Celebrities – who likes them?
Howard Lake | 20 January 2008 | Blogs
Skipping lightly through the fundraising press, interest group discussions and blogs looking for something of real use to me, I have recently been struck by our (fundraisers) often patronising attitude to celebrity involvement in charities.
Many of the really vibrant organisations I have worked with have in-bedded celebrity culture into their major donor development, events, capital appeals, ordinary appeals, catalogues and just about every other bit of fundraising. And these organisations are fun to be with, work with and talk about afterwards. See also www.savethehildren.org.uk, www.amnesty.org.uk (still doing the Secret Policeman’s Ball) and www.toturecare.org.uk though I’m not sure how evident their pool of talent is from their site.
To do this however these organisations have long lists of appropriate patrons – not just one Royal stuck on the masthead. On the other hand many organisations that I see failing to attract support haven’t even got their first patron in place; and others may have long lists, but full of complete unknowns to all but their trustees.
I see this as an area where many of us can make real quantifiable gains in income and even extend the market for giving. I predict the steady seeping in of celebrities as more organisations cotton to their ability to boost income.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.