The ACORN story: An analysis of crisis response strategies in a nonprofit organization

• Published in: Public relations review 2012-03, Vol.38 (1), p.89-96
• Main Author: Sisco, Hilary Fussell
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Crisis communication; Management of crises; Nonprofit organizations; Political activism; Public relations; Studies
• ISSN: 0363-8111; 1873-4537
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2011.11.001

In 2009, two political activists published hidden-camera recordings of their visits to the offices of a national, community-based, nonprofit organization. In the videos, the activists posed as a prostitute and a pimp in order to elicit damaging information from the organization's employees. This incident was just the latest in a series of disastrous situations for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). In the year prior to the video controversy, the organization addressed allegations of voter registration fraud in the 2008 presidential election and reacted to the expose of a hidden embezzlement by a family member of ACORN's founder. This study employs the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) to analyze how ACORN responded to this series of damaging public relations attacks. The study investigated ACORN's crisis response strategies through an analysis of media coverage about the crises.