IntoUniversity and Weston Charity Awards appoint Think for year-long campaigns
As reported in PR Week... social mobility charity, IntoUniversity and the Weston Charity Awards which provide leadership support and funding to small, frontline charities have separately appointed Think Communications to run year-long campaigns.
IntoUniversity
IntoUniversity’s media and stakeholder relations brief is to support the expansion of its network of 22 out-of-school learning centres in the UK’s most deprived communities.
Dr Hugh Rayment-Pickard, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder at IntoUniversity said:
“We’re working with Think Communications to persuade universities and other partners that by joining forces we can transform the lives of young people living in communities that have been left behind. Young people receiving IntoUniversity's help are three times as likely to progress to university than their peers from similar backgrounds.”
Weston Charity Awards
The Weston Charity Awards are run by the Garfield Weston Foundation, a family-founded, charitable grant-making foundation, which donates over £60 million annually. The main element of the awards, gifted to over 15 charities each year, is participation in the Pilotlight Programme which matches directors from charities with teams of senior business people and facilitates a year-long engagement to plan for sustainability, development and growth.
Gillian Murray, Chief Executive of the charity, Pilotlight said:
“We have tasked Think Communications with raising awareness of the opportunity that the awards present, encouraging applications and helping award winners to reap the reputational benefits of being selected for the Pilotlight programme.”
The Awards support front-line charities working in the fields of Youth, Welfare and Community and were initially launched in the North East of England in 2014, but have expanded to the North West and Midlands since then – all regions where charities are more likely to be facing the double whammy of dwindling income and increasing demand for services.
Think Communications’ founder, Julie Kangisser said:
“Our focus on helping organisations that address societal issues means that IntoUniversity and the Weston Charity Awards are dream clients. They both share a vision of improving lives in the UK’s least well-off communities and they will both achieve greater impact by being better known for what they do.”
The virtual agency model is flexible and highly competitive compared to typical agencies and this is attractive to Think’s client base of predominantly small to medium-sized, start-up organisations or those undergoing change. As well as helping clients to communicate ideas and campaign on the issues they seek to tackle, Think Communications also supports clients to build their in-house capability so they are set up for the future. Think Communications is a member of Charity Comms, the membership body for charity professionals.
Ex DWP PR lead joins Think Communications
The addition of two new accounts to a growing client base has seen Vicky Hatchett, who previously ran pensions PR campaigns at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), join as a senior consultant on both projects. Digital marketing associate, Richard Angel, will also add his expertise to the team.