Institute of Public Relations (IPR)

Mission

IPR strives to improve the effectiveness of communications of organizations by advancing the professional knowledge and practice of public relations through research and education.

In accomplishing its mission IPR helps

• Top managements understand how to use public relations more effectively to achieve success with employees, shareholders, and customers
• Researchers focus on the most important issues affecting public relations and the outcomes in dealing with them
• Educators in developing the skills needed for future practitioners
• The general public to appreciate the value of public relations as a management function and communications tool for use in creating better understanding of business, government, and nonprofit enterprises

IPR serves as a catalyst for creating and disseminating research that is usable by public relations senior management, agencies, clients, educators, and everyday practitioners.

To keep pace with ever-changing public relations challenges, IPR seeks to be the leading sponsor and provider of innovative, timely, and informative communication-related research.

Services

IPR sponsors practical research studies on cuttingedge topics. In addition to public relations research, IPR offers symposia, grants, awards, and scholarships to outstanding scholars. Recent studies have focused on subjects such as finding ways to quantify the value of public relations and identifying current research in other academic fields such as psychology, sociology, and anthropology, which offer significant new concepts for public relations.

Research

IPR has sponsored more than 300 separate research projects covering everything from what public relations students should study to an analysis of how new technologies are affecting the profession around the world.

All IPR publications, awards, competition, and research are made available for use by students, educators, and practitioners, regardless of their organizational affiliations. This nonproprietary research has led to breakthroughs in improving the teaching and the understanding of public relations. Other publications have helped to strengthen the effectiveness of public relations in profit-making and nonprofit organizations. IPR's distinguished awards and competitions serve as incentives for students and scholars to build the body of knowledge in the field.

Public Relations Executive Forum

A major initiative of IPR is the Public Relations Executive Forum, a limited-enrollment professional development seminar designed especially for highpotential, mid-level corporate communications and public relations executives who report to senior corporate communications officers. Many alumni of this annual forum now occupy top chairs in agencies and corporations.

Commission on Public Relations Measurement and Evaluation

IPR also sponsors the Commission on Public Relations Measurement and Evaluation, a volunteer group of leading experts in the field. The commission exists to establish standards and methods for public relations research and measurement and to issue authoritative best-practices white papers. This series of studies, called the “Measurement Tree,” are available without cost, as are nearly all IPR publications, on IPR's Web site: http://www.instituteforpr.com.

Objectives for the commission include:

• To be the leading provider of information about and advocate for public relations measurement and related communication research and evaluation
• To instigate research and be the first group public relations professionals turn to when they want definitive answers on effective public relations measurement and evaluation methods and standards
• To represent the four pillars of the profession in the evaluation of public relations: the client sector, the counseling sector, research firms, and academicians

Sponsorships

“International Index of Bribery for News Coverage” is a study in cooperation with the International Public Relations Association to expose the unethical payment of the media for press coverage, which is the practice in some countries.

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