For over half a century, the National Public Relations Council of Health and Welfare Services (NPRC) was the major agency promoting public relations techniques in the funding and provision of social welfare services. The council also provided consultation and continuing education for an emerging administrative focus in social work. Over the years such prominent social workers as Gertrude Springer, Viola Paradise, George Rabinoff, Claire Tousley, and William F. Kirk played prominent roles in the council.
The council was formed in 1921 as the Committee on Publicity Methods in Social Work by Evart and Mary Swain Routzahn and a group of 22 health and welfare workers, with a budget of $145. A succession of name changes between 1921 and 1977 indicate how the organization sought to articulate more effectively its mission. The council existed as the Social Work Publicity Council (1929), the National Publicity Council for Health and Welfare Services (1943), the National Public Relations Council of Health and Welfare Services (1960), and the National Communication Council (NCC) for Human Services (1976).
Council membership included both individuals and institutions and grew from 86 in 1921 to over 1000 by 1931. A slight downturn in membership in the midst of the Depression was quickly curtailed, and the organization had roughly 1400 members by 1939. Development of a constitution and by-laws in 1935 led to incorporation in 1937 and attainment of tax-exempt status in 1939.
Over the years, services to council members included national conferences, newsletters, publications, consultation (including portfolio service), and educational materials. Creation of local public relations councils, sponsored by the national organization, provided members with more immediate resources to meet their public relations needs. Creation of a mimeographed News Bulletin in 1923 further promoted communication among members. Channels, a typeset monthly magazine, replaced the News Bulletin in 1938.
Major financial support from the Russell Sage Foundation began in 1922. This assistance sustained the organization for the next 25 years. Before 1938 foundation support amounted to over half of the agency's budget, so termination of that funding between 1940 and 1948 necessitated a difficult financial readjustment in order to maintain basic membership services. In the wake of massive economies and membership drives, the council--always a membership institution--was nevertheless operating entirely without subsidy by 1956. Membership rose to 1660 during this period, and contributions from a network of sustaining members and development of a new dues structure saw the organization through the 1950s.
The year 1960 began a series of ten institutes for members, which revived the educational, social, and informational functions of the early Public Relations Council conferences. Early in the decade, the council conducted a study of the public-relations problems of governmental welfare programs; subsequently they turned their attention to communications problems between social agencies and inner-city residents. In 1970-1971, the group conducted its first major governmental project, which related to publicity for youth programs. A 1972 demonstration project in Columbus, Ohio, concerned communication between the government, the voluntary welfare sector, and inner-city residents. The 1970s saw increasing involvement in a series of income-producing consultation projects, while a national economic downturn provoked rapid erosion of council memberships. This amounted to a nearly 40 per cent loss between 1971 (1816) and 1976 (1100).
Committees, especially convened on “priority needs” (1974-75) and “the NCC future” (1975-1977), struggled unsuccessfully to surmount this trend. Failure to reverse the membership downturn, combined with chronic budget deficits and difficulty in fundraising, ultimately dictated the council's end. In September, 1976, the council's board and membership voted to merge with the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), ending 55 years of independent operations.
