St John's Ambulance chooses very commercial marketer
Howard Lake | 9 March 2009 | Blogs
Over the last month, there has been a steady stream of ‘heat’ created in Third Sector’s letters pages (the magazine and website for nfp sector news) by an article originally written by Debra Allcock Tyler, Chief Executive of the Directory of Social Change.
Although I didn’t personally find it insulting, the tone did suggest that people who work in the commercial sector shouldn’t ever be given roles in the not for profit sector unless they have relevant experience. The skills required and the cultural differences are apparently too great a barrier to entry. Although I’m not sure how one is supposed to gain experience if you’re not allowed to get a job as there is only so much you can do as a volunteer.
Deja-vu is setting in right about now.
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I have seen, heard and written about this issue before and am not going to reiterate the points here. But, I was interested in reading of Scott Jacobson’s appointment as St John’s Ambulance’s first ever Director of Marketing, Communications and Fundraising.
Mr Jacobson has been poached directly from Orange and has no nfp sector experience but clearly does have bags of marketing and communications skills to share. I hope he succeeds in helping the charity to modernise and raise its profile as well as to dispel a myth or two about who can and can’t work where.
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.