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History of ActionAid founded in 1972.
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© 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.