As the credit crunch bites, a national charity has enlisted the services of a North East company to assist with a fundraising appeal.
The Down’s Syndrome Association relies on charitable donations for around 65% of its £2 million annual income and has already noticed a drop in support.
So it has appointed County Durham based marketing and design experts, The Virgo Consultancy, to assist with a campaign that will take the fund raising message directly into people’s homes.
Paul Zanon, Business Development Director with the association, said: “All income streams are down, even the money we would normally get from the lottery so we are now preparing contingencies to face the next 12 months.
“However we cannot sustain this in the longer term and are working to boost our income stream in a variety of ways. This includes contacting members and supporters to advise them of the challenges we face and ask them to help as much as possible.
“We chose Virgo to help us do this because they offered us the cost effective solution and hopefully the best return on investment for this direct mail campaign.”
Virgo’s Business Development Director, Saul Gowens, commented: “These are challenging times for charities as people rein in their giving, but we believe that by showing regular supporters what their donations have helped to achieve we can help maintain income streams.
“The association does some excellent work, particularly in helping people with Down’s Syndrome (DS) into main stream work and we will be highlighting this success in the mailing campaign.”
The association’s own workforce of 36 includes five people with DS who are an essential part of the organization. This includes a woman who edits the Down 2 Earth Magazine - a publication written by people with DS for people with DS – and an official photographer.
There are approximately 60,000 people with DS in the UK and the association’s services include an information helpline as well as the employment initiative and DS Active - football for people with DS.
It also supports various research projects including DS and mental health, the effects of exercise on people with DS and the association between DS and Alzheimers Disease.
Virgo is a design and marketing agency based in the North East. For help and assistance with your marketing support please contact Saul Gowens on 0845 2415252