Big Brother Comes to the Aid of the British Red Cross

Big Brother has once again come to our screens and while we think back to previous years we may remember some of its more memorable sets and props that played a part in the show. Channel 4 is now giving us the chance to own one of these props as it sets out to auction off some of its most bizarre items with all proceeds being donated to the British Red Cross Disaster Fund.

When Channel 4 was broadcasting Big Brother, despite its many controversies, they had a large following with viewership often reaching into the millions, therefore this auction and sponsoship is set to be extremely beneficial for the British Red Cross and the Disaster fund, not only financially but in terms of awareness and exposure.

Bidding has already started with this particular item (Bob Righter) reaching 22 bids within its first day to reach its current bid of £200. All auctioneers have until 2nd September to bid on these items through their respective eBay pages in which time hundreds of bidders are expected to name their price.

Save the Children Teams up with Bob Marley

Save the Children have launched a new fundraising appeal by teaming up with an unlikely source, Bob Marley.  

The “I’m gonna be your friend” appeal is in aid of the famine currently taking place in East Africa. Save the Children have cleverly decided to use one of Bob Marley’s songs as the backdrop and theme of this campaign, clever, not only because his philosophy of hope, unity and love will help to encourage donations, but also because they're asking people to download his track ‘High Tide or Low Tide’ for £0.99 from ITunes, Amazon and various other music purchasing sites, where all sales go directly into the fundraising appeal. The downloaded track features a music video directed by Kevin McDonald which shows the conditions with which they are currently facing in East Africa. 

Alternatively the appeal homepage has the option of donating directly to the appeal, where they suggest donations of £10, $15, €15.

This appeal has already been spread through various forms of social media with Celebrities taking to Facebook and Twitter to raise awareness. Save the Children have used a large selection of social media and successfully associated their appeal with an icon that is synonymous with, as mentioned before, hope, unity and love. All these ingredients point towards the “I'm gonna be your friend” appeal  being set to for success, it'll be interesting to see if other charities start associating their future appeals with music.

Cheating Death & Raising Awareness for Gifts in Wills

August 2nd saw the live, social launch of the 'Remember a Charity' 2011 campaign, featuring stunt man Rocky Taylor. The campaign objective is to raise awareness and encourage more donations in the form of gifts in wills.

The charity aims to increase gifts in this fashion by 4% or £1bn and Taylor has signed up to a series of stunts in an attempt to raise the profile of the charity. Launching via a live Facebook stream on Tuesday evening Rocky performed the stunt which almost ended his life in 1985 on the set of 'Death Wish 3'.

An innovative social launch enabling viewers every possible opportunity to engage and interact during and after the filming. With an integrated social presence, Remember a Charity has a number of touch points online and it will be interesting to see how they adapt their social behaviour as the campaign develops.

Save the Children - Arsenal's First Global Charity Partner

Arsenal's pre-season match with New York Red Bulls kicked off the global partnership between the Premier League football team and multi-national charity. 

The partnership has no fixed term for the collaboration and there is no donation target in place. Both parties are looking at a long-term relationship and not just a charity of the year deal. The partnership will focus on educational initiatives with Arsenal already pledging support to "Families & Schools Together" (FAST) and Eat, Sleep, Learn, Play (ESLP) in the UK and currently deciding on which international initiatives to support.

This latest corporate tie-in for Save the Children bolsters their already impressive list which now includes; Lloyds Banking Group, Mothercare, Thorntons, Ikea and now Arsenal.

Charities Braced For Difficult Period Among Government Cuts

Recent Government decisions to cut back funding or withdraw it entirely in the voluntary sector is causing problems for more than 2,000 charities who are being forced to close services or lay-off staff. The report has been compiled by the union-backed anti-cuts campaign 'False Economy' and reveals that Children's and Young People charities will be the hardest hit with more than 380 organisations hit. 

The report estimates that £110 million will be removed from charities' bottom line this coming year alone. However, this analysis does not include information from major cities i.e. Manchester & Leeds etc, so this figure is likely to rise quite significantly once this has been taken into account. 

Disney Memories Mean £1m for Children's Charity

Disney has pledged to donate £1m to the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity if one million individuals /families share their first Disney memory via the campaign specific Facebook page; http://www.facebook.com/disneyjunioruk

The campaign came to fruition after research revealed to Disney that 92% of UK parents and grandparents believed that memories of Disney characters stay with you for life. People have currently 'donated' 2,433 memories and with a list of A-list celebrities including Sir Michael Caine, Edith Bowman & Sophie Ellis-Bextor joining in this number is likely to rocket in the coming days and weeks. 

Currently the campaign is being promoted socially via Twitter & Facebook with support on the Disney Junior TV channel. 

This campaign is an excellent example of a strong corporate partnership between a company and a charity, with the public being asked to donate memories instead of money it is likely to be popular. The Disney effect will appeal to adults and children and the monetisation of Facebook interaction is particularly impressive. 

What Made Them Feel This Way?

This is the title of Macmillan's short film which will be released on Monday August 1st. The film shows 6 different people affected by cancer and their reactions to what they are reading on screen. The purpose of the video is to drive people directly to http://www.biggestthankyou.org.uk

The Biggest Thank You was launched at the beginning of 2011 to mark the charities centenary and it gives people the opportunity to thank the people who helped them through their cancer experience. The site produces a mosaic of everyone's profile and allows visitors to interact with and read through all the thank you messages posted by users. 

A very touching concept, it would be difficult to finfd someone that this campaign wouldn't resonate strongly with. The site not only allows users to thank someone but a donation function and social sharing tool is also available. It will be interesting to see if the site will explode with content after the video release on Monday.