Swag from Ireland

We got our first post today. Well, first post if you don’t count letters from the bank.

Our friend Damian who runs the incredible Ask Direct in Dublin sent us these badges from the Michael D. Higgins presidential re-election campaign.

Earlier in the summer we spent a day and a half in Dublin with Damian and his incredible team talking about the strategies and tactics that drive the most successful political fundraising campaigns - which they then used and built on to power the work they did on the campaign.

Today is election day in Ireland. If you have a vote, make sure you get out and use it. If you don’t have a vote, take a moment to look the #keepthepoet hashtag on twitter and get a feel for MDH’s appeal.

Sick isn't weak

I was at the IFC last week and the SickKids presentation on Thursday took my breath away. It told the story of how SickKids in Toronto rebooted their relationship with the public to supercharge their fundraising and attract new audiences.

They did it by focussing on three key things:

1. They deliberately moved from being a charity brand to a performance brand. Think Nike.

2. They shifted their mindset from keeping up with what the charity sector does, to redefining it and winning at it.

3. They moved from the central and well used proposition of ‘Help Us’ to ‘Join Us’.

It’s that last one that resonates the most with how Rally thinks and operates. We know we’re doing our best work when we are helping clients attract and mobilise their crowd by putting their values front and centre rather than a particular fundraising product.

This is the launch film. Please watch it full screen with the sound most definitely turned up.

Kids in the hospital over the Christmas period worry that Santa doesn’t know where they are. So they made this film.

They ran this one at Mother’s Day (and it was at this point in the session where I started sobbing).

This is the latest film, launched a few weeks ago. It’s the moment in the plan where the call to action starts to focus on action - from all parts of the Toronto community.

It’s stunning work. And a real, live example of how an organisation can make its brand and fundraising work brilliantly together.

What about the results? They were amazing. And as soon as I get the slides I will update you all. But we’re talking millions of dollars.

Paul