FAQ'S

The Alliance is a framework for collaboration with a mission to enhance the public relations profession and its practitioners throughout the world. The Alliance was formally established in Chicago, Illinois, USA, on 25 October, 2000, after a Public Relations World Congress sponsored by the Public Relations Society of America and the International Public Relations Association. More than 20 national and international associations were actively involved in the founding of this historic framework.

Because it builds on cooperative efforts of PR Professional Bodies (who build on the cooperative efforts of PR Professionals) to tackle common problems with a global perspective.

By partnering with national bodies to increase professionalism in Public Relations, this Alliance works to enhance the influence of the Public Relations industry among its constituents around the world.

In this new century, more and more public relations practitioners represent organizations that transcend national boundaries. In addition, everyone is increasingly affected by global trends and issues. Most professions have a forum for discussing and adopting common positions that affect the profession. The public relations industry now has the GA to play that key advocacy role. For several years, practitioners and the associations who serve them have felt a need to share ideas and best practices, seek common interests and standards, and better understand the unique aspects of each culture in which practitioners operate. As no one association can do, the Global Alliance will provide initiatives to help achieve these goals. Through cooperation, the associations and their member practitioners will be able to strengthen the influence of the public relations industry among our constituents around the world. A key first international standard was achieved with the unanimous approval of a universal code of ethics that took into consideration flexibility of application in different parts of the world without compromising the basic elements of such a code.

• Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS);
• Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA);
• Confederation Europeene des Relations Publiques (CERP);
• Public Relations Society of America (PRSA);
• Estonian Public Relations Association (EPRA);
• Public Relations Society of India (PRSI);
• Federazione Relazioni Pubbliche Italiana (FERPI);
• Public Relations Society of Kenya (PRSK);
• Hungarian Public Relations Association (HPRA);
• Public Relations Society of Puerto Rico (PRSPR);
• Institute of Public Relations (CIPR, United Kingdom);
• Public Relations Society of Slovenia (PRSS);
• International Association of Business Communicators (IABC);
• Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP);
• Public Relations Society of Yugoslavia (PRSY);
• Public Relations Agencies Association of Mexico (PRAA);
• Romanian Public Relations Association (RPRA);
• Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA);
• Russian Public Relations Association (RASO);
• Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII);
• Swedish Public Relations Association (SPRA);
• Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ);

Unify and Link - To unify the profession by linking together all the national public relations and communication management associations as well as regional, specialty and international associations.

Professional Standards - To provide a framework for the discussion and consensus based definition of professional standards and to share resources for the benefit of the professional community

Member Development - To leverage the work of associations and institutes for the benefit and growth of our member associations and institutes and their members.

Service to the Profession - To become the authoritative global voice on public relations matters and to work in the public interest for the benefit of the profession

The Global Alliance has no individual membership category. The available levels of participation for Associations are:

National Members - National public relations and communication management organisations that represent individuals

Non-National Members - All other associations --- international, regional confederations or national associations of specialty areas (e.g. educators, students, consultants)

Collaborators - Associations who do not meet eligibility criteria (adopt and enforce the global code of ethics and full representation of the profession in their country) or that choose to collaborate without being members, can interact with the GA

The participating entities have pledged to avoid any additional burden on their members. A modest fee of £250 Sterling is charged annually to all full members and £200 Sterling to all associate members. Other types of financial and non-financial (i.e. in-kind) arrangements are also possible for smaller and developing associations. The GA is also making efforts that solicit donations, grants, sponsorships, usage fees, and other funding possibilities. Associations that have chosen to support a nominee for one of the six executive board positions have agreed to cover the respective costs of their nominee for the meetings of the executive as well as the annual council members meeting.

By the end of 2008, the Global Alliance had 77 Full Members, 10 Associate Members (including International Associations, Regional Confederations and Specialty Associations) and 12 Partner Associations (including 3 collaborator associations and 9 contact associations). Please visit “our Community” for further info on membership.

• Endorse the Standards agreed upon by Global Alliance member societies and enforce their application at the National level
• Participate in the work of the Alliance by offering access to experts within their organisation; taking positions on matters when requested; attending GA council meetings; collaborating in various studies, surveys and benchmarking exercises on a timely basis.
• Ensure that relevant information about their organisation is posted on the GA web site with appropriate links to unique studies and reports.
• Actively market the GA on its own documentation; prominently displaying the fact that GA members get ‘member rates’ on order forms for any locally available products and services.
• Display the GA logo prominently on their web site and main promotional materials in accordance with the marketing committee’s advice.
• Ensure that annual membership dues are paid (arrangements can be made for smaller and developing associations).
• Facilitate the signing of formal reciprocity agreements between associations (where appropriate) to allow portability of a member’s status.

Professional Associations joining the Global Alliance can benefit in a number of ways.

• Becoming the representative of a global network of Professional Associations at the local or regional level confers credibility to your association and increases legitimacy to advocate for the profession to your local stakeholders
• Belonging to a network of Professional Associations worldwide increases the flow of information and resources available to your members
• Having a voice in the definition of global standards that affect the whole industry helps you increase professionalism at the local level by enforcing their application
• External relations and overseas notoriety for your association are facilitated by belonging to a powerful and representative network which has the World Bank or the United Nations as key stakeholders
• Sharing information and learning from the strategies used by other societies helps you when tackling similar problems
• Having the possibility to host international events in your country or offer access to international events, products & services that increase your value to individual members

• The “World at a member’s rate” policy by which PR professionals have access to events and services of the Global Alliance member associations as if they were a member of more than 60 associations!
• A powerful web portal at www.globalpr.org which works as a resources database and is the basis of an on-line community allowing greater interactivity, dialogue and access to improved facilities.
• Opportunities to volunteer to workgroups and help shape global standards of practice and confer increased credibility to professionals in the labour market
• Participation in several forums for discussing common issues both in the Global Alliance website and in other platforms such as the www.prconversations.com weblog which discusses global issues affecting PR
• Access to valuable professional resources such as a series of business guides profiling the landscape of the practice PR in different countries, case studies, benchmarking studies and other in-depth research
• Privileged access to special offers and deals for innovative solutions designed to help the profession. An example is the ComPro software introduced by Digital Management company

The two Governing bodies of the Global Alliance are the Global Alliance Council and the Executive Board.

Global Alliance Council
Each National Association’s representatives are members of the Global Alliance Council - the primary governing body. Each national association is represented by:
The President/Chairman of the Board (or, if he/she so wishes during his/her last year of office, his/her duly appointed successor); and
The Managing Director/Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer.

Executive Board
An executive board of nine officers is elected from this GA Council group. The Executive Board includes Chair, Past-Chair, Chair-Elect, Secretary, Treasurer, Two delegates at large and two other representatives of professional bodies.
The Executive Board is supported by an Executive Officer which provides for secretarial support.