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Foundation to launch public giving campaign in spring

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 15 Dec 2011

A family foundation is spearheading a new campaign to get more people giving more time and money to charity.

While sector bodies have long mooted the prospect of a public-facing giving campaign, the independent Pears Foundation has announced plans to launch one in the first half of 2012 off its own bat and bank balance.

Inspired by the recommendations in last year’s Philanthropy Review, the Give More campaign, which is still in development, hopes that an advertising and PR effort will get more people giving to charity and talking about doing so.

The Pears Foundation is footing the bill for the 12-month campaign, and its founder Trevor Pears will be chairing it. The campaign has also recruited a small team, and while it has not yet partnered with sector bodies, such as the Institute of Fundraising, a spokeswoman for the campaign said the group is “in positive discussions with a number of sector bodies about supporting the campaign".

Pears said: “Need in our communities is going up and resource is going down. Our natural response is to look to the state, but it is unable to respond to all the issues. Give More is an attempt to tap into the passion people in the UK have for their communities and good causes.”

Tamar Ghosh added: “As a nation we rarely talk about our giving, but if we don’t shout about the good work going on up and down the country many charities and community groups may cease to exist.  We can’t let that happen.”

Give More will also feature a website where individuals can sign on to pledge gifts. 

While there has been much talk of giving campaigns over the years since the credit crunch crunched, the sector has seen little action from its representative bodies. In 2009 NCVO mooted a giving campaign, using celebrities, to keep the public donation during the recession and in the interim the PFRA and Institute of Fundraising have toyed with the prospect of a 'right to give' campaign, which would emphasise charities' right to fundraise. 

Earlier this year Charities Aid Foundation launched its own PR mini-campaign at the party conferences, concentrating on the oddball statistic that Brits spend as much on charitable giving as they do on cheese, but this did not roll out into a wider public relations project. 

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