Filed under: N.P.D, N.P.D - Territory | Tags: advertiing, Arts, branding, brands, charity, design, social, society
When you begin to understand a new territory you have to approach it from different areas. Definition, History, Present, Statistics, Financials Reports, Trends and finally the Results are the steps that you have to follow and to illustrate this area…My territory is “Charities in UK”…
1. Definition: Charity is an non-profit organization which is founded to promote the public good and to undertake activities that contribute to society.
2. History: Charities were founded in UK in 16th centuries and the first charitable activities were
- a). The relief of poverty - b). The advancement of education – c). The advancement of religion
3. Present: Today in UK there are 190.000 charities which are separated in 3 categories:
- charities with annual income more than 10.000 pounds and are required to register to charity commission
- small charities which called (excepted charities)
- large charities which are registered by other agencies (exempt charities)
In these research there are some statistics about the number of charities in each region of UK. Above there is a table.
4. Causes
In this area there is not any official report which mention the “official” causes that charities are looking to tackle. Usually the most common are: mediacal research, health, animals, overseas, religious, disabled, climate change, education, environment, elderly, young people.etc… But some of them can be involved in the same category… So I try to categorized them in 6 categories…
- Health
- Human Services
- Animals
- Environment
- Cultural – Arts – Sports
- Religious
The charities are brands. They have logo, products, strategy, visions, missions, campaigns, audience and some of them shops. There is a big market. In the same time they use the media (TV, Radio, Magazines and Internet to promote their campaigns). What is quite interesting in this point is that the consumers dont have a clear view about the products. We can see that charities “sell” two kinds of products:
1st degree product – causes – activities and services which undertake to tackle the problem
2st degree product – clothes, cd’s, books and generally “second hand” stuff
5. Statistics – Financials Reports
The National Trust (352 millions pounds) and the Oxfam (290 millions pounds) are the charities which have the highest total income in UK. (source “Top Charities Financials 2005″
Also some more statistics about “Giving in UK 2006/07 “
- 9,5 bn pounds giving for charities
- 54% of the public gave to the charities
- 53% women – 48% men
- 59% a group of people aged (45 – 65) like to donate to charities
- 17% prefer to donate to “medical research” – 13% young people
- People prefer to give “cash” source:
“UK Giving 2006/07″
6. Trends
- Ribbon Culture
The people prefer to wear a symbol (like a ribbon), because it gives to them awareness. They feel that they are a part of a social group. In the same time this symbol is a way to avoid somebody who try to inform them in the road for maybe a different cause.
Something similar to the ribbon culture is the anti-poverty movement “MakePovertyHistory”, which use the white band as a symbol against the poverty.
- Fairtrade
The products with the fairtrade mark symbolized the fair trade on the south.
- Charities – Life Style
Some of the charities try to create a life style. They provide services (p.x Oxjam Festival) as a way to raise money and to approach a different audience (young people).
People dont trust the charities. They dont want to give money for something that they dont know really well and in the same time they dont trust them. What is the problem?? What is the gap??
