photo credit: David Hoffman
GOOD Agency’s Annie Moreton talks about the role she played in bringing face-to-face fundraising to the UK, helping Greenpeace activists campaign against the Sellafield nuclear plant, and launching a new film with Fairtrade Foundation.
How and why did you get into the voluntary sector?
While working for British Telecom’s in-house telemarketing business, I volunteered to be on the phones for Live Aid. It was an amazing experience that included hearing a fellow volunteer take a £40k donation, and weeping at the end of the broadcast along with everyone else as the BT engineers pulled the Freephone numbers row by row and the ringing phones gradually went dead. No one had imagined how huge the response would be.
After that, I realised working for clients in telecommunication, pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals wasn’t what I wanted to do anymore.
What are the most important things you've learned in your fundraising career?
However much experience you have, there is never a cookie-cutter solution to any fundraising challenge. What is right for a particular cause or charity or audience can be quite wrong for another.
There’s no substitute for identifying the right objectives and measures of success, understanding who you are talking to and what will engage and motivate them. Once that’s done, add a big measure of questioning and constructive challenge - and always be prepared to take risks.
What do you get up to in your spare time?
A friend of mine wanted to learn to sing a few years ago, and I went along with her just because it sounded interesting. Now singing for fun is a big part of what I do to relax, as part of Songlines, an eclectic and wonderful world music choir.
I’m also a Trustee at Treeaid, a fantastic charity working with communities to unlock the potential of trees to tackle poverty and improve the environment in the drylands of Africa.
What is the most out-of-the-ordinary thing you've ever done?
Co-ordinate the legal support for a Greenpeace occupation of the Sellafield nuclear plant by activists from more than a dozen countries.
What's been the best moment of your career?
I had no idea at the time, but looking back, it would have been the year that I went to the Greenpeace annual fundraising skillshare, where colleagues from Austria and Germany once again shared their fundraising techniques and I finally thought: “I wonder if this face-to-face fundraising thing COULD work in the UK" and came home resolved to test it. I did, and Greenpeace became the first organisation to make face-to-face recruitment a key acquisition channel. Possibly a tad controversial, but I’m very pleased I took that decision.
What's the most exciting new thing your organisation has coming up?
We’ve got projects ready to launch across all our areas of expertise. We’re particularly excited about a film we’ve just launched for Fairtrade Fortnight with Fairtrade Foundation, called ‘Fairtrade Matters’. It’s a cinematic masterpiece that we’re really proud of.
If you won £20m on the lottery, what would you do with the money?
I’d make sure my nearest and dearest were secure. I’d give a chunk to the cause I care about most (no, I’m not saying what that is…). Then I’d finish the renovations to my home and allotment. Oh, and give myself a tight deadline by which to revise my will!
Annie Moreton is Associate Director of GOOD Agency
