What giving away £1,000 means to me...

This week saw the annual Open charity giveaway. The moment in the year where the owners of the business give every member of staff £1,000 to give to the charities of their choice.

It’s one of the many many reasons why I love working where I do. 

Shared values are very important to me and there is no better way of knowing that you share values with your colleagues than sitting a room with all 57 of them and hearing them explain who they are giving to and why they decided to give. 

For the record I gave £500 to Somerset STAR and £500 to Medecins Sans Frontieres.

The former because I come from Somerset and I know from my first hand experience that if the kids there get a shit start to life it can set their trajectory for ever. So I asked Somerset STAR who work all over Somerset if they’d restrict my gift to my home town. And they agreed. And every time I donate they send me a breakdown of what my money has been spent on over the last 12 months.

Somerset STAR. Where some of my money went. #LifeAtOpen

A photo posted by Paul de Gregorio (@degregoriopaul) on Apr 28, 2016 at 10:58am PDT

It fills me with pride to see this list. It feels me with pride that some kid in my home town has a camera part funded by my donation and is hopefully pursuing their passion with it.

I will give to this organisation for the rest of my life based on the experience that Open gave me.

I gave to MSF for a number of reasons. But mostly because I have been massively impressed by their response to the situation in Syria and the refugee crisis in Europe. It disgusts me that both situations are real situations, but I take reassurance that our species isn’t morally bankrupt when I see the work of organisations like MSF.

I went first this year. And to be honest I felt a little overcome with emotion as I explained my reasons. But what made that OK was the fact that I was sat alongside 57 other people who give as much of a shit as I do.

I wrote the words that sit alongside this picture when I was on the bus home after the event...

Well that was an emotional afternoon. Today was the @lifeatopen charity giveaway. The day when each member of staff is given £1,000 to donate to the charities of their choice. I gave half to a local project in my home town in Somerset who give kids who've had a shit start in life a bright moment. See previous pic. The other half I gave to MSF. Who as I was preparing to speak about my choices WhatsApp'd me to tell me that members of MSF staff were killed yesterday in a hospital in Syria. A timely reminder if one were needed of what an amazing organisation they are, full of incredibly brave staff. I'm so proud to work at Open, an organisation that gives me this phenomenal opportunity.

A photo posted by Paul de Gregorio (@degregoriopaul) on Apr 28, 2016 at 11:34am PDT

Fiona also wrote about the experience here.

Where I work...

Nothing says thank you like 3 hours off and £20 to spend.

The reason for this loveliness can be found here.

Open Love...

I work at Open Fundraising.

Open Fundraising is a great place to work.

Every year, once the financial year is over, Tim and James who set Open up give every one of the 41 staff £1,000 to donate to the charity or charities that they want to.

So last week, all 41 of us sat in a room and told each other why we had chosen the charities we had. It was an incredibly moving afternoon, there were lots of tears as some of my colleagues gave some very personal reasons for their donations and a lot of pride (and lumps in throat) as others spoke with great passion and clarity about the causes that they had chosen to support.

When we recruit we use the phrase 'hand picked team' a lot. Basically, even though we're growing we want to make sure we're hiring people who give a shit about what we do, who have an opinion, who aren't just here to pick up a paycheck. This week proved that we're doing OK on that front. And has made me super proud to be part of the Open story.

If you're interested, I chose three charities...

First up was Save the Children, I decided to give £250 to their Syria campaign. I also gave £250 to Medical Aid for Palestinians. Two organisations doing amazing work in places that I care a lot about. I gave the remaining £500 to an amazing organisation in Somerset, called Somerset STAR. In their words…

“STAR supports children and young people aged between 5 and 25 designated as “in need” within Somerset.

We focus on the most disadvantaged, particularly those with mental health problems, physical disabilities, learning disabilities, young carers, drug related problems, victims of abuse and crime and those at risk of offending.

A large number of these young people are isolated in rural areas.”

You can find out more about them here.

Happy Birthday Open...

Open was 5 on Thursday.

We had a lot of fun. Lunch together (supported by 20 litres of scrumpy), a London red double decker bus trip (we broke down, but luckily near a pub), dinner, and drinks and yes some dancing. It was an amazing day full of smiles.

At dinner I realised that I’ve been part of the furniture for 2 ½ years now. Which is odd, because I sometimes still feel like the new boy.

When I joined I was gobsmacked by the amazing sense of community, zero bullshit way of working and incredible focus on delivering work and ideas of the highest quality. Qualities and values that are still here, and stronger than ever before.

When I joined Tim talked to me a lot about ‘hand picked team’, the concept that Open was only going to do the best work by hiring the best people. I feel humbled to be recruited under that label. But it’s an approach that serves Open brilliantly. Open is staffed by some of the brightest in the business. Account managers, writers, designers, analysts, developers and processors. And the people I've hired in the mobile team are simply the best bunch of people I have ever worked with.

I remember reading this blog post years before I joined – where James explained where the name came from. I’ve nicked a bit below…

"But Open is also about how we want to do business. Not just in the sense of being transparent but in drawing the best people and ideas from wherever we find them. We know that we can’t have everyone inside our company and under our control. But we can forge partnerships with the best and that’s exactly what we’re going to do."

Open isn't like most other agencies. We collaborate well, we walk away when we're not needed and we focus on the work and the people. Like it says on the website. We're bringing the right people together to change the world. 

Here’s to the next five years. Considering the journey we've been on – I can't wait to see where we end up.

If you dream data we want to talk to you...

Want to come and build brilliant SMS fundraising campaigns?

Open Fundraising is looking for a Processor to join our busy mobile team.

You'll be responsible for the creation and maintenance of all our SMS services, setting up services using our SMS management systems and processing all associated data.

You'll be joining a dynamic team working with brilliant clients on some amazing projects so you'll need to be proactive, enthusiastic and passionate about SMS and mobile technology with a willingness to 'get stuck in'.

We need someone with experience working with relational databases/SQL, acute attention to detail, proficient developing technical solutions and comfortable handling large datasets.

If you have experience building journeys on SMS or telephone dialler systems that would be a bonus but we can provide training if not.

This really is a fantastic opportunity for someone who wants to be part of something exciting from the beginning. As the mobile team develops, so will you and your career.

If this sounds like it could be you, please email for a job description. For the right person we will pay up to £35K.

CLOSING DATE: 10am Monday 22 July.

Two years & counting...

LinkedIn told me this week that I've been at Open for two years.

I'm one very very lucky person.

I work at a place where passion for the sector is more than words.

I work at a place where ideas are acted on.

I work at a place where we know we're only as good as our last campaign.

I work at a place with some of the brightest minds in fundraising.

I work at a place where people saying that they want to change the world mean it.

I work at a place where 'it's never been done before' is a challenge.

The last two years have flown by. I've been involved in some amazing projects for some equally amazing clients. With hopefully plenty more to come...

And we're recruiting. We have two account manager jobs going. One in the mobile team.

You all know I'm biased, but these jobs are an amazing opportunity to make an impression at an agency that does things the right way. Come and join us. You won't regret it.

My #IWITOT notes

I was asked to speak at this years #IWITOT event. It's an ace event organised by SOFII and Open (where I work). 

I picked CRUK's Race for Life. Nothing to do with mobile. And I learnt that I get quite nervous.

It is the most incredible event. If we what do is about connecting people to causes - we all need to learn from the story. 

My notes are pasted below. Excuse the poor grammer, terrible formatting and inevitable typos. 

Hello. My name’s Paul de Gregorio…

I’m Head of Mobile at Open Fundraising. I’m really honoured to have been asked to talk to you all about the fundraising idea ‘I wish I’d though of’.

Deciding was a really difficult process. But once I got thinking about the idea that has had a huge influence on me and my fundraising career – it was really quite easy…

I’ve picked Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life. I’m sure you all know it, but if you don’t it’s a woman only fundraising event. Women walk, jog or run 5K in return for sponsorship.

I’ve worried that I was picking something too obvious.

Something, that you might all tut and roll your eyes at.

But the story of this event inspires me for lots of reasons… and I hope in 6 minutes time it will have inspired you as well.

I love this event because of its story.

Like most great ideas, Race for Life isn’t a completely original idea. It’s an idea borrowed from the USA.

The charity Susan G Komen in America came up with the original idea.

They held the first Race for the Cure as it’s known there, in Dallas in 1983.

800 women took part in. It’s now huge.

In the early 90’s, news of this event inspired an events manager called Louise Holland at Imperial Cancer Research Fund. ICRF is one of two charities that would later merge and form Cancer Research UK.

And I’m told Louise did all the work to bring the event to the UK and to ICRF.

I love this event because of its scale.

Race for Life is 19 years old this year.

The first event took place in Battersea in 1994.

650 women took part and it raised £35,000.

Not bad at all – but not setting the world alight.

But Louise and ICRF had proved that there was something in it.

That this idea from across the Atlantic could work here in the UK.

And over the 19 years since, the event has grown massively.

The numbers are huge. 6 million women have taken part since 1994… 6 million women. That’s an incredible number.

To put that into context that’s 19% of the UK female population.

Between them these amazing women have raised over £493 million pounds. Again, an incredible number.

In it’s first seven years Race for Life grew from that one event in Battersea to over 70 around the country.

It grew from that first £35,000 to £8 million pounds. There was clearly something in this!

In 2002 ICRF merged with Cancer Research Campaign to form Cancer Research UK. The merger seemed to act as a catalyst for huge and rapid growth. 250,000 participants at the time of merger became nearly 750,000 just seven years later.

Since this peak there has been a decline in numbers. But lets put that into context. Decline in this sense means over 500,000 women taking part last year. How many of us in the room today would take half a million people taking part in our flagship fundraising event?

I love this event because it has evolved time and time again through hard work and Innovation.

You can’t achieve this scale and success without hard work.

It’s impossible to be this successful without major innovation.

All this innovation has been focussed on making this the best and most successful fundraising event possible. But just as importantly on making the event as inspiring and supportive for all of the women who take part, by giving them the opportunity to take their stand against cancer.

Every single year new things are added this event doesn’t stand still…

In 1998 the back signs were introduced. They are a simple but brilliant way for participants to celebrate survival or commemorate the life of someone they’ve lost to cancer.

In 2001 the minute’s silence before every event was first introduced. If you have ever been to an event you will know how emotional and inspiring this moment of reflection can be.

All of these things and many many more have contributed to Race for Life’s success – but there are two very big innovations that the whole sector has benefitted from…

First up is the innovation in online sponsorship with JustGiving.

Online donors raise and return more money than offline donors. It’s easier for them. So if you get more people to sign up when they register, you will make more money. It sounds easy, but it’s taken a lot focus and a lot of effort. JustGiving and CRUK worked hard over years and years to make this as simple as possible. It’s now seamless and more money is raised to beat cancer as a result. Lots of you in the room today are raising more money as a result of this.

The second thing is huge. In 2004 there was a small telemarketing test to see if those that had taken part in Race for Life would support CRUK by taking out a regular gift by Direct Debit.

They did, and at impressive rates. And in classic CRUK style they tested it again. It still worked. So after proving the concept they rolled out. The team that CRUK formed as a result, has been responsible for the recruitment of over 100,000 new regular givers. And pretty much all charities now do something similar - but it was CRUK who paved the way.

But, The main reason I love this event is not because it’s massive or because it’s raised millions of pounds.

It’s not because I admire CRUK’s focussed approach to fundraising – which I really really do.

I love this event because I am truly inspired when people come together on this scale to achieve a common goal. It’s the 6 million women that inspire me.

Forget the big brand, forget the huge budget, and forget the dominance that brand and budget give. Race for Life is inspiring because it creates the moment for individuals to take action against cancer.

Every single one of the 6 million women who have taken part has a personal story to tell.

They are taking part because of their personal connection to the cause.

They are taking part to honour the memory of a loved one who is no longer with us.

Or, they are taking part to celebrate the life of someone who has survived.

Which is why Race for Life is the fundraising campaign that I wish I’d thought of.

Thank you.

Come and work with the Open Mobile team...

The Open Mobile team is recruiting. We’re after the best Account Executive or Manager in the world. Ever.

We’re really lucky to work with some brilliant clients on some brilliant mobile fundraising campaigns. We’re doing all sorts. We’re recruiting new supporters, converting existing ones, developing retention programmes based around supporters’ mobile phones and creating new ways for supporters to give. Take a look on the Open Fundraising blog to see the stuff we’ve been up to.

We need someone who is happy to get stuck into anything that needs doing, but principally the role is to provide account management support to our clients.

You’ll need to tick most of the boxes in the following areas:

• Understand the fundamentals of fundraising.
• Be passionate about new technology, the web and mobile.
• Be able to manage multiple projects whilst remaining calm.
• Have experience of project managing marketing/fundraising projects in a creative environment as well as with external partners.
• Have some experience of client-servicing – don’t worry we will teach you.
• Have some experience working on digital projects (experience with mobile would be brilliant but isn’t essential).
• Thrive when working in a fast paced environment.
• Happy to turn their hand to anything in order to make sure that the project gets done.
• Have an opinion and be comfortable expressing it on how mobile can be used to help the charities we work with, recruit, keep, engage and inspire their supporters.

This really is a fantastic opportunity for someone who wants to be part of something exciting from the beginning. As the mobile team develops, so will you and your career.

If this sounds like you, send an email introducing yourself, explaining why you are perfect for the job, with your CV and current salary details.