As Director of Gateway to Giving, a recently formed outreach of the Metropolitan Association of Philanthropy, she told a PRSA-St. Louis gathering at the Junior League, that her job is to seed the topic of philanthropy into conversations from the boardrooms to the classrooms of St. Louis.

She has a great base to build on: St. Louis is recognized nationally as one of the most generous metropolitan areas in the nation. Companies here, on average, give $2,700 per employee. That's seven times more than the national average. Even so, corporate giving represents only 20 percent of the giving in the area. Individuals drive giving in St. Louis: 75 percent of giving was by individuals. In 2002, the St. Louis area contributed $2.8 billion to charity, of which 70 percent stayed in the region, another figure higher than the national average.

On the national level, the backdrop for these statistics represents a staggering trend: in the next 20 years, nearly $9 trillion in assets will be transferred from one generation to the next, with much of that wealth going to charity or establishing new foundations. Ozmat sees this as an opportunity for classic positioning: as that wealth is being transferred, philanthropic values can be transferred between the generations, as well.

As natural storytellers, public relations professionals in the non-profit and corporate worlds have the opportunity to position stories they are telling to stakeholder audiences with a philanthropic angle.

For non-profit public relations practitioners, Ozmat suggests focusing on the question: how is our organization making a difference in the community? Sources for angles on this story could be the chief development officer, lobbyist or other agency leadership. In addition, given the attention on corporate ethics during the past few years, issues of transparency and governance at non-profits will become more important.

For corporate communicators, the question is basically the same, with a philanthropic angle: how is our organization's philanthropy making a difference in the community. The sources here are the company's foundation head or community relations officer. For internal communicators, publicizing philanthropy can benefit morale: community engagement makes the workplace more attractive, promoting employee loyalty.

Notes compiled by: Chris Horner, PRSA-St. Louis Board Director