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Rivalry in advertising will help no charities

Fundraising | Suzie Who | 17 Mar 2010

New codes of practice relating to advertising mean that we could all soon be running campaigns comparing ourselves favourably against our direct competitors.

So, rather than endless indistinguishable DRTV adverts that show a sick dog/ abused child/ poor person being helped thanks to charity X, Y or Z – we might end up with adverts more reminiscent of the campaign run a few years ago by the SSPCA.

The taglines to that campaign were highly memorable: "It's time the RSPCA stopped stealing food from the mouths of Scotland's defenceless animals. If you want to help animals in Scotland, please donate to the Scottish SPCA, not the RSPCA."

But, in my opinion, they were memorable for all the wrong reasons; all I really know about SSPCA is that they campaigned against a sister agency. I have no real understanding of their work or how they do help Scotland’s defenceless animals – just that they are bitter rivals of their cross-border competitor, RSPCA.

The thought of this kind of rivalry being played out in public by charities across all sectors is incredibly unpleasant but also a serious concern.

As a sector we know we need to work together to overcome the apathy and cynicism that prevents so many members of the public ever supporting any cause.

The last thing we need to do is undermine the work of bodies such as the FRSB and Institute of Fundraising by attempting to score cheap wins against each other.

Surely adverts that point out that one particular homelessness charity spends X per cent more on fundraising costs than a close rival, or that Cancer Charity A has higher governance costs than Cancer Charity B can not be in the best interests of any of us in the sector?

But perhaps I am worrying about nothing?

We all know that transparency and effectiveness are important to donors - they rightly want to be sure that their donations are being spent well.

But ultimately it is not our effectiveness that makes people respond to adverts, they give because they have been moved by the difference their money can make to people, animals and places in desperate need.

If we all stick to the basics of fundraising and remember that ultimately the majority of the public respond from their hearts not their heads, formulaic, one size fits all DRTV adverts should continue for some time to come.

Now, that really is a worry…

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