Wow. What a fabulous PPB from Labour!

Whatever your politics. This will move you.

I can't remember seeing a Labour PPB of such high quality.

A tear in my eye when the Mum talks about her boy...

More fundraising films need to be this good.

What do you think?

Fwd: Your pickpocket oyster card holder

I quite like this email appeal for Ken's election campaign.

A really simple & tangible ask based on something that will quite obviously help spread the message.

If I were fundraising for the Labour Party, I'd be lobbying like crazy to be able to get the same payouts from the networks as charities from text donations. It seems such an obvious fit.

And once the political parties have parity with charities, it would be nothing but good news for Greenpeace and other campaigning groups who at the moment can't take full advantage of text giving due to low network payouts.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Iain McNicol, General Secretary <london@email-new.labour.org.uk>
Date: 31 January 2012 15:37
Subject: Your pickpocket oyster card holder
To: Paul de Gregorio

Paul --

Last weekend was a great achievement for London Labour Party. With over 100 canvassing events held in every constituency in London speaking to thousands of voters across the city. It was one of the biggest campaign days in the history of London Labour Party.



This campaign is being fought street by street and we are taking nothing for granted. We are out organising the tories and as the General Secretary of the Labour Party I promise you that this campaign will be the best it possibly can be.

We want to win. Just two weeks ago the London team launched a new campaign highlighting the increase in transport fares under Boris and Ken's Fare Deal. We have now produced these great oyster card holders that reproduce the image of that recent advertising campaign.

The problem is we just can't afford to print them and we want to print 100,000. We can only print them if we raise £10,000 to pay for it. If you donate as little as £10 we will send you 5 oyster card holders in the post and you will help fund the cost of them being produced for campaign.

Donate at least £10 now and get 5 oyster card holders –www.kenlivingstone.com/donate

The reality here is that the Tories have more money than us. But with over 40,000 members in London we can come together and out organise them and with your help we can do great campaigns like this one.

Just £10 will help us pay for this campaign – donate what you can today here

Thank you

Iain

Iain McNicol 
General Secretary of the Labour Party

PS We are currently running a prize draw for dinner with Eddie Izzard. For £5 you could win a dinner for 2 with Eddie. Click here to buy a ticket

Do you remember the good old days before the ghost town?

Just got this from Labour. Love it.

I love the humour.

Love the copy.

I love the personal touch from Tom Watson.

And I love the big red donate button! (but I'm not so keen on the landing page, please don't tell Tom).

The video at the end was my addition, it's a rubbish TOTP2 version and the crowd clapping is quite annoying - but Terry Hall is hilarious.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tom Watson <info@email-new.labour.org.uk>
Date: 13 October 2011 16:38
Subject: Do you remember the good old days before the ghost town?
To: Paul de Gregorio

Dear Paul, Thanks for making the first week as your campaign co-ordinator so memorable. We've raised over £8,500. As promised, the money has been used to design and print our "jobs and growth" campaign leaflets. Labour HQ is buzzing with excitement. Our deputy leader Harriet Harman is thrilled. So, thanks. We are so strapped for cash I can honestly say to you that these leaflets would not have been printed without your support. In fact, I'm so worried about campaign funding that I'm leaving the big red "donate" button at the bottom of this email just in case you feel you can give a little more. I took the night off to see The Specials play in Wolverhampton yesterday. It was an awesome gig. I can't quite believe it's 30 years since they released "Ghost Town" - the track that defined an era. Thatcher's 1981 Budget was savage. Unemployment rocketed, growth stalled and huge chunks of our manufacturing base were destroyed. And as the band opened up their gig with a big picture of Margaret Thatcher as a backdrop I thought, these Tories haven't learnt a thing. David Cameron and George Osborne? They're out of touch. Families are struggling with higher food, gas and petrol prices. They're worried about jobs and the kind of future their kids are going to have. It's almost as if Cameron and Osborne haven't noticed. That's why we're setting out a clear five-point plan for jobs and growth - to help families and support small businesses And that's why this campaign - our fightback - is so vital. We haven't got time to waste. We have to convince the British people that it doesn't have to be like this. There is a better way. So once again, thanks for being part of it. I'm really looking forward to working with you. Best wishes, Tom

Name your hero...

I was asked recently who my hero is.  To name the person that inspires me and has had a big impact on my life.

There were rules, I couldn’t name a family member and there needed to be a decent picture available on the internet.

I found it very difficult and was going to choose Marco Tardelli but eventually decided to do it properly and chose Keir Hardie. One of the founding members of the Labour Party.

Biggest impact? 

Well, it was my political beliefs that brought me to fundraising.  

I didn’t have a clue what Pell & Bales did when I turned up for an admin job in 1996, just knew within 5 minutes of entering the building that we had the Labour Party in common. So was pretty much instantly sold.  Getting that job introduced me to fundraising and quickly made me realise I didn't want to do anything else. A massive impact on my life and who I am. 

But I must say Marco Tardelli comes a close second!

The leader of the opposition

Found another photo from Tony Blair's visit to P&B in 1996.

Left to Right:

Jessica
Stuart
Tony B (Leader of the Opposition)
Mick
Jane

Like I said before, I was downstairs clearing a path.

Voice of the Party

I recently found some old pictures from P&B past. I’m not in this picture. I was probably downstairs clearing a path for Mr Blair to tour the building.

Tony Blair visited the P&B Farringdon Road call centre in November 1996 as the campaigning in advance of the 1997 general election was building at a rapid pace.

I was lucky enough to work on the last three election campaigns that Labour won and even luckier to lead the agency response in 2001 and 2005. I learnt an enormous amount about fundraising when running these campaigns, lessons that I still refer back to now. But maybe more of that in a future post.

What sticks in the memory the most today, is the experience of working with such a committed bunch of fundraisers. It really was one of those occasions where the pride of being part of such a great team drove you through the very long hours and sleep deprivation that comes with a long election campaign.

The teams of fundraisers I worked with in 2001 and 2005 were some of the most committed and passionate people I’ve ever come across. All were committed to the party and all were socially aware people who wanted to be part of real change. I’d like to mention them all but wouldn’t do them justice. Instead I will mention Abigail Frost who sadly passed away in 2009.

Abigail was a part of P&B’s DNA, she was Labour through and through and as well as being a key member of the fundraising team was very active in her local party.  She even worked in the telephone team at Millbank for a few years, sharing her shifts between head office and P&B.

Abigail worked on far more general election campaigns than me.

Abigail was awkward and difficult to manage.

Abigail refused to stick to the script I had written for her.

Abigail never knew that I was trying to capture her voice in all the scripts I wrote.

Abigail once told me in front of 30 fundraisers that ‘this (the script) is one of the worst things you have ever written’.

Abigail was one of the best fundraisers I have ever heard on the phones for Labour. Ever.

I used to ask Abigail not to get side tracked by debating with the members she was speaking to, she never listened. Some of those debates were quite long and the tone of some of them not exactly what you would think would be conducive to fundraising!

But she never generated a single complaint.

The reason for that was that she was an authentic voice of the party, she was a member, she understood the membership and they understood her.

I once heard her say this after 'debating' an area of policy in the manifesto with a fellow member.

“I think of the Labour Party as a beautiful red mosaic Mr Smith, there are many shades of red in that mosaic, but it wouldn’t be as beautiful as it is, unless your particular shade of red was present”

I can remember the call vividly but have changed the name! Re-reading it now, it sounds a little corny unless you ever heard Abigail fundraise, she said it with conviction, it sounded real and it was successful. Mr Smith and his money were soon parted.

It’s people like Abigail who make fundraising campaigns successful, I think we should celebrate them a little more often.

For those of you that know Abigail, there are some photographs here that brilliantly capture her personality.