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

The RSPCA are commonly known for the great work they do with cats and dogs but some people don't realise they care for all animals - including horses.

This week we launched an integrated campaign to help the RSPCA raise funds to cover the cost of rehabilitating the 140 horses, ponies and donkeys rescued from Spindles Farm, near Amersham last year, which you may have read about in the press. The investigation and prosecution has been one of the RSPCA's biggest ever, and the cost of providing care and treatment for the animals has been over £850,000. Officers from World Horse Welfare, Redwings Horse Sanctuary, The Horse Trust, vets and Thames Valley Police worked alongside the RSPCA in very difficult conditions to rescue and care for the surviving animals from the terrible scene.

Our campaign includes DRTV and online as well as press ads and was co-ordinated to tie-in with editorial coverage of the court's verdict and sentencing. All elements of the campaign therefore needed to be turned around at high speed because of the short-term nature of broadcast news.

Like our Biggest Animal Rescue campaign, the DRTV ad is fronted by the RSPCA's Chief Officer Inspectorate Tim Wass. It also features RSPCA Inspector Kirsty Hampton, who was first on the scene at Amersham and who describes how many of the animals had little food or dry bedding and were crammed into pens ankle-deep in their own faeces. Other horses had simply been left to die where they fell.

It's an upsetting case but clearly demonstrates the unique nature of RSPCA and why there will always be a need for them. Why don't you take a look at the ad for yourselves?

Hayley Canning

Whitewater is looking for a Digital Project Coordinator to help manage the day to day running of an established online software fundraising platform and also to project manage several small to medium sized online projects. You will be mentored to rapidly become a successful online Project Manager.

We are looking for someone who will be capable of dealing with multiple clients and 3rd parties, dealing with a small online projects throughout the client life cycle: from inception to completion, on budget and on time. You will have great interpersonal skills and be able to grow existing client relationships.

Key requirements:
Understanding of the project lifecycle for an online project
Managing client expectations
Excellent documentation skills
Microsoft Office skills (especially Excel and Word)
Experience of managing a schedule and budget for a project or sub-project
Experience of helping to manage an online project on time and on budget.
Passion for and knowledge of both Information Technology and the Internet.

The person:
Great interpersonal skills
A team-worker and communicator who is adaptable and self-motivated
A confident and friendly telephone manner
Good written communication
Someone who can identify risks and problem areas of projects in a timely fashion, resolving them effectively and with the minimum of impact to the project and business
Project management experience in an online environment
Contributing to new business proposals
Ability to conceptualise and translate 'rough client requirements' to 'specific online technical deliverables'
Knowledge of the latest Internet technologies, analytics, marketing, user research as well as visual, content and/or information design

Bonus points for:
2.1 or 1st in a digital related degree
HTML development/programming background
Working experience of PRINCE project management methodology
Digital Agency background

N.B. All graduates with no work experience will need to go through a 1 month trial prior to full time placement.

NO AGENCIES PLEASE - but anyone else who's interested, pleased send your CV to jobs@whitewater.biz

A few weeks ago I went to the Multiple Sclerosis Awards – a celebration of the best in the MS community held by our client the MS Society. It was an inspiring afternoon, hearing about the amazing achievements of people living with MS and the great work of the Society.

The event kicked off with the award for 'MS Inspiration 2009' – won by Anne Dunham. Anne was diagnosed with MS when she was 27 and started to compete in dressage aged 40. She has won 12 golds and countless silver and bronze medals at the Paralympics.

Other winners included 15 year old Patsy Peebles (pictured below with Tain) who picked up the award for Campaign of the Year for her work to raise awareness of teenage MS.

The awards were a fun afternoon out and a chance to drink champagne with the likes of Moira Stewart, but most of all a real reminder of why we do what we do at Whitewater – raise funds for amazing charities like the MS Society.

Alex Wordsworth

The new recruitment proposition will be tested in inserts, with two creative executions 'Fight hunger. FARM-Africa' and 'This isn't a developing world. This is.' Recognising that FARM-Africa cannot compete with better known development charities, donors will be recruited on a cash ask and provided with evidence of success before being asked to commit to a regular gift. At http://www.farmafrica.org.uk/proof
www.farmafrica.org.uk/proof donors can view videos of families farming effectively.

This is a new approach for FARM-Africa, which has based previous recruitment on the mass market proposition of £27 buys a goat, with Michael Palin as the figurehead. While recruitment was highly successful, evidence suggests that once donors had bought their goat, they felt they had done their bit and didn't go on to support on a more regular basis.

Rachel Beckett, Direct Marketing Manager, FARM-Africa said, "People are increasingly aware that the long term solutions to hunger start with working with communities to build their own skills to feed themselves. This insert campaign recognises the public's understanding that Africa's farmers want to build their own futures not just be the recipients of aid."

Francesca Boardman, Head of Copy at Whitewater said, "In this campaign, FARM-Africa is not afraid to confront the issues surrounding aid head on. They show that Africa's people are not passive helpless victims, but determined people who can feed their families with the right kind of help."

I recently embarked on an exciting project with my client - the development of a five-year strategy for the whole of the fundraising department. Although we mainly work with individual giving, this work included each area in fundraising; corporate, major donor and trust and supporter services, ensuring that the whole department works towards a common goal.

We brought in an independent facilitator who used specialist tools to formulate and run a pre-planned workshop day to generate the strategy. Having run many of these types of workshop before, Brian had an objectiveness that helped to keep the day running as efficiently as possible. At times he was forced to cut through the charity jargon in order that we came up with a clear overarching aim and a set of strategies supporting that aim.

Prior to the workshop, and to make sure that our strategy was soundproof, we conducted a comprehensive overview of the marketplace involving a PEST analysis, competitor and share of voice analysis, in depth audience profiling including pen portraits and an organisational internal analysis.

Each attendee, including the head of fundraising, the fundraising and supporter services managers, and key agency partners were sent the marketplace analysis materials in advance for reading, thus guaranteeing the maximum amount of time at the workshop was given over towards the development of the five-year goal and its supporting strategies.

We held the workshop at an independent conference facility to ensure focus on the task in hand throughout. After a packed agenda we finished with a few well earned drinks and dinner, giving people time to chat and mull over what had been achieved from putting sixteen professionals in a room for a day!

Now all we have to do is put the strategies in place. Onwards and upwards…

Marcella McGing

Some might say she's a bit disrespectful. But they’re not going to say it to her face. She's a red-head and a Brummie.

Next time you're visiting the creative department, say hi to our fabulous new copywriter. Make sure you use the right words though – she really knows what she's writing about!

Francesca Boardman

PS. Speaking of words – there are a few being bandied about at the end of Nayyar’s first week. They are: laid back and bolshy; Indie music, lovely, funky, shoe wearing copywriter; Friendly; Don’t talk to it, Eat it!!!; Bright.

Feel free to use the comments link to add a few of your own...

'But what,' I hear you all cry, 'are the words of wisdom that you leave us with…?' Time for me to break the embarrassing silence.

When I started, I wrestled for a long time with the question why should anyone want to give their hard earned money to a charity? And slowly the answer dawned: because they want to.

People are naturally generous. Ask any human being for help, and their first, instantaneous reaction is to want to say yes. That, of course, is followed a millisecond later by the doubts – can I afford it, can I trust them, what will they actually do with my money, am I being taken for a ride here…?

Our job is simple. We have to remove those obstacles to generosity so that someone can enjoy the experience of doing good undiluted by regret. Of course there's always someone in the organisation who wants to complicate things. Just try to make sure it isn't you.

Barry Evans

Direct mail is still working well for fundraisers. However, changes are taking place. Data is becoming even more significant. Charities and their agencies are getting smarter. Data is being scrutinised in more detail than ever. This is resulting in better segmentation, more accurate targeting and subsequently less direct mail.

We recently ran a campaign on behalf of a major UK charity client, sending out a direct mail campaign to a reduced, more targeted file, and it resulted in the largest number of donations the charity had ever received.

So rather than the death of direct mail we are in fact bidding farewell to the unwanted, unopened and unresponsive post that reduces a campaign's ROI and annoys its intended recipient. Good news all round.

In addition, rather than using DM in isolation, some of our best recent results have come from integrated campaigns incorporating multi-channel communications such as DRTV and social networking. These campaigns allow charities to recruit and engage donors in relevant dialogue without the use of any printed matter. This means costs are coming down and relationships are taking place on the donor’s terms, not the charity's, to the benefit of both parties.

So don't believe all you read, the number of direct mail pieces may be on the wane, but it is still a tool with a major role to play as part of the communication mix of most charities.

Mark Roper

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/us/18charity.html
login name: let-me-in-again
password: letmein

There are a few assumptions in this article which may, when unpacked, might help explain why people give once and go away.

A development director is quoted as saying, "For one thing, [charities] must have a team dedicated to fine-tuning and improving their web site and another team for e-mail marketing, both of which are added expenses. Nonprofit solicitation materials often get caught in systems that trap spam and other unwanted e-mail. Other systems eliminate the compelling images that are so effective in direct mail."

I would imagine a charity has a team dedicated to their web site in the same sense that they have a team dedicated to coming into the office regularly. A web site is not an online brochure. It is not an extra service and an extra cost. Communicating what a charity is about and what it is currently doing is essential to fundraising, and internet media (web, email, chat, sms, video, etc) are the most efficient, cheap, conversational, and democratic media available.

Sometimes it seems charities invest in communications to get people to donate, but invest little to nothing to thank them for giving; or to tell people what difference their gift has made; or allow people to follow their progress; to tell people what's coming up; to allow people to get involved by volunteering, discussing issues, asking questions, or providing feedback on the latest mail pack, for example.

The concept of donating to charity and then trusting them to spend your money wisely with no further question is no longer enough. It was enough when it was all that was possible, but now the internet allows donors to experience so much more, that to offer them nothing in return for giving appears not just ungrateful but downright rude.

These days, the ideal charity web site seems to be more of a 'glass workshop,' where the goal of the site is to make a charity's processes and work as efficient and transparent as possible. Charites do not do something over here, and then tell people about it here. As much as possible, the doing and the telling are melded together. Potential donors should not have to read descriptions about what the charity does, they should be able to look in the window of the glass workshop and see for themselves. And when donors see something that they can help with, they could even conceivably jump in and help out. (Are you a time donor? Or a money donor? A paid worker or a voluntary worker?)

Maybe donors don't want marketing and fundraising messages. Maybe the best marketing is transparency. In the internet age, a donor can expect to see the project they've donated to, meet the other donors, and hear the voices of the people they've helped. Nothing will get people to give again like hearing someone on the other side of the world confirm that you've helped change their life.

Brad Bell

Winston Churchill is remembered for many things. He is regarded as a gifted politician, an inspiring speaker and a talented author; as a great war hero, respected statesman and by many, he is considered to be the greatest leader in British history. However, you might not be aware that Sir Winston was an avid animal lover. He was particularly fond of pigs and once said:

"I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals."

Many animal lovers will be inclined to agree with Winston, but in farms across Europe, millions of pigs are suffering unnecessarily. Welfare standards are grossly inadequate and pigs are severely frustrated, overcrowded and even subjected to mutilation.

Intelligent, charming and above all innocent, pigs deserve to be treated with respect. The RSPCA want conditions improved and in a new mail campaign launched last week, they ask supporters to sign a petition to the President of the European Commission and to make a donation to the RSPCA. The petition calls for the following changes to pig welfare legislation:

• Pigs must be given enough space so they can move freely and naturally
• Millions of piglets undergo painful mutilations including teeth clipping, tail docking and castration without anaesthetic. Pigs should only be subjected to these procedures if there is a welfare-related reason
• Pigs must not be kept in enclosures with inappropriate flooring and no bedding material. They should be given straw to root in so they can behave according to their natural instincts.

We are sure Winston Churchill would firmly agree with this common sense approach to animal welfare. Pigs are fascinating creatures that deserve to be treated better. I hope RSPCA supporters all raise their hams in agreement and respond to this campaign. Stand by for some great results!
Paul Bailey

When did you last know a copywriter who actually retired? That's what Barry Evans, Whitewater's Head of Copy, will do on May 9th having reached... hmm... shall we say 'the age of discretion'?

To ensure a smooth handover, Barry's replacement will step into his shoes at the beginning of March. Fran Boardman is not exactly a Barry replica. She doesn't spend her spare time watching birds or pursuing theatrical projects, for instance.

But her passion for charities is the same, if not greater. She shares a respect for the beauty and subtlety of the English language. And let's face it, she's a damn sight prettier.

So it's hail and farewell. The wordsmiths may change, but the control-beating, inspiration drive - to change the world for better - goes on.

Barry Evans

Just after Christmas, Wikipedia announced that it was closing its annual appeal a full six months ahead of schedule having already hit its $6m target.

Not only that, but following an appeal from founder Jimmy Wales in late December (so Wikipedia could avoid having to make charges or take advertising), over the course of just eight days a staggering 50,000 people from around the world donated a total of $2m. The only fundraising outside of social networking was $2m raised from trusts and foundations.

This is the first year Wikipedia has employed professional fundraisers, and it shows. Fundraising went from $1.2m in 2006 and $2.3m in 2007 - to $6m in 2008.

Wikipedia's head of community giving, Rand Montoya, says that all they did was, 'an amazing amount of the basics,' including thanking people, using clear messaging and making it easy for anyone, anywhere in the world, to give in their own currency.

There must be lessons to learn from this. And Wikipedia is even making it easier for us to do that. It aims to be totally transparent, so it publishes its contribution and donor statistics on its blog, and invites comments from anyone who cares enough to leave them.

As part of the appeal, it tested a number of banners, and it's published the results of that testing, too.

As and when it has more results of the analysis into the appeal, that will also be posted on the blog for others to see what works and what doesn't. Obviously not everything's going to work for everyone, but it's a refreshing change from fundraisers mumbling into their sandwiches when asked to comment meaningfully on their results.

It's not going to change the face of fundraising overnight, but it's a fantastic example of the power of social networking and how openness and transparency can help us all.

Kevin Kibble

So far the results have been good. One donor wrote to say she thought that during these credit crunch times when charities are looking to cut back, receiving mailings is still useful - 'they don't have to be glossy but keeping in touch does more than keep the money flowing... it's great to feel appreciated.'

It's feedback like that from donors which make this job worthwhile.

Merry Christmas everyone!