. “Chesapeake’s own educational advertising campaign and our AskChesapeake Web site is a strong indication of how important we believe it is to share helpful information in an easy-to-understand format. We are pleased to be able to help local non-profit organizations establish their own communications campaigns as well as give ‘real world’ experience to our nation’s future communicators.”

 “The purpose of the PRFT Educator of the Year Award is to spotlight leaders in public relations education,” Fix said.  “As the PRFT honors outstanding educators each year, we hope to continue to raise awareness of the importance of public relations education in colleges and universities throughout the state.”

PRFT is the nonprofit foundation affiliated with TPRA, a 54-year-old statewide organization of PR practitioners.  The foundation supports scholarships and internships for public relations students in conjunction with TPRA programs.  These include the James W. Hart, Jr., Intern of the Year scholarship and the Joe Riordan Scholars.