Use of public relations by non-governmental organizations: Investigation of the public relations studies of non-governmental organizations operating in the environmental area according to Grunig's excellence model

Non-governmental organizations are seen as one of the important elements of democratic societies. Non-governmental organizations can be defined as organizations formed by individuals to obtain their rights and freedoms in political, social, economic, cultural, and other fields and to protect their acquired rights. Environmental problems and the efforts to eliminate these problems have become a global agenda topic. Nongovernmental organizations operating in the field of environment also stand out as important elements that carry out activities for the solution of these problems. Public relations studies have an important role in achieving the strategic goals of these organizations. The excellence model in public relations is important in terms of the propositions that institutions put forward on how they can be more effective. In this study, public relations activities of non-governmental organizations operating in the field of environment were examined according to excellent public relations criteria. In the first part of the study, the features, and meanings of the concept of civil society from Ancient Greece to the present, what the contemporary definition of civil society is, what the characteristics and functions of non-governmental organizations are evaluated. In the second part, the concepts of environmentalism, ecology and environmental right are discussed, and the ideological elements of ecology are evaluated. In the third chapter, within the scope of the theory of excellence in public relations, the elements of perfect public relations and the characteristics of the perfect public relations model are explained. In the fourth chapter, there is the research conducted to evaluate the public relations activities of ten (10) non-governmental organizations operating in the field of environment according to the perfect public relations model. The compatibility of the research findings with the excellence criteria, based on in-depth interviews with the communication officers of non-governmental organizations, is included in the discussion and evaluation part. Finally, a general evaluation was made in the study, and the results and suggestions were given. According to this, it has been seen that the public relations activities of the nongovernmental organizations that are the subject of the research are in harmony with most of the excellent public relations criteria, but they also have some important shortcomings such as the lack of a public relations department and the lack of academic training in the field of public relations.