Why taking a risk can pay back for charity brands

‘He who dares wins’ is one of those phrases that’s easy to say, but often hard to act on. However, in the context of UK charities, I’d argue it’s something to seriously consider over the next few years. Unfortunately taking a risk seems even harder when you feel vulnerable and the last five years have certainly been choppy waters for UK charities.

The immediate uncertainty following the 2020 lockdown resulted in a drop in giving levels, with Enthuse reports showing the percentage of the UK population that had given to charity over three months falling to a low of 59%. Despite a recovery to 75% by 2022, the subsequent cost of living crisis impacted how many people were able to give and spring / Summer 2023 showed a 5% drop off in public giving. Although recently donation levels have recovered, most charities still face a big financial challenge in 2025. As with other sectors, there has been a big increase in their costs and most face higher service demands and reduced funding.

Naturally, when faced with these challenges, it can be harder to consider new approaches, but as an outsider looking in it feels like a key time for charities to consider the benefits of striking out in new directions. With traditional routes like direct mail and cash giving in decline, there appear to be limitations to investing in some historically favoured channels. Whereas there’s a strong case, in this context, for trialling new marketing approaches that will help charities stand out in an increasingly crowded market.

What do I mean by new approaches? Over the last couple of years I’ve noticed two charities, CALM and Prostate Cancer UK, that have endeavoured to do things a bit differently, with positive results that I want to explore here.

Looking first at The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), a UK charity that works to end suicide. Its CEO, Simon Gunning, has made a noticeable impact since beginning the rapid transformation of its brand and operations, more than doubling its helpline service provision over a four-year period to reach more people before the point of crisis. As a former digital marketer who worked on the corporate side, including spells at Virgin Media and the BBC, it’s clear that Gunning is challenging charity norms.

Asking media and corporate partners to join you in taking a risk

From an outsider’s perspective, there are a few key areas which stand out where CALM has done things differently. The most obvious is the work the charity has done to get media and corporate partners to join them in taking some risks to create more impactful and compelling campaigns. However, it’s also clear the charity has wanted to use paid media in a more daring way, which can not only cut through, but also be amplified through publicity.

CALM’s clear focus on creating strong partnerships with media owners and brands has been bold and confrontational. One of the first campaigns under Gunning’s tenure (the Project 84 ITV partnership) focused on raising awareness of the fact that 84 men in the UK died by suicide each week. This launched with a graphic, attention-grabbing visual stunt: 84 statues of real male suicide victims were stood on top of ITV’s Studio Tower in the line of sight of Parliament. CALM then used each of these men’s real-life stories to build content across ITV’s channels and shows to encourage discussion and understanding. The campaign generated a huge level of publicity, putting the issue at the heart of the charity on the map and rightly winning several awards as a result.

Equally, CALM’s creative approach in paid media has been both innovative and impactful. Its 2022 Last Photo campaign featured the last photos and videos of real people before they died by suicide, confronting the awkward truth that ‘suicide hides behind a smile’. The campaign won a Thinkbox creativity award in TV and was successfully converted into an OOH exhibition.

Finally, CALM has intelligently created corporate partnerships that work for all parties. Its recent partnership with MoneySupermarket drew attention to how money worries can impact mental health and how both CALM and MoneySupermarket can support people through these difficulties. Hearing the work behind the scenes in creating this successful partnership at the AdWanted conference last year really highlighted the benefits of investing time in getting new areas of exploration right. By having honest upfront conversations, not only was CALM able to confront subjects that other partners may have shied away from, but it was also able to secure a partner that would ensure its core messages would reach a broad audience.

Adopting novel strategies to spark conversations and engage new audiences

There are some real similarities here with Prostate Cancer UK, another charity that has had to shift public perceptions. The challenge here is that awareness of prostate cancer and how to identify those at risk is very low in the UK. By adopting novel strategies to spark conversation the charity has engaged new audiences and achieved a decade of exponential income growth. The impact it has made has meant it’s been able to save and support thousands of men across the UK.

A great recent example of this was Prostate Cancer UK’s work with Sky and Paddy Power at the 2024 World Darts Championship. The ‘Big 180 Commitment’ saw Paddy Power pledge £1,000 to Prostate Cancer UK for every 180 thrown during the tournament. A record total of 914 were hit which Paddy Power rounded up to a massive £1m donation. The partnership also encouraged men to check their risk of prostate cancer through an online risk-checker and after gaining huge interest across national media it was promoted in national newspapers, on billboards and across social media content, engaging millions. This resulted in more than 136,000 men checking their risk online, a five-fold increase year on year. The partnership will run again this year and, although some may question a charity partnering with a gambling brand, the overall good it has done for the cause demonstrates a strong risk / reward result.

Innovative content has been key to the success of Prostate Cancer UK. Following the pandemic, NHS England launched initiatives to get people back to their GPs, but checking yourself for the risk of prostate cancer posed a conundrum. Most cancers are detected by checking yourself, watching for symptoms and going for screening. But not prostate cancer. It doesn’t have symptoms until the cancer has spread and is the most common cancer with no routine screening program, putting people at a higher risk. To attack the issue, the charity developed a 30-second Risk Checker; an interactive, shareable piece of content that serves as a simple call to action in its campaign. It asks for age, ethnicity and family history to determine a man’s risk. After the first year, 211,000 men had used the Risk Checker. It was so effective that NHS England (NSHE) funded a £1.9m first-of-its-kind partnership campaign to deliver it. Together they scaled up the campaign to boost prostate cancer referrals, funded by NHSE and delivered by Prostate Cancer UK. It was the largest-ever charity partnership with NHSE and the ﬁrst nationwide public health campaign delivered in this way.

Taking these new bold and innovative routes has undoubtedly helped both charities but it’s not without its risks. Of course, it’s easy for an outsider to extol the virtues of being more adventurous. It’s still important to recognise why charities have a degree of conservatism in their approach. Taking a wrong step could aggravate or even lose existing donors who might start to think the marketing budget for their chosen causes is being used irresponsibly. However, given the current context, there are some clear benefits of taking risks which the marketing departments within charities should spell out internally:

Marketing campaigns can be used as a tool to challenge any misconceptions or taboos surrounding a charity/cause. To stand out amongst a sea of marketing, these must be bold
Less conventional campaigns have the power to develop strong emotional connections and reinforce a clear brand identity
Finally, brand campaigns like those mentioned above become talking points that are engaged with and shared more widely an in turn may attract the attention of prospective partners looking for leaders in the charity sector, or prompt valuable publicity

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