Lots of you have been asking about the launch of the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s charity interest group, which launched on Tuesday with a special event at Cass Business School. I’m on the advisory board for the group, which brings together professionals with an interest in charity sector marketing to network and share best practice. The event was packed out with a good range of people from large and small charities, social enterprises, other nonprofits, agencies and freelance consultants.
Georgie Feinberg , Founder and International Director of Afrikids, and Professor Ian Bruce of Cass presented at the event and you can see the tweets from the event on the Storify on UK Fundraising. Vicky Browning from Charity Comms and Paul Marvell from the Institute of Fundraising also spoke, and were keen to express their interest in collaborating with the new CIM group.
If you’d like to find out about the next event, tweet me @zoeamar with your email address and I’ll add you to the distribution list. I hope to see you there.
Speaking of good charity marketing, my campaign of the week is CSV’s volunteer champions campaign. The aim of the campaign is to celebrate the work of volunteers past and present across the UK and to inspire a new generation of people to volunteer in their communities. I like the story it tells of how CSV has made a difference over the last 50 years. Anniversary campaigns are tricky because they can fall into the trap of being overly nostalgic, but this is just the right blend of celebrating past achievements and a clear call to action for the future.
With charities and their marketing departments under pressure, it feels like a good moment to celebrate the impact that charities can have through their volunteers and to tell their stories. The best way to do this is through good marketing. As Georgie Feinberg said at the CIM event, “A really strong marketing strategy can pull charities through tough times.”