I'm sure it's something we've all experienced: but when you put it into perspective, waiting for 2 or 3 people before you or having to run up the stairs and turn on the light, really isn't that bad.

Sadly, there are 2.5 billion people in the world don't have access to any loo – bet you didn't know that.
That's why our client WaterAid is raising awareness of this devastating fact and want people who do have loos (I'd say that's all of us) to take action and help WaterAid tackle and combat sanitation in some of the world's poorest countries.

World Toilet Day is today - Wednesday 19th November - download your posters and spread the word.

Lisa Munden

Finders' fee: £2,000

Following strong growth from existing clients and a string of new business wins, Whitewater is looking to recruit four new heads.

We're interested in talking to highly motivated and top calibre direct marketers with agency or charity backgrounds.

We can promise a working environment that is passionate, creative, fun and free of politics. We also offer competitive and imaginative remuneration packages. But most of all, we can promise that you'll be part of a dynamic team that is changing the face of charity direct marketing.

We urgently need to find:
One Account Director
One Group Account Director (10-12 months maternity cover contract)
One Senior Planner
One Digital Specialist - client facing

If you know the person we're looking for, put them in touch. We'll pay you a £2,000 finders' fee for helping us out. You just need to let us know, before any interviews take place, that they are your lead.

If you think it's you we need, we'll pay you the fee for finding yourself!

Either way, this could be the easiest £2,000 you ever make. A nice little earner to spend on your summer holiday, perhaps?

This offer, which is ongoing, is open to absolutely anyone. Our staff, suppliers, clients, friends, employees of competitors (!), mums and dads, our bank manager, the window cleaner… you name it. If you're reading this, it applies to you!

Paula Ryan

The first piece of work - a dual cash/campaigning ask will be mailed in November. This follows a full data and communications audit carried out by Whitewater, the outputs of which clearly illustrated key strategic recommendations to increase the value of the database.

Michelle Thew, BUAV's Chief Executive said, "We have great faith that Whitewater will help us carry our fundraising forward. Their fresh creative approach and strategic knowledge impressed us and we are eagerly awaiting the results of our first campaign together."

Niamh Neville, Account Director at Whitewater, said, "We're delighted to work on this interesting cause which presents lots of creative challenges, but we love a challenge."

I've been told by our new MD that the most requently given piece of feedback given to him about our website is: 'It's great... but I wanted to find out how Whitewater got its name?!'

Well, as the longest-standing member of staff (more years than I care to remember) and daughter of one of the founders I am uniquely placed to respond.

The answer to the question is... well, it depends who you ask.

According to Sarah Hamilton Fairley (Whitewater's founder, first MD and now Chief Exec of charity Starthere), the name came from a promise she made to herself on an ill-advised rafting expedition in Nepal. Swept off the raft and hurtling downriver, preoccupied with the purifying tablets she felt she should be swallowing to compensate for the vast amounts of river water being ingested as her fellow rafters bobbed by, she swore that, should she come out of the ordeal alive, her brand new company would be named Whitewater.

But if you ask Richard Crofton (co-founder of Whitewater, also now at StartHere), the story is quite different. His version includes a hike up Mont Richard in the French Pyrenees, where he was greeted at the summit by a breath-taking view including glacier, snow, cloud, and spray from a waterfall casting rainbows. The ensemble of different forms of 'white water' were his inspiration for the name of the fledgling company.

Both stories are true and both inspired the naming of the company. Perhaps the most remarkable thing is that two such different stories resulted in the founders (neither of whom lack the courage of their convictions) being able to actually agree upon the name.

Whether Whitewater says to you, 'excitement, danger, thrills' or 'beauty, nature, peace', there's a story behind the name to fit.

Anna Bell

Obama's campaign has raised a truly staggering $600 million and counting, blitzing all previous records. In two years! And what's more, 90% of this has come from individual donors with the average donation around $86.

According to the LA Times, Obama's campaign 'built a cash juggernaut using the Internet'. But of course it's not just the technology wot did it. As John Baguely points out, Obama's inspirational leadership is the foundation.

It strikes me that Obama's fundraising reminds us that donating money is not an alternative to campaigning. It is campaigning. And it has put power back into the hands of ordinary Americans. So it's democratising as well.

Those donations have funded the kind of advertising blitzes which previously only big-money Republicans could deliver. Obama's campaign (win or lose) is an extraordinary case study in fundraising, led, as John Baguely says, by the most extraordinary fundraiser of them all, Senator Obama himself.

Image courtesy of Joe Crimmings Photography

Steve Andrews

This is the one time you should ignore your supporters. Because thanking them is probably the best investment you'll ever make. Particularly as now, more than ever, giving to charity is incredibly generous of people who are wondering if they'll be able to afford to pay for their groceries next month.

We recently wrote a thank-you letter for our client RSPCA. But it wasn't just any old thank-you letter. This letter thanked donors for everything they'd done for the charity during the previous 12 months. Every response to an appeal, every raffle ticket bought was acknowledged. And thanked.

There was no ask for money in this letter, yet the volume of 'white mail' it generated was far in excess of any RSPCA fundraising appeal (10 inches high and counting…). And none of these letters said "Don't waste money thanking me".

Many supporters wrote and phoned saying how they hate being asked by charities to give more all the time, then going on to say that because of the letter, they'll increase their gift. Another was prompted to leave a residuary gift in their Will.

Being the hardcore direct marketers we are, we wanted our client Sarah Vickery to test it so we could see how it affected the future 'performance' of the supporters who received it. Now Sarah understands DM as well as we do – but she said "No!" And do you know what? I think she was right, because Sarah recognised that there are some things that are so right to do that you don't test them – you just do it!

Nick Couldry

The campaigns which launch in November will test a range of proposition across inserts, direct mail and doordrops.

Jenny Morris, Save the Children's Supporter Acquisition Manager, said, "Whitewater's creative work was incredibly powerful, and we were impressed with their thorough approach to the brief. We're very excited to be taking their ideas forward into live testing."

Niamh Neville, Account Director at Whitewater, said, "Save the Children is a great brand to work on. We were inspired by the brief, so we're thrilled to have won this pitch. We have high hopes for the autumn tests."

I worked through the revolution that made the Internet a part of everyones lives and during that time had the pleasure of working with some really bright people on ground-breaking global campaigns.
And still I have been blown away by the quality of the Whitewater team and the care they take in every aspect of what they do. It might be obvious that we care – after all we work with charities and non-profits – yet the result is work of the highest quality. And does it generate results? It had better. We are primarily in the response business so numbers are what makes us tick.

I have been introduced to campaigns that are generating new donors with a positive ROI; new ways of thinking that are making this industry consider a different approach to marketing; and a TV ad which moved one experienced client to tears (and if I am honest, my eyes were a little moist when it finished).

And the Whitewater effect is having a real impact. One of our recent pitch wins was so impressed by our first campaign and the stops we pulled out to hit her deadlines that she sent us very personal thank-you card, while in another instance, chocolates were found on an Account Director's desk as acknowledgement for the hard work put in by everyone on their recent campaign launch. Two separate client thank-you's in the same week - brilliant.

For the first time in quite a while, I cannot wait to get into work. I may have been part of the team for less than 72 hours, but I am already feeling the effect.

Mark Roper

The campaign is across inserts, press, online and outdoor media and we’ll give you more of an update on this later!

Part of the campaign was to develop a DVD that explains the Brooke’s work and how it benefits both animals and people. Send off for your copy and watch a preview at the www.helpboth.org website. Visit it now!

Alex Wordsworth

It makes me so happy to know that there are more than a handful of people out there that want to do things for the better of mother nature and human kind.

So check out the site, get involved and help us save the world! HOORAH!

Saxon-Dale Sunderland

Mark stood out from a strong field of candidates as a truly outstanding appointment.

A marketer with many years' Board level experience at MHA Carlson and Banner, Mark brings everything that Whitewater was looking for:

• An outstanding marketing practioner with deep experience in integrated marketing and a strong commercial background
• A heavy-weight agency leader and manager
• A nice guy that’ll fit in and protect our friendly culture

Mark joins Whitewater from Volume where he was Director of Planning.

Steve Andrews, Chairman of Whitewater, said, “We were privileged to meet many tremendous people but our decision, in the end, was an easy one. Mark was an outstanding candidate who we could see taking Whitewater to the next level.”

On accepting the position, Mark Roper said, “I am thrilled to be joining Whitewater and to be given the opportunity of working with such a wide range of charity brands. There is a history of excellence to build on with Whitewater and I relish the opportunity of bringing my experience to the team.”

Mark takes up his new position on October 1st.

The campaign raises awareness of the significant increase in the number of animals needing the RSPCA’s help since the Animal Welfare Act came into force in April 2007 and calls for much needed public donations. The integrated campaign, which includes a DRTV commercial, online campaign, press inserts, cold mail and door drop, has been developed in conjunction with Whitewater.

The new Animal Welfare Act, means the RSPCA can now act before an animal suffers. It has led to a dramatic increase in the workload of RSPCA Inspectors, Animal Collection Officers, Animal Centre staff and vets – as well as the need for more food, more care and more veterinary treatment at Animal Centres. The new campaign asks everyone who cares about animals to make a donation in support of the Biggest Animal Rescue, since the charity relies entirely on public support.

Speaking about the new laws, Tim Wass, Chief Officer Inspectorate, who is featured in the DRTV ad, said: “The Act is great news for animals, but means a great deal of work for the RSPCA. I need to make the public aware of the increase in animals who are now depending on us. I need to appeal for more funds so we can be there for all the animals that are counting on us.”

Nick Couldry, Creative Director at Whitewater said of the new commercial: “The RSPCA is totally committed to meeting the demands of the new Animal Welfare legislation. This appeal utilises integrated media to reach as many people as possible and draw attention to the challenge for Inspectors like Tim Wass who are on the front line of animal welfare.”

I enjoyed hearing this story on Radio 5 this morning.

It was another reminder of why I love my job.

Last Summer, Nick, our Creative Director, read a story in The Times about how the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) were not approving a drug which could prevent a common form of blindness: wet macular degeneration. RNIB were campaigning against this position.

Whitewater knows how powerful a campaign ask can be to drive fundraising results. So Nick mocked up a pack and we sent it over to RNIB.

They loved it. They used it. Donors loved it. Fundraising targets were smashed and it resulted in the biggest ever petition to NICE. NICE changed their mind, as reported by the BBC today. And thousands of people will have their sight saved. Thanks to RNIB, their donors and Whitewater's Creative Director.

That's work worth getting up for in the morning.

Steve Andrews

A charity campaign created last year for The Haven Night Shelter in Cape Town, South Africa, was instrumental in bringing the hardships of the homeless people in the city out into the open. Haven Night Shelters are situated all over the Cape Peninsula and do fantastic work not only getting people off the streets, but also in trying to get kids who have run away from home reunited with their families. The essence of the campaign is in highlighting the extreme differences between the have and have-nots of South Africa using media, which would normally be noticed by people looking for new homes.

The ads, which were placed all over Cape Town, were made to look as if they had been placed by estate agents advertising various properties. Headlines included “Sensational City Living” and “Location! Location! Location!” typical of normal property ads. The only difference was that the visuals did not match the regular lingo used by estate agents. Instead of showing multi-million rand houses, the images are of benches, bush shelters and the underneath of bridges. Press ads ran in newspaper property sections, flyers were dropped into peoples’ post boxes and “On Show” signs were placed at similar locations to the ones shown in the press ads and flyers.

A clever and unique way of bringing a needy cause out into the limelight.

Michael-John Van Vuuren

It was from Dave. You won’t know Dave, because I don’t know Dave. He works for a website that I visited once. I didn’t buy anything and I don’t even recall leaving my details. Certainly not my date of birth. Did he search for me on Facebook or Myspace? Am I being stalked??

But, I am impressed. It’s not often you receive a handwritten, personalised birthday card through the mail, signed by someone you don’t know, who works for a company from which you have never made a purchase.

Such personalisation is very hard working. Let’s all consider Dave for a moment and think about how much he want’s my business. It costs money to send a birthday card and it costs money to sign it with ink. Does he act on blind intuition, or does he know something I don’t?

If you received a signed (with real ink!), personalised card recognising your donation, would you make another gift in the future? My guess is yes.

Paul Bailey