When I decided to fund a TV commercial on Christmas Day, I didn’t realise it would lead to the start of a campaign to ask large businesses to change their approach to charitable giving and support small charities.
Here’s how that came about.
After I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, which left me in need of a gruelling stem cell transplant, I spent the best part of 2014 in hospital. While there I benefitted from the amazing work that charities do, so when I left hospital I wanted to give something back.
I not only wanted to give the gift of funding but of awareness. I settled on a Christmas Day TV advert to highlight the work of a specific charity, as well as advertising on product packs. But when I approached some of the UK’s leading charities, I was shocked to be made to feel as if I had to prove myself and my brand to earn their approbation. Sadly I was too small for them, and they were too big to care.
The experience made me look beyond these big, well-known charities to the smaller ones doing extraordinary work on a shoestring. They are overlooked when it comes to big corporate giving but their work is just as important, if not more so. I vowed then and there to do something to help.
I have written and directed a two-minute TV commercial (with no mention of the products I sell) and have secured a prime time spot on Channel 4 on Christmas Day, timed to air just after the Queen’s Christmas broadcast. This is the advert I wantto use to shine a light on these small-time heroes.
I approached a small, Tetbury-based national charity called Hope For Tomorrow, which works tirelessly to provide mobile chemotherapy units to local NHS Trusts so patients don’t have to travel for hours for treatment. The charity leapt at the chance to work with me because such opportunities to raise awareness of their work don’t come their way often, and I was thrilled to be involved with such a great cause.
But I was shocked by the huge gap between big and small organisations in the charity sector. The larger charities get the lion’s share of corporate giving, leaving the smaller ones scrabbling for scraps.
This is a flaw in the charity sector, and much of the problem comes from an unbalanced relationship with business. Large organisations mainly work with large charities that already have a global level of awareness. It’s almost as though businesses are glory hunting when it comes to charity partnerships, to the detriment of smaller charities.
I have launched a campaign calling for large corporations to support small charities and shout about the ones they are already supporting. So whatever your cause, please sign my pledge and help to make a change this Christmas.
I have also dedicated a page on my Black Farmer website to help businesses and small charities find each other. As businesses, it’s important to show that we care for bigger things than just the products we sell.
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My Black Farmer Christmas Day TV ad will shine a light on small charities
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