Dataro - turn your donor data into donor predictions

Depaul UK auctions place in iPhone 6 queue in London

Howard Lake | 21 September 2014 | News

Homeless charity Depaul UK made the most out of people’s desire to buy the latest iPhone by bagging a place in the queue and then offering it to the highest bidder.
The iPhone 6 went on sale in the UK on Friday 17 September, and there was already a queue the day before outside Apple’s Regent Street shop. Depaul UK staff managed to bag and hold the fifth place in the queue.
They then auctioned it via eBay. The offer stated: “This auction is for the physical space outside the Apple Store and a Depaul UK t-shirt, not the iPhone 6”.

Sleeping on the street

The contrast between people willing to sleep out on the street to buy the latest gadget and those who had no choice but to sleep rough had been noted the previous year by the charity when queues formed overnight to be the first to own the iPhone 5 and 5S.
Joe Howes, Director of Fundraising and Development at Depaul told The Independent that they were making a fundraising opportunity out of this contrast, given that “there are hundreds of young people that sleep out every single night”.
The auction raised £570, and Depaul UK included a t-shirt when handing over the space to the buyer.

Charity begins at phone

Depaul’s PR agency Publicis shared details of the campaign from its launch to national media coverage.
 

Advertisement

Why your supporters are wealthier than you think... Course by Catherine Miles. Background photo of two sides of a terraced street of houses.


 


 


 


 
Depaul UK has a good track record of novel approaches to fundraising, including the iHobo app and the Depaul Box Company which provides cardboard boxes for people moving house:
[youtube height=”450″ width=”800″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t4NWfR26_o[/youtube]
 

Loading

Mastodon