# UNICEF highlights the future – hopefully

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/07/25/unicef-highlights-future-hopefully/
- Published: 2014-07-25T10:43:06+01:00
- Author: John Baguley

Congratulations to UNICEF on capturing the Commonwealth Games. Let’s hope that this
becomes a trend across major televised events that they contain a charity message
to remind us of our humanity and enable us to help, rather like the person in the
Roman Emperor’s chariot, when they rode in great triumphs through the streets of
Rome with the crowds cheering, who had the job of whispering in their ear “Remember
you are a mortal”.

This was a class operation with constant reminders throughout the event, which did
not intrude despite its three hour duration and the call to action (in this case
to txt) coming towards the end.

Psychologically this came for some of us after watching the news on Channel 4 which
had shown strong moving images from Gaza of the suffering of children and talking
about the large number of children killed by the Israeli bombardment. It will be
hard to tell what effect this had on the amount of funds raised.

## Advertisement

 [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/)

UNICEF’s follow-up came promptly the next morning with txt asking if people would
like to Gift Aid the donation, and this should help not only to increase the money
raised but also to bring these people to become long term supporters of UNICEF as
they will have extended their commitment and will hopefully be prepared to give 
again.

![272878217](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/272878217-
352x250.jpg)

This is a further shift in the way we recruit new supporters, with [Oxfam’s Chief Executive, Mark Goldring, recently commenting](http://www.oxfam.org.uk/blogs/2014/07/mark-goldring-is-the-undercover-boss-channel-4)
that most of their new supporters came from street fundraising and hard copies of
anything from direct mail to newsletters becoming prohibitively expensive to print
and post the switch to online and mobile fundraising is not that far from being 
complete.

Of course, [Mark Goldring’s time as an undercover boss](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL4aPGP-Prs)
was, I hope, not just a one off; but a sign that the third sector is just as interesting,
if not more so, than politics and business to audiences. It will be disappointing
if these two events are merely one-off aberrations and not the tip of an incoming
social iceberg.

John Baguley

CEO IFC

[www.groupifc.com](http://www.groupifc.com)

 * **[UNICEF launches global fundraising appeal at Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/07/25/unicef-launches-global-fundraising-appeal-commonwealth-games-opening-ceremony/)**(
   25 July 2014)
 * **[UNICEF app lets you record your version of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/11/21/unicef-app-lets-record-version-john-lennons-imagine/)**(
   21 November 2014)
 * **[Face-to-face fundraising is “recession-proof technique”, IFC delegates told](https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/10/21/face-to-face-fundraising-is-recession-proof-technique-ifc-delegates-told/)**(
   21 October 2015)