6 snippets of agency & supplier news
Melanie May | 9 March 2023 | News
From an agency rebrand, to a new partnership between JustGiving and GivePanel, the launch of a sustainable greetings card business that donates to charity, and a different approach to incentivising climate action, here is a round up of recent agency and supplier news.
Slack Communications rebrands to Agenda
Strategic communications agency Slack Communications is now Agenda.
The new brand aligns the company more closely with its mission to give social impact organisations the communications insight, skills and confidence needed to achieve ambitious goals.
Advertisement
The change coincides with the 10-year anniversary of the agency and one year since the arrival of the new co-owner/co-director, Vic Barlow.
Becky Slack, co-owner and co-director of Agenda, said:
“We have come a long way over the last 10 years. Starting as a kitchen table business, today we have an international presence and are working with some influential and exciting organisations. The new brand reflects this growth and the new partnerships we’re enjoying.
“Our goal is to help social impact organisations think big about the impact they can achieve using strategic communications. Our work is grounded in evidence and we help clients make brave decisions which transform their work.”
JustGiving teams up with GivePanel to improve the supporter journey through new feature
GivePanel spoke to supporters to find out the pain points when taking part in Facebook Challenges, coming up with the 1-Click JustGiving Experience for Facebook Challenges as a result.
The new feature enables supporters to choose how they set up their fundraisers, giving them three options for how to do it: offering Facebook first but allowing them to choose JustGiving if they don’t choose to activate a Facebook fundraiser; offering them both options at the same times; and offering only JustGiving as an option.
Jamie Parkins – Senior Manager, Product Management at JustGiving commented:
“Social media platforms are an important acquisition channel for charities and nonprofits; however, our research shows they aren’t always a consumer’s first choice for online fundraising. We’re proud to be innovating with the GivePanel team on a JustGiving integration that will enable charities to seamlessly connect their Facebook Challenges with the UK’s most trusted online fundraising platform.
“This powerful new fundraising tool will enable charities to offer their supporters a superior fundraising journey on a platform they know and love, whilst also enabling charities to be more efficient and use processes they already have set up with JustGiving.”
Direct mail firm launches sustainable greetings card retail business
Yorkshire-headquartered Propack has made a six-figure investment into the launch of Planet Bee, which was created to offer a sustainable option for greetings card senders.
It has the capacity to print and post up to 185,000 personalised cards per day from its 30,000 square foot bespoke site in Huddersfield, with prices starting from £1.95 for a personalised card and a turnaround time of a daily 6pm cut off for next day delivery.
Propack has committed to making a donation from each card purchase to one of its two charity partners, Mental Health UK and Action for Children. Customers will be able to choose which charity to donate to at checkout. All charitable donations will come from Planet Bee’s profits and go directly to support the charities on a monthly basis.
Dogs Trust launches debit card with Currensea
Dogs Trust has launched a debit card in partnership with Currensea, enabling members to make charitable donations each time they spend at home or abroad, helping raise funds for the charity to help dogs in need.
The new Dogs Trust by Currensea card links to existing bank accounts and will be available to anyone wishing to support Dogs Trust, by opting to donate to the charity when spending in the UK and overseas. Donations can be made by rounding up spending to the nearest 50p or £1 in the UK, and also when spending abroad.
Currensea allows users to save at least 85% – and up to 100% – on every transaction abroad by removing the normal fees leveraged by banks and other card providers, and Dog’s Trust supporters are able to donate some or all of these savings.
Law firm provides pro bono support to help new charity launch
City law firm Wedlake Bell has on a pro bono basis advised on and put in place the structure to set up new charity, Svitlo Education. The aim of the charity is to assist those impacted by the Ukraine conflict by providing online education and English language classes to children who remain in Ukraine as well as to those who have been forced to relocate to other countries. It also provides school scholarships and education related tools for children who do not have them. Wedlake Bell has recently obtained charity registration on behalf of Svitlo Education with the Charity Commission.
Svitlo means light in Ukrainian and the charity was founded by Yuliya Kosko who, after graduating from a Ukrainian school, has been studying and working in the UK for almost 20 years. The charity remains committed to helping children continue their academic and creative education and acquire new skills despite the ongoing conflict.
The team at Wedlake Bell LLP consisted of Victoria Mahon de Palacios, Partner in the Private Client Group, Jack Martin (Solicitor, Private Client team), Kamalprit Lally (Legal Director, Corporate team) and Emma Thomas (Paralegal, Corporate team).
Gaming studio takes up new approach to incentive climate action
Prior to the global ClimateStrike on 3 March, organised by Fridays for Future, Swiss gaming studio Operal took a new approach to incentivise climate action. With its mobile game ClimateCandy, Operal gives gamers the chance to make a positive impact on the planet, rewarding them with nature-based solutions carbon credits for every level completed, which support climate initiatives around the world. Additionally, by watching ads in the game, players generate revenue that is also directed towards impact.
In conjunction with the global ClimateStrike, Operal launched a campaign to encourage gamers to download and play ClimateCandy. For every download of the app during the ClimateStrike, Operal retired an additional 50 kg of CO2 with the goal of raising awareness of the impact individuals can have on the planet, even in small ways.
ClimateCandy has seen over 100,000 downloads in its first month, retiring more than 1,000 tons of CO2. Operal hopes to create buy pressure on the carbon market through the game, making avoidance and reduction of emissions more attractive than compensation.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.