Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day, Fat Tuesday...whatever you want to call it, it's a time to absolve yourself of sins by the way of confession and eating pancakes. Or something…

So to mark this holy excuse for a breakfast feast, the Whitewater ents team (Maria, Richard O, Stewart, Elana and myself) turned our meeting room into a French-style creperie and made fresh pancakes for everyone. I’m glad to say it was a success (no pancakes stuck to the ceiling) and a nice surprise for people coming in from their wet commute to the office.

And now that the pancakes have gone down a treat, we need to observe other traditional part of Shrove Tuesday – confession time! Please add your confessions via the comments section below (Nick C – you may need to spread yours over a series of comments, I think there’s a word limit.) Bless you all.

Nayyar Mughal

In support of the RNLI's annual fundraising event – SOS day - Whitewater became Whytewaterz nightclub for one special evening with a Sing One Song night.

Needless to say, there was booze, disco lights, dancing and some retro singing. We sang our way merrily through the decades pausing only to consult the 'bible' karaoke book.

Thanks again to everyone that came. Good fun was had all round and donations (or should I say entry fees) in true DM style are still trickling through. For those of you that prefer pictures… feast your eyes…

Imogen Beilby

If you've been in one place for any length of time, you start to develop a reputation for certain things. Our esteemed colleagues past and present include Barry 'The Birdman' Evans, Steve 'Original Mr Nice Guy' Andrews and Steve 'My Specialist Subject Is Star Wars' Tse.

Unfortunately for Heather Collins, who's celebrating a glorious ten years at Whitewater this week, she developed a reputation for her ingenious if rather colourful language. She's probably added more words to the English language than Shakespeare did.

So to celebrate Heather, her ten years' hard service in the print department, and the invaluable contribution she’s made to life at Whitewater, we decided to surprise her at last Friday's agency meeting. While she popped to the ladies, we all whipped out masks of her face complete with speech bubbles of her most famous phrases, including my personal favourite, "Ass Burgers with Cheese." To say she was surprised is an understatement. But, being as it was Heather, we can't print the actual words she used when she walked back in and saw a room full of Heathers staring (and swearing) back at her. Happy 10th Anniversary Heather!

PS. Can you spot the real Heather in this picture? (Clue – she's the one without a speech bubble attached to her forehead.)

Brad Bell, our Head of Video, is in Kenya. Over the next two weeks he'll be working on a project which we think will revolutionise the way charities talk to their supporters. We hope to prove the power of giving donors inspirational feedback on how their donations are spent.

We believe that more than anything, donors want feedback on how their previous donations have been spent. And that this is the most important element of great donor care, stewardship or relationship fundraising (choose your preferred term!).

We're going to give this feedback primarily through the use of video, delivered online. Because that is the medium that gives us the most exciting opportunities to inspire donors, to deliver feedback cost-effectively… and to get our donors sharing their passion for the charity with their friends.

Our partner on this journey is the wonderful charity, SolarAid who we've had the privilege of working with over the last two years. Brad will be visiting several SolarAid projects and filming the progress that's being made. He'll be blogging while he's out there (access permitting) and you can see how the project progresses over the next year: from Kenya back to the UK – see the videos we'll be producing, how SolarAid supporters react to them and the difference this feedback will make to their loyalty to the charity (yes of course we'll be testing it!).

You may think that this is a big investment to make. The return on such an investment would have to be considerable to make it worth you doing. Well, consider this:

In the first five pages of their superb book, Building Donor Loyalty, Professor Adrian Sargeant and Elaine Jay present a powerful model on the value of improving your donor retention. They show that a 10% improvement in donor retention can translate into anything between a 50% to 200% improvement in the lifetime value of those donors (depending upon how you calculate it).

This mind-blowingly important observation is why we are doing this. It should be the foundation of every charity's individual donor programme.

So welcome to our Glass Workshop. Where you can look inside and watch, throughout 2010, how this experiment unfolds and get involved by joining the discussion.

If you'd like to talk to us about what we can do for your charity, well you know where we are. Just step inside the Glass Workshop!

Mark Roper

We would like to apologise to all Whitewater's friends who received our Christmas ecard, featuring Mr Dean Martin's rendition of Let it Snow, and who shortly afterwards found themselves snowbound.

With hindsight we should have gone with Bing Crosby's alternative version: Let it Snow (But Just a Light Dusting With No Impact on Road Conditions or Rail Services..

Sorry.

Nick Couldry

Working collaboratively with the RNID team, the process will start with a full audit of RNID’s current fundraising activity. Insights generated from this research are expected to be key in driving a new donor strategy. The objective is to help RNID build a more sustainable approach, which will deliver consistent and higher value returns.

Vicky Haywood, Director of Individual Giving says, “We are delighted to be working with Whitewater. They have their finger on the pulse with a real understanding of the challenges we face. As our strategic partner we will benefit from their insight and innovative thinking to help us create an ambitious and effective strategy.”

RNID is looking to improve donor recruitment, and new product development is expected to be key to this.

Mark Roper, Managing Director at Whitewater says, “We’re really excited to help RNID through challenging times and deliver a new fundraising strategy which deals effectively with their unique strategic challenges. These include both the need to increase awareness and a cause which doesn’t tug at the heart strings of many people. These issues allow us to work where we love to be – developing strategies hinged in supporter and market insights.”

The campaign has helped RSPCA create a high volume, cost-effective source for new donors. It recruited tens of thousands of new donors and in doing so doubled previous response campaigns.

These phenomenal results were the key reason why it won this tough, results oriented category.

Read more about our campaign and watch our DRTV ad.

Just back from another amazing trip to India with The Brooke, filming their latest DRTV ad with our Head of Video Brad.

One special request from The Brooke team was to film a community in Ghaziabad, on the eastern outskirts of Delhi, where a whole programme of work is being funded by an extremely generous American couple.

The programme includes training two village men in farriery skills. Before, if an owner's horse suffered trouble with its hooves, the owner would have to travel 20km with the lame animal to the nearest farrier. And then 20km back. Not good for the horse or the owner. Now the village has a pair of expert Brooke-trained farriers who can give on the spot treatment - and at a cheaper price.

In rural India, women often stay at home, rarely venturing out or even talking to their neighbours. The Brooke initiated a women's group in the community to discuss animal care. This proved to be a revelation to the village women, who now meet every couple of weeks to exchange experiences, lessons learned and generally socialise. Now they're no longer isolated, they discuss their problems together and their animals are thriving.

Brad got some great footage, including a big thank you from the villagers and the Brooke vet team to the American couple who made all this happen.

In an ideal world, everyone who gives - no matter how much - to a charity should be thanked in this way. Okay - we can't thank them all personally, but online video is a mass channel, so we made hay while the sun shone and grabbed loads of extra footage to show Brooke donors all the fantastic work that the charity are doing with their donations.

Nick Couldry

Actually, he has plenty of useful hints and tips, as recounted in a recent article from Mail Media Centre.
Download file.

Read his pearls of wisdom on great photography - and a few choice words on writing copy by Fran too.

Whitewater is looking for a talented and enthusiastic Account Manager to work on two client accounts. If you're passionate about DM and working for a great cause then look no further.

The role of the successful candidate will be to ensure that Whitewater delivers a friendly, personal, highly professional, responsive and efficient service to assigned clients by developing and managing the implementation of discrete projects and integrated marketing/fundraising programmes.

Candidates should have the following experience and skills:
• Two to three years of agency side client service experience preferably within the charity sector. Applicants without charity sector knowledge should have solid experience of working within the FS or telco sectors - we're looking for good CRM knowledge
• A good understanding of the principles and practices of direct marketing
• Excellent communication skills both written and oral
• Ability to demonstrate competent management of the day-to-day deliverables
• Keen attention to detail
• Strong analytical skills and confident presentation skills a must
• Experience of managing an account exec preferable but not essential
• Thrive under pressure and ability to multi-task
• Outgoing, confident, convincing and amiable
• Enjoy client entertainment
• Marketing qualifications preferable but not essential
• MS Word, Powerpoint, Excel

If you're interested or know of anyone else who could be perfect for the role, please send a CV and covering note to tain.oliff@whitewater.biz.

If you refer someone and they successfully pass their probationary period, you'll get a £2K finders fee!! No agencies please.

Paula Ryan

The message is presented as a personal email from Scott Harrison on, like so many bloggers and book authors today, a casual, first-name basis.

The copy seems like it was personally written - it begins by talking about Scott's recent reading of the 'psychology of enormous problems' or the 'numbers problem,' making fundraising theory somewhat transparent. It's believable that Scott did actually read about the issue because that's how he's positioned within the charity. Charity:water is his own personal story and mission. The current campaign is a revisiting of the founding story of the charity.

Harrison explains The Numbers Problem, then discounts it because it interferes with having a 'big vision.' And he's got a point. The Numbers Problem is more significant in the context of mass media broadcast marketing. With internet-based, personal, community-oriented and community-mobilizing 'marketing' - where everything you *do* is marketing - then The Numbers Problem is less of a problem and more of a battle cry. The numbers don't represent just the enormity of the task, they also represent a progress bar and a scale to motivate people, step by step. (See the number graphics at the top of the message)

Five days later I got a second email message with another video: this time reporting on the completion of a well in Haiti.

Overall, Charity:water seem to have embraced the idea that the dominant form of expression and 'marketing' with internet media is personal documentary.

Brad Bell

The Whitewater team has just finished this promotion for The 29th International Fundraising Congress in the Netherlands, October 20-23 2009. (And everyone seems to love it!)

The video is designed to convey a feeling of how the IFC is more than a conference, its an event that brings together the world of fundraising at a time and place that fundraisers know and look forward to.

Whitewater's video wizard Brad Bell also just discovered his holy grail: a video publishing service that lets him add a link to the end of videos. Now charities can add Donate links at the end of their videos that link to their donation page. Wherever the video appears on the web, there is a link to the donation page with it. Nice.

Have a gander - see what you think.

If you would like to tweet about the promo - please use the hashtag - #ifcmigration

Kevin Kibble

We are all taught as children how important it is to say please and thank you, and it is often a lesson that lasts a lifetime.

But financial services companies, no-one ever thought they would ever need to learn this. Imagine my surprise when I opened my post at home yesterday. Barclaycard were saying how much they appreciated me being with them. And there it was, in it's own paper wallet, a voucher - £10 to spend at House of Fraser with no catches, no strings attached and no small print.

I must admit to being totally taken aback, yet once I got over the shock, quite chuffed. It also made me think about my credit card purchasing habits. I have three cards and use them evenly. And something as simple as a thank-you and a £10 voucher has made me reconsider. This simple gesture has made me review my spending habits.

Why do I believe this lesson is important to our sector - I see a parallel with charities - how many say thank you properly and genuinely. Does yours? As consumers come under more financial pressure and consider where and with whom they spend their money the charities that say thank you and tell donors what has been done with their donations will really benefit, just like Barclaycard.

Mark Roper

The critique by Stephen Pidgeon concludes: "They don't get much better than this."

To read the whole review, click here.

Kevin Kibble

Last month, as part of a process to introduce a new creative team to the RNLI's work, a few of us were lucky enough to go on an RNLI Hit the Surf day. It's designed to develop beach safety awareness, and is taken around the country and attended by school groups – so there is a big element of fun involved!

The day started off at Sandbanks beach, in Dorset, where we were introduced to the lifeguard team and enjoyed a training session on the meanings of beach safety flags and hazards – interspersed with stories of heroism, stupidity and tragedy. We then took a stroll along the beach and were shown their equipment, which included a comprehensive first aid kit and impressive rescue watercraft. A first-aid demo was given at the end of the morning session.

After lunch on the beach, the real fun began.

Unfortunately, following a frightening incident with a rubber ring and general ineptitude in water, I excused myself from the afternoon activities. Instead I was loaded up with everyone else's cameras and bottled water - no pockets in wetsuits! The warm-up session included a race won by Mark Roper – and afterwards they went into the surf for practise dolphin-diving, body surfing, relay races and tube rescues. It all looked like salty good fun!

To end the day we were given goodie bags of t-shirts and certificates. It was a brilliant day out and I learnt that a lifeguard’s job isn't just about running around looking good in a wetsuit (although, that is an important part of it). They take what they do very seriously and are so dedicated you can't help but respect and admire them.

Speaking of looking good in a wetsuit...

Nice one Mark!

Steve Tse