When PR and marketing professionals represent a product, giving the public or journalists something to hold in their hands is easy. You give them the product. When you work with issues, like many nonprofits, finding that object is somewhat harder. How can you find an object that makes an abstract concept concrete?  What represents food insecurity? Ocean pollution? Climate change?

Here are some suggestions on choosing and utilizing an object that will work for your organization without breaking your budget.

Pick a tangible, evocative object

Think about the larger issue you are trying to represent. Since giant abstract issues are hard to absorb, narrow it to one small concrete example the media and public can easily visualize that can then represent to the larger issue. For example, instead of “the ocean is getting polluted,” narrow the action to “turtles are ingesting nurdles, or broken-up pieces of ocean plastic.” One of these small nurdles could then be an object you could use to help the media better understand the issue.

Pick an object that inspires emotion about your issue

It should be something that, when coupled with your issue, packs a more meaningful punch. One nonprofit that does this well is Project Bread with their Holiday Spoons project. They took “people are starving” and turned it into “kids can’t afford to put food into their mouths using utensils.” So they use spoons to represent food insecure families in their marketing materials. Why this works in their own words: “When you see a spoon, you probably think of eating soup, cereal, or frozen yogurt. Of course, all of those foods are great, but it is also important to recognize that many people do not have enough to eat.”

Once you’ve identified an object that exemplifies your issue, there are multiple ways of utilizing it.

You can use it as a symbol in your marketing materials.

People won’t soon forget the meaning of a Livestrong bracelet. The Women’s March, which just had its third anniversary over the weekend, uses the infamous Pussyhat to encapsulate the complicated issue of women’s equality. These hats disseminated themselves – the creators simply invented a pattern and made it available to the public, limiting internal expenses. Now, it’s a widely recognized symbol of political protest.

Use it as a cornerstone of events.

Maybe your nonprofit wants to organize a beach clean-up to collect things that will turn into nurdles. Project Bread had school children decorate spoons.

Objects can also be used to draw media attention.

When utilized correctly, they can communicate in a mere second what it may take you two minutes on the phone with a reporter to explain. We realize that many nonprofits do not have the publicity budget to be physically mailing things – those funds typically go towards advancing their causes. However, if you do have the means, consider sending this object to the media. For example, if a reporter receives a bag of nurdles, it may be confusing to them until they read what they are, why they are an issue, and how your organization is working on the issue. Receiving spoons seems random, until they realize they are empty spoons, and how your organization is working to fill them.

You care a lot about your issue, but sometimes it can be hard to get other people to be as passionate. A representative object can go a long way towards helping people conceptualize the issues at the core of your organization.