There’s nothing like a challenge to get the creative juices flowing. Our first project for the RNLI provided just that. We were asked to upgrade supporters on regular gifts, and convert staunch cash supporters onto direct debits. The RNLI had not mailed supporters with this type of ask for quite some time. Could we persuade their supporters to respond eagerly? Or would they simply stare, nonplussed, at the packs?

With two such different objectives ('give more' and 'give differently') we would usually develop two distinct packs. But it quickly became clear the central message was relevant to both audiences – "2005 was our busiest year ever…and our income failed to cover costs."

Focussing on the growing demand on the Lifeboats' service and their need for additional income to keep pace with this growth, we illustrated the need with the story of an outstanding rescue by the volunteer crew of the Appledore lifeboat station.

A careful balance had to be struck: we needed to convey the urgency of the ask, without creating concern amongst donors that the organisation was struggling. People support the RNLI because of the extraordinary bravery of the ordinary people who volunteer to crew the lifeboats and save lives at sea. So the last thing we wanted to do was imply that a lack of funds might put crews in danger, or that lifeboats might be unable to launch.

The conversion pack communicated the benefits of switching to a monthly donation, particularly in the savings that the RNLI could achieve on administration costs. The upgrade pack asked supporters to increase their gifts by 30% - in line with the growing number of lifeboat launches over the last five years.

A total of 370,000 members and supporters were mailed, with the aim of generating £330,000. The response has been phenomenal, with the supporter care team at RNLI working overtime to process the conversions and upgrades that have flooded in. The income generated has been far, far in excess of our predictions.

The combination of a genuine and tangible need, clearly communicated in a simple and appropriate manner, to a fiercely loyal supporter base has delivered a fantastic return.

John Turner

Posted by Whitewater Team at 12:00 PM | Permalink

A paragraph at the end of an article about Top Gear's Richard Hammond’s accident caught my eye this weekend: “Car enthusiasts have raised £60,000 in donations via justgiving.com for the air ambulance that took Hammond to hospital”. By the time I logged on to justgiving yesterday, the total had risen to £166,000.

In an environment where we’re wrestling with ways to broaden the reach of charities and break out of traditional approaches, here we have the best possible case study. One mad keen motoring buff, a member of a like-minded online community, sets up a fundraising page entitled ‘Get Well Soon Hamster’. Within hours, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance Service becomes relevant to an international audience of car enthusiasts who couldn’t be more different to Dorothy Donor in age, gender, lifestyle or attitude.

Relevance is key to fundraising and we usually start with obvious proximity to the cause, but this example has made me wonder whether a spot of quick, lateral thinking could open up new audiences. Of course Richard’s high profile media coverage was responsible for the scale of response, but it’s made me realise how effective interactive channels are when an opportunity for a timely appeal presents itself – a few carefully chosen digital posts could be powerful. And it shows that an ‘emergency’ appeal doesn’t necessarily have to be about emergency relief. The phenomenon we’ve seen here plays directly into the key principles of communicating with today’s donors – supporter-generated, personal, participative, dynamic.

Since I’ve been writing the fundraising total has exceeded £182,000: enough to buy another air ambulance… and not a proposition in sight!

Our best wishes go to Richard and his family.

Michelle Dennis

Posted by Whitewater Team at 11:41 AM | Permalink

I must tell you about last Monday night. I’d always wanted to go to the Grosvenor Ballroom, so enticing from the road with a hint of other-worldliness.

On Monday night I went to the Ballroom, and it was another world – the world of the Third Sector Excellence Awards, hosted there. I joined The Scout Association, our client, shortlisted for Best Use of Direct Mail.

The World Friendship campaign included a warm appeal that was the first direct mail communication ever sent by the Association to its Members (actually Scout Leaders – both current and lapsed). It was a request for funds to enable young Scouts from around the world to participate in the 2007 World Scout Jamboree, hosted in the UK.

Whitewater created the pack and provided strategic planning - with no history of base segment level targets and no experience communicating with lapsed members, it was important to plan this right. We looked at previous tests, and used incentives to uplift response.

The results speak for themselves: income and average donation both far exceeded target, and a healthy number of lapsed members were reactivated. At the same time, the pack raised the profile of the Jamboree, projected a modern image of Scouting (an organisation far more progressive than one might at first think), and reminded donors that the Association is a charity.

Our client, Natalie, was convinced that our table’s location was a gloomy predictor of failure – would winners be seated so far from the stage? I suggested the organisers may have orchestrated a dramatic victory walk, but I don’t think she was remotely convinced by this. In fact, I was right!

We had stiff competition: there were seven shortlisted charities including The Children's Society and Practical Action (for another piece produced by Whitewater) - but the Scout Association won! Natalie and her colleague Fiona collected the award, cutting quite a dash on stage, heads held high and rightly so. The Scout Association has just 250 paid staff so their roles are very hands-on.

Now we’re working on a new Scout Association appeal. The bar has been set high – we’re wondering if we can replicate our awards success next year.

PS: For foodies, the menu: Mediterranean filo parcels with goats cheese and olives, duck breast with potato rosti and mange tout, and a tropical fruit salad (they called it 'sushi') with a chocolate medallion and a hint of sorbet. Not bad.

Helen Hamilton

Posted by Whitewater Team at 09:49 AM | Permalink

Changing your messaging for different audiences may sound a good theory, but has anyone proved it's worth the effort?

We grabbed the opportunity to put the theory to the test with the RSPCA. The subject of the appeal was the need to get the Animal Welfare Bill onto the statute books, with an up-front campaigning ask, and the file was split by method of giving – cash donors versus regular givers. Chris and Nick worked on the cash version; Bee and I prepared the mailing for regular givers.

We took as broad assumptions (arrived at through analysis of the database) the likelihood that regular givers are more likely to be young, single, upwardly mobile and employed. And that cash givers are, relatively, more likely to be retired, socially stable and unadventurous.

For the cash givers, we used nostalgic imagery, serifed type, and leaned hard on concepts like 'historic', justice', 'punishment' – and making 'this country a safer place for everyone'. (Research, plus white mail, tells us that's what these donors care about.) The donation form deliberately asked for a small donation, as well as a signature on a campaign card to 'make our country a kinder place'.

The regular givers pack was red in tooth and envelope. The campaigning edge was much harder, calling for 'One last push.' The vigorously worded letter used active, physical language and a contemporary typeface. Anticipating that these donors would be receptive to active involvement, we gave them a duplicate, donor-get-donor, form to pass on to friends.

We were delighted when the results came in: this approach raised more than half as much again as was targeted. And it found 1,000 more names for the supporter file. Furthermore, the mailing generated many more signatures to push this somewhat preoccupied government into action for animals.

The real trick, of course, lies in knowing not only how your supporters like being talked to, but also what age they happen to be…

Barry Evans

Posted by Whitewater Team at 11:58 AM | Permalink

The Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association helps all those affected by MND. This is a devastating illness, which destroys the body’s motor neurones, the nerves that send messages from the brain to the muscles that control voluntary and involuntary activities: speech, mobility, breathing, swallowing - all the things which most of us take for granted. About half the number of people diagnosed with MND will die within 14 months.

The MND Association does incredible work, supporting people living with the disease, their carers and their families and funds research into the disease so that one day their vision of a world free of MND will be realised.

The Association launched its Tribute Fund programme in 2004, and to date has 327 Tribute Funds with a collective value of well over £800,000. There are several contributing factors to the scheme's success, but crucially, it has been implemented and managed extremely well.

Legacies and Tribute Fund Manager, Stephen May, told us: "Our Tribute Funds are a highly personal service provided by a small, dedicated team and supported by streamlined processes and timely, relevant communications. We are also constantly developing and enhancing our programme. For example, after a year of in-house development, testing and pilots, we introduced a new, optional service in August this year - Branch Tribute Funds.”

MND Association - honouring a loved one

Clare Hallsworth

Posted by Whitewater Team at 09:49 AM | Permalink

London Zoo are building ‘Gorilla Kingdom’ to give their their lowland gorillas the stimulating and naturalistic environment they deserve. We’re the lucky people appointed to help them raise money for it, and that task started with a creative briefing at the Zoo. After a tour of the building site we had an extra surprise in store for the creative team, Bee and Chris - the chance to get up close and personal with the gorillas soon to move in.

Nothing could have replaced the buttock-clenching experience of standing face to face with Bobby the Silverback. Bobby is truly magnificent. He’s similar in size, shape and attitude to a hairy Mini Cooper, and seemed to think that we were staring at his woman (alright I admit I was, but you have to admit she's gorgeous! (that's her, Zaire, above)). He glared at us, he ran at us and he threw a ball of hay at Chris. After standing our ground for several seconds we agreed that he is indeed the boss of us, and beat a hasty retreat.

We came back to the office buzzing. For the rest of the day I could hear the guys enthusing about their experience with our gorilla cousins. And I’ve just seen the concepts – watch out for an award winner!

So I’m going to be on the look out for more possibilities for inspiring briefings. And if you’re a fundraiser, try and get your agency team as close as possible to the cause before they start working on the job, even if you don’t have access to lowland gorillas. I’m sure you’ll notice the effect in the quality of ideas, the creative and the results.

Mark Cook

Posted by Whitewater Team at 09:21 AM | Permalink

There has been talk for a while now about declining response rates in fundraising direct marketing. ‘More charities using DM’; ‘the older charity givers are dying off’; ‘people are giving less frequently because they are having to save for their old age’, are some of the reasons given. I would like to add another.

Since I began my career in charity DM nearly twenty years ago (as Londoners spent their nights in shelters as the bombs rained down, and news crackled across the telegraph wires of the relief of Mafeking), I have witnessed a gradual loss of passion in the way charities have expressed their need for money. A lot of this has to do with the pervasive culture of ‘management-speak’. In an effort to present themselves as professional organisations, many charities have embraced this way of communicating without thinking about how it is perceived to people who are prepared to help them.

Organisations change, we know that. And most of the time it is for the better: they become more professional, efficient and they begin to make real differences to the problems they are working to end. But many lose the passion that made them decide to change the world in the first place.

Twenty years ago, fundraising had passion, it had drama, need, urgency. But all too often, nowadays, I see appeals which are simply statements of a charity’s work that would not look out of place in an annual report. ‘Positive messaging’ has neutralised the need. A fear of saying something ‘wrong’ has destroyed the drama. A culture of responsible professionalism is putting paid to passion.

How can a donor be passionate about a charity which is not?

Nick Couldry

Posted by Whitewater Team at 09:38 AM | Permalink

'Earmark.' 'Ringfence.' Words to strike fear into the hearts of fundraisers. But used carefully, earmarking can give rise to truly inspiring creative.

And so it was with ORBIS’s Zithromax pack. We had previously failed to make a generic proposition work for recruiting regular givers - but we had a feeling that a more tangible ask might work better.

After some intense brainstorming with the client we settled on ORBIS's distribution of the trachoma-preventing tablet Zithromax – and the simple, powerful ask: £1.22 a week will protect a mother and her child from trachoma in Kembata Tembaro, Ethiopia. This simple statement also allowed us to talk about the ‘bigger picture’ of ORBIS’s work – and their aim to eradicate trachoma from Ethiopia.

Crucially, ORBIS committed to earmarking the funds raised from this pack. No caveats, no get-out clauses. Just a promise to every new donor that their gift will help eradicate trachoma. Authenticity in a nutshell.

Steve and Chris, the lead creative team on ORBIS, came up with a pack that really stands out – the outer resembles a prescription packet from a pharmacist, illustrating that a monthly gift of £4.88 (or £1.22 a week) is less than a UK prescription. Inside, there are details of the distribution programme for Zithromax, some background information on trachoma, and a meeting with a mother who almost lost her sight to the disease.

The results aren’t in yet, but the pack looks great and hangs together really well. In time we’ll know if all our efforts have been in vain but our instincts are, it’s going to do the business. If not? Check back here for a public eating of humble pie.

Simon Cromey

Posted by Whitewater Team at 09:20 AM | Permalink

Guide Dogs for the Blind Association are approaching the quarter million pound benchmark for their Tribute Fund scheme, proving beyond doubt that this kind of fundraising can work for charities which aren’t medical causes and don’t deal with cause of death.

Guide Dogs have implemented a well-executed programme, staffed by professional and enthusiastic individuals who wholly believe in the scheme. Their systems and processes work, the Guide Dogs staff are happy to be on the end of the phone, and are very comfortable dealing with the bereaved in person – all contributing factors to this fantastic success.

They also have the ‘Name a Puppy’ trump card, which ticks so many boxes for Tribute Fund supporters. When a Guide Dogs Tribute Fund reaches £5k, the family of the deceased can, if they choose, name a guide dog puppy; most name the puppy after the person the Fund remembers. This has proved a massively popular ‘commemorative option: it literally allows the name of the deceased to live on through the good work of the charity. The family grow closer to the charity, enjoying regular ‘Pupdates’ and the chance to meet and cuddle their named puppy early in its training.

In fact, once the once-daunting £5k target has been reached, many families feel so inspired (and have been looked after so well by the Guide Dogs team) that they go on to reach for £10k and beyond. Brilliant fundraising.

Quarter of a million – if I had a tail I’d wag it!

Clare Hallsworth

Posted by Whitewater Team at 07:05 PM | Permalink

Well – the fruit of our labours is finally out there and we’re waiting with bated breath for mature results to chew on. Earlier this year, Brad and I went out to India with the Brooke, who provide veterinary services for working horses and donkeys in developing countries. We were there with the Brooke's Sharon Schofield, shooting their first DRTV ad in the brick kilns on the eastern outskirts of Delhi.

It was an amazing trip, and several things will stay with us. Firstly, the dedication of the Brooke's veterinary staff, who show the animals they see such kindness and respect. Also, the way they show the animals’ owners how to treat and prevent some of the conditions that are common to working animals in such a hot climate. Which brings me to the heat. 42 degrees was bad enough, but add to that the heat generated by the earth-covered kilns, where tens of thousands of hand-moulded clay bricks baked in burning coal and woodchips – the soles of Brad’s boots were melting off as he filmed a heat haze sequence on top of one of these. And of course, the stars of the ad… you know the saying ‘never work with animals or children’? You ain’t been there until you’ve tried directing a donkey!

Some snapshots: the fountain of pus released as a vet lanced a 2 litre abcess on a horse’s back… the little 4-year-old kids helping their dads by fetching heavy barrow-loads of clay to make bricks… our hero donkey steadfastly refusing to drink from the specially positioned water trough after a hot day at the kilns (he just wanted his usual old bucket back at his shelter). That's what happens when you cast starring roles based on looks instead of acting ability.

It was really hard work but such an experience and it’s made me into an advocate for the Brooke. If you can really show people what you do, you’ll have supporters for life. If you want to see the ad, just click here.

Nick Couldry

Posted by Whitewater Team at 07:02 PM | Permalink

Due to the success of our recent ‘Perfect Programme’ seminars, we’ve decided to triple value for money and offer all three in one day – and roll them out in both London and Manchester! The sessions will look at ways in which our members can increase the number of in memoriam donations they receive, how to convert those one-off gifts into inspirational relationships and how to increase the life-time value of Tribute Funds. With feedback from the first round of seminars like “excellent”, “thought provoking” and “the most productive afternoon I’ve had in ages!”, how could we not?

Sarah Radburn-Smith

Posted by Whitewater Team at 04:05 PM | Permalink

Congratulations to Professional Fundraising on the relaunch. This is such an important magazine for our sector. I hope the new format is a great success.

We felt we’d better not be shown up so we’ve re-designed our ads a little!

All of which is great timing as we’re also launching our groovy new website today...

Originally published in Professional Fundraising magazine: to read this ad in full download the pdf.

Posted by Whitewater Team at 10:05 AM | Permalink

Christian Aid's mosquito appeal was a simple, emotive and powerful pack, based on the proposition "Your £2.25 can protect a child from a deadly killer, every month." The pack explained the severity of dangers of malaria in sub-saharan Africa - where the disease kills a child every 30 seconds. Christian Aid provide a simple and tangible solution to this problem – a mosquito net costing just £2.25.

The subject matter is new and fresh, with stark, shocking statistics to back up the need. So the pack stands out from the usual overseas development subjects (drought, food scarcity and safe water etc).

In response to the brief, Bee and Anna developed a pack with the urgency of an emergency appeal. The clear, focused copy provokes outrage in the reader, that so many children die when there is such a simple solution to the problem. The oversized outer communicates the scale of the problem with immediacy - a tiny image of a mosquito and the large, stretched typography of the word MONSTROUS.

Results
The pack was sent out as a cold CoG pack, warm CoG conversion, upgrade and also had a follow-up appeal. All activity was successful, however it was the upgrade that stood out as the biggest success.

The upgrade appeal ROI was 8.01, 473% above target, while the response rate of 4.17% was 248% above target. The average upgrade value was £5.07 - again over target this time by 281%.

Alex Wordsworth

Posted by Whitewater Team at 09:19 AM | Permalink

UK fundraising has lost one of its most talented direct marketers, copywriter Tom Monk.

There is no writer in this land who has won more Institute of Fundraising/Professional Fundraising magazine awards than Tom. As Head of Creative with Whitewater, he won the double in 2001 (and they weren’t his first), picking up direct marketing awards for acquisition and development. And then in 2004 he repeated this extraordinary feat through his own company, Ideal Creative.

This is no surprise to those who worked with him. He was one of a small band of exceptionally talented writers that just got it. His copy would be word perfect and the donors would roll in.

Tom cut his fundraising teeth at Save the Children before his talent was spotted by Marc Nohr at Burnett Associates and he joined them as a junior writer. From there his career was glorious but far too short. Cancer claimed his life at just 38.

My personal memory of Tom was of a guy who just loved to hear about my kids, much more than anyone I knew. My heart breaks for his own family, his wife Emma, and their beautiful kids, Denis (5) and Florence (3).

Tom’s family ask that donations be made in Tom’s memory to Sightsavers. Give generously in tribute to a man who did so himself. And read The Guardian's obituary for Tom here.

Steve Andrews

Posted by Whitewater Team at 11:19 AM | Permalink

In the 1960s (I was there, and I do remember) there used to be a joke, which went, roughly: ‘Free Nelson Mandela – with every packet of cornflakes’. I was reminded of it by a recent article in the Guardian, which you can catch up with on their website.

In the article Richard Adams looks at aspects of our freebie-obsessed culture – acknowledging, in passing, that ‘even charities these days rarely ask for money without enclosing a free pen’.

For someone like me, constantly riding a knife-edge between ethical probity and commercial effectiveness, Adams touched several nerves, and researched some fascinating stuff. (Like the fact that Austrian churchgoers were the most likely to take newspapers without paying for them!)

I’ve always believed that nothing free is ever worth what you pay for it. But to what extent should we encourage the most acquisitive elements of human nature in order to promote philanthropic causes? There are some charities which adopt a totally ‘noli me tangere’ (do not touch) approach to commercial defilement. And others who would gladly accept a million pound donation from a successful arms dealer.

Would you?

Barry Evans

Posted by Whitewater Team at 12:55 PM | Permalink

Studies show that most people now prefer to carry out routine communication tasks over the internet, rather than by phone or post. But any method washes with us. We'd just love to hear from you.

New business enquiries
Mark Roper
mark.roper@whitewater.biz

Whitewater
14 Shepherdess Walk
London
N1 7LB
United Kingdom

Telephone
+44 (0) 20 7336 9700

Fax
+44 (0) 20 7336 9701

How to find us
Map to Whitewater

Whitewater Creative Services Limited, Registered Office Windhill Manor, Leeds Road, Shipley, West Yorkshire BD18 1BP Registered in England No. 2167271 VAT Registration No. 429 8758 92

Posted by Whitewater Team at 10:21 AM | Permalink

Welcome to Whitewater!

We are a leading UK direct marketing agency specialising in non-profit causes. Outstanding service, breakthrough results, inspirational fundraising: that’s what we’re all about.

We’re the only direct marketing agency to win the DMA Gold Award for Innovation.

Our website is a blog. Here we share news of what’s happening within the agency, what work we’ve been busy on, who our clients are and what is on our minds. We look forward to hearing your comments, thoughts and questions. Click MAIN (above) to see the latest entries.

You can even sign up for email notifications when we add new entries – just add your address in the 'Subscriptions' box to the right.

Enjoy your stay!

Whitewater Creative Services Limited
14 Shepherdess Walk
London N1 7LB
Tel: 020 7336 9700

Registered Office Windhill Manor, Leeds Road, Shipley, West Yorkshire BD18 1BP Registered in England No. 2167271 VAT Registration No. 429 8758 92

Posted by Whitewater Team at 10:19 AM | Permalink

Action for Blind People
Asthma UK
The Brooke
British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection
Christie's
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
Emmaus
FARM-Africa
Fauna & Flora International
Macmillan Cancer Support
Mental Health Foundation
Multiple Sclerosis Society
NSPCC
The Prince's Trust
Refugee Action
RNLI
RSPB
RSPCA
Save the Children UK
SolarAid
WaterAid
WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society
Zoological Society of London

Posted by Whitewater Team at 04:07 PM | Permalink

Well this is one of life's more surreal experiences, giving ourselves a fake interview. Isn't it!?

So Anna, what's your job title? Copywriter.

You've been at Whitewater for ages haven't you? Yes, I'm Whitewater's longest-standing member of staff. Let's just say I've been here more than ten years, and leave it at that.

How did that happen? I joined Whitewater as office administrator back in the twentieth century. From then the descent to the creative department went something like this: Account Exec; Account Manager; Project Manager; Traffic Manager; Quality Controller; this.

What's your motto Anna? "I must be creative because I sit in the Creative Department."

Catchy. And what do you do when you're not controlling quality and writing copy? I run one of the UK's leading knitting websites, thanks for asking.

You've been great Anna! Thanks. So have you.

Posted by Whitewater Team at 01:13 PM | Permalink

Posted by Whitewater Team at 12:15 PM | Permalink

What's your name? It's Brad. You know that.

Oh yes. And what do you do here? I'm Whitewater's New Media and IT Manager

When did you join Whitewater? You know, it's been so long I hardly remember. Sometime in the late 1990s.

We can tell by your accent, you're not from around here. How have you ended up working in Kentish Town? I was born and raised in Canada. Not much of interest happened (if you don't count the snowmobile incident) until the mid 80s.

The same is true for so many of us. Carry on. Then I went to university, where I studied English Lit, Art History and Film at Carleton in Ottawa, but then I dropped out and went to art school. Graduated with honours from the New Media dept from Ontario College of Art and Design. I really didn't want to leave so I worked there for a while as video studio technician, and also worked at a post-production house specialising in DRTV.

"Catch it!" The handy cat litter tray sifted out the turds automagically. "Call 0800 CAT CHIT!"

After a whirlwind romance, I moved to London, got married, and got hired at my wife's father's company. I've been here ever since. The past few years have seen the desktop video revolution and major changes in the market for web design. So now I've come full circle and spend most of my creative time making charity DRTV, which is a lot more fun than the web.

So all those years of education weren't a complete waste, after all. What's the best thing you've done at Whitewater? The most fun was working on an ad for Centrepoint. We shot it, edited it, did the soundtrack. It was fun. Shooting was probably the best part. Editing it with Steve Tse was fun too. Oh, we laughed.

What's your philosophy with DRTV? Make 'em cry. Obviously, making 'em laugh is more personally rewarding, but the response rate isn't as good.

Thanks Brad! We've just spilled a cup of coffee in our keyboard - can we have another one? Grrrrrrr.

Posted by Whitewater Team at 12:12 PM | Permalink