Subject: Charity advertising campaigns - worth the money?

Spotted this blog post by ASKCharity about the role of charity advertising (To ban or not to ban - Sept 09). Interesting comments about how some charity ads have been banned because they are offensive / racist / upsetting. The blogger questions how charities can get their difficult messages across without being challenging?

Any ideas? 

At the Cass CCE Charity Talk on Wednesday, Lynne Berry CEO of WRVS was talking about how they had to change their fundraising campaign in light of their revised organisational values. Previous campaigns had been 'misery messaging' and this didn't fit with their strapline of being 'positive about age'.

It was inspiring that they weren't going for the easy money but reflecting their values in everything they did.

I agree. On the Strategy discussion of the Charity Talk, I've asked Lynne to give an example of a positive message they used in their direct mail and to indicate how successful they were - as far a I am concerned the more principled stands we can take and make money, the better! 

More discussion about the imagery charities are using in this article from Professional Fundraising today.

The article uses examples from children and development charities to explore the impact of happy vs sad imagery. It also speaks to ActionAid who decided that they should inspire people rather than upset them. 

What do you think?

Odigie  Youth  Club  is a non-governmental youth organization  that believes in uniting members to raise resources  to develop our community instead of waiting for government alone or involving in arm struggle that is  happening in other Niger Delta communities. We  need encouragement by way of advice, information for positive growth, coming ot invest in our peaceful environment to  boost employment as well as financial support  to aid our projects.

• Mohammed  Sani  Abu,  National Secretary.