ActionAid's History

© ActionAid 2009

Smile, please!

Our past shines a bright light on our future

Our past shines a bright light on our future

What the past

tells us• Where we’ve come from.• How we got here.• Where we should be going now.

Seven shining lightsA presentation from history to

ActionAid’s first ever General Assembly,Rome, 24 June 2009

By Ken BurnettFormer UK director, director of fundraising, trustee and international chair.

Cecil Jackson Cole 1901-1979

ActionAid’s Founder

Cecil Jackson Cole 1901-1979

ActionAid’s Founder

Me,4th April 1977

My first day as UK director

Action in Distress

Working with the Founder

• A genuine eccentric Victorian-style philanthropist…

• ..driven by voices from beyond…• …extremely difficult to work for.• A charity for young people…• ..run by young people…• …funded by charity shops…• …with sponsors recruited in the

religious press.• It started in 1972.

Cecil Jackson Cole 1901-1979ActionAid’s Founder

My interview

‘That’s the thing about internationalisation – you get all the flavours!’ Sriprapha

First interview

Final interview

ActionAid was started in 1972 as

the Christian Youth Appeal. When I

joined in 1977, it was called

Action in Distress.Changed to

ActionAid in 1980.

ActionAid was started in 1972 as

the Christian Youth Appeal. When I

joined in 1977, it was called

Action in Distress.Changed to

ActionAid in 1980.

ActionAid was started in 1972 as

the Christian Youth Appeal. When I

joined in 1977, it was called

Action in Distress.Changed to

ActionAid in 1980.

Cecil Jackson Cole 1901-1979

ActionAid’s Founder

Rip Hodson,Overseas director

Ian Kerr, General secretary

Me, UK director

Roger Lees,First chairman

Harold Sumption

Sir Leslie Kirkley CBE

Colin Williams

Salil Shetty

Ramesh Singh

Gonzalo Crespi de Valldaura

PeeBee Le Bas

’…please stress for trustees the importance

of making change happen in the heat and the dust

on the ground, not just in the news cycle.

…ActionAid no longer seems to be interested

in programming for its own sake.’

Rip Hodson, former CEO

The first international

meeting

1

ActionAid’s first international

meeting,

London, 1982 • 11 participants• All British• All men• All white men• All rich white men

Something had to change.

It did.

• 140 participants• From 40 countries• 50% women• Mostly Africans and Asians• Much higher level of debate

ActionAid’s most recent

strategy planning meeting,

Bangkok, 2004

Something had changed.

We made sure it did. 1

It is better to light a single candle

than to curse the darkness

How ActionAid grew,

Mhadhavan,aged 9, Bangalore.

2

thanks to the best fundraising

proposition of all time.

…ActionAid became Britain’s

first direct- marketed charity.

Effective marketing,

but with standards.

legaldecenthonesttruthful

3

Individuals, at the grass roots, are our foundations.

It’s why our supporters believe in us.4

For our supporters, it’s the core of what we are…

There are many things our supporters could do with their

money, other than give it to us…

…they give it to ActionAid because they believe in what we are doing, because they can see and understand it .

‘If we have their hearts and

minds, their wallets will

follow.’Harold Sumption

5

The best fundraising advice ever…

We get – and keep – their

hearts and minds only when they can consistently see we are doing the right thing.

5

‘If we lose their hearts and minds,

we’ll lose their money too.’

If we lose the individual link, in time we’ll lose our donors.

5

If we are loyal to our donors, they will be loyal to

us.

6

The truth about donor loyalty…

From Richard Turner, ActionAid UK

6

Now, it’s harder to recruit new supporters.But existing supporters will give more, if asked. In UK, supporters giving more = shortfalls from attrition plus more costly recruitment.

6

From Richard Turner, ActionAid UK

Noerine Kaleeba’s very important recent message about Unity and collective

responsibility

‘That’s the thing about internationalisation – you get all the flavours!’ Sriprapha

7

Surprisingly, ActionAid’s history

has not always been characterised

by board unity.

7

The absolute core of effective governance…

Nor, always, by harmony with management.

‘ActionAid prospers when management

and board are working well together, on the

same side.’This is blindingly obvious.• Our aspirations in governance are the envy of the world.• Our strategy planning process is exemplary. • Our standards of governance are a light that guides us. • But… we must never forget the fine line between

governance and management.If the past has taught us anything, it should be this.

7

One tradition we must carry forward

into this General Assembly...

7

Finally…

Poor and marginalised people Our supporters

Our colleagues and former colleagues, everywhere

Our absent guests…

So, here’s to a future even

more impressive

than our past.

Cheers!

Here’s to the next 35 years. Though we all sincerely hope that, for most people,

poverty will be a thing of the past, long before then.