During my first day in the fundraising office my first task was to write a press release for the 'WAG' walk and the 'Lipstick and Champagne' night. We have had practise writing a press release in University but I was unaware of what style St Barnabas would write and had never written an official press release that the media would receive (and potentially judge).
Before sending to press I asked Becky the event’s organiser (who I was shadowing) to read over press releases, expecting that changes would need to be made. To my delight she studied them and asked me to send them straight to the press without change! This confirmed my confidence in writing press releases to the media and how to go about it. Lesson learnt already :)
I was then asked to email around a few people with inquiries for example to the football sport’s club asking if they were interested in supporting our WAG walk in any way and the council with an inquiry.
St Barnabas Hospice takes quite a traditional approach to PR, advertising and marketing; well to be honest they have one event’s organiser who is expected to do a bit of everything. Becky was the youngest staff at the age of 30 it is therefore understandable that with the elder team that promotion were very traditional and out-dated for example relying solely on mailing, phone calls and posters to drum up participants for their sponsored events. I discussed with Becky the new importance of social networking. The charity could definitely benefit from social networking as it is free, reaches everybody in any location and gives them regular updates. More importantly, it targets a younger audience which the charity is currently completely missing.
The website is slightly out-dated and not updated frequently, already a huge downfall. The website could benefit from regular picture uploads from events, reports on each event and its success, lots of information on future events, the option to sign up online and maybe interviews and reports which would interest the viewers.
I set up a blog site for St Barnabas which they could carry out the activities that I previously mentioned. The charity could reference the web address to the blog on their posters, website and emails. I believe that the charity should focus on social networking and build an online community through their website and blog. This would attract a younger audience! Even holding a website launch night with champagne would get the ball rolling! But they need to be dedicated to keeping the website updated to a high quality regularly.
My next task involved a series of phone calls convincing businesses to donate raffle prizes to the ‘Lipstick and Champagne’ night. My phone calls proved to be a success and I was proud of my gatherings:
- Tony and guy – 200 £10 off vouchers for every lady attending and a £150 voucher.
- Slug and lettuce - meal for 2.
-Body shop goody bag.
- £15 beauty salon voucher.
- 2 expensive tins of expensive tea.
-Bottle of perfume and Gwen Stefani watch.
Later, I wrote numerous letters to larger companies who required a the inquiry in letter form. I felt this also gave me confidence in constructing a letter for business especially in a discreet and persuading manner when asking for support and donations. I was once again pleased when my letters received no criticism!
Overall, I enjoyed the day; it gave me more confidence in my own ability especially writing press releases. I did not feel challenged by any of the tasks required from me and I felt that I fitted in the team well and worked together with everyone effectively. I received good feedback from the staff and felt happy with my work done.
Friday, 9 April 2010
St Barnabas Hospice
After pitching a PR proposal to the event’s organiser of St Barnabas hospice to launch their new fundraising event the ‘WAG’ walk I was delighted to come away with a week’s work experience organised for the last week of the Easter holidays.
My next few blogs will follow my day-to-day workings within the charity to monitor my experience and for my own personal records to analyse what I have learnt.
Firstly, I will fill you in quickly on what the charity does; St Barnabas Hospice is a Lincolnshire based charity that cares for patients with life threatening illnesses in their hospices. St Barnabas relies on fundraising and donations for its ability to run their charity and services.
They hold fundraising events at least once a month from sponsored walks, to a quiz night, balls, midnight walks and lunches etc. Currently, they are launching two major events the ladies ‘Lipstick and Champagne’ girls’ night out and the ‘WAG’ walk.
The lipstick and champagne night is a girls only night of glamour where ladies will enjoy a sumptuous meal followed by dinner, raffle, champagne draw, entertainment by tribute drag artiste ‘Lily Salvage’ and a disco.
The WAG walk was launched due to a criticism that the charity does not hold enough male only events. The event is a 5mile sponsored walk around Lincoln finishing in the city football club for a complimentary warm curry and a refreshing pint to watch the first England World Cup Match.
These are the events I worked on during my time at the fundraising office.
My next few blogs will follow my day-to-day workings within the charity to monitor my experience and for my own personal records to analyse what I have learnt.
Firstly, I will fill you in quickly on what the charity does; St Barnabas Hospice is a Lincolnshire based charity that cares for patients with life threatening illnesses in their hospices. St Barnabas relies on fundraising and donations for its ability to run their charity and services.
They hold fundraising events at least once a month from sponsored walks, to a quiz night, balls, midnight walks and lunches etc. Currently, they are launching two major events the ladies ‘Lipstick and Champagne’ girls’ night out and the ‘WAG’ walk.
The lipstick and champagne night is a girls only night of glamour where ladies will enjoy a sumptuous meal followed by dinner, raffle, champagne draw, entertainment by tribute drag artiste ‘Lily Salvage’ and a disco.
The WAG walk was launched due to a criticism that the charity does not hold enough male only events. The event is a 5mile sponsored walk around Lincoln finishing in the city football club for a complimentary warm curry and a refreshing pint to watch the first England World Cup Match.
These are the events I worked on during my time at the fundraising office.
The mission!
Admittedly, I haven’t been keeping up with my PR blog as much as I would have wished. It is a very difficult task when university work takes priority! Hopefully this will show in my grades...
An aspect of PR that has been greatly occupying my thoughts recently is – work experience and employment.
The thought of leaping into the world of employment straight after university without any experience is a bit daunting no matter what grade I achieve! I have therefore taken upon myself a mission - that between now (Easter) and September, before 3rd year begins ( eeek dissertation) to gather as much work experience as possible! This will hopefully prepare me and build my confidence and competence for the big bad world of work!
I will hopefully keep my blog posted with how my work experience is coming along, what I am getting up to and how it is helping me, however I seem to have a lot on my plate.
Applying the mission:
- I made a PR proposal to St Barnabas hospice suggesting ways in which their charity could use PR to their benefit.
- I have just finished a weeks work experience with St Barnabas Hospice In Lincoln(England).
- I have met with ASSISI animal sanctuary charity (N.Ireland) and discussed how PR can improve their charity and fundraising techniques. I am writing up a proposal and will implement aspects and help as much as possible during the summer holidays.
- I have also spoken to ‘Teddys’ a new restaurant in Bangor (N.Ireland)who is interested in some fresh PR ideas for the summer and who have taken on board my idea for a brand logo ‘Teddys Loving Care – TLC’.
- Additionally, I will be working in the PR department in the Northern Bank (N.Ireland) for two months this summer; I am very excited about this as the Northern Bank have won numerous CIPR awards, I will be able to watch and be part of succesful PR team!
I will be working on some specific campaigns and learning more about stakeholder relations especially government and council relations. This will develop my professional experience hugely and give me an indicator as to where I might like to work in the future whether it is in house or agency.
Wish me luck!! All guns blazing from here on in!!!
An aspect of PR that has been greatly occupying my thoughts recently is – work experience and employment.
The thought of leaping into the world of employment straight after university without any experience is a bit daunting no matter what grade I achieve! I have therefore taken upon myself a mission - that between now (Easter) and September, before 3rd year begins ( eeek dissertation) to gather as much work experience as possible! This will hopefully prepare me and build my confidence and competence for the big bad world of work!
I will hopefully keep my blog posted with how my work experience is coming along, what I am getting up to and how it is helping me, however I seem to have a lot on my plate.
Applying the mission:
- I made a PR proposal to St Barnabas hospice suggesting ways in which their charity could use PR to their benefit.
- I have just finished a weeks work experience with St Barnabas Hospice In Lincoln(England).
- I have met with ASSISI animal sanctuary charity (N.Ireland) and discussed how PR can improve their charity and fundraising techniques. I am writing up a proposal and will implement aspects and help as much as possible during the summer holidays.
- I have also spoken to ‘Teddys’ a new restaurant in Bangor (N.Ireland)who is interested in some fresh PR ideas for the summer and who have taken on board my idea for a brand logo ‘Teddys Loving Care – TLC’.
- Additionally, I will be working in the PR department in the Northern Bank (N.Ireland) for two months this summer; I am very excited about this as the Northern Bank have won numerous CIPR awards, I will be able to watch and be part of succesful PR team!
I will be working on some specific campaigns and learning more about stakeholder relations especially government and council relations. This will develop my professional experience hugely and give me an indicator as to where I might like to work in the future whether it is in house or agency.
Wish me luck!! All guns blazing from here on in!!!
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