Representatives from both Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK have said that the organisation’s joint Charity of the Year partnership for the 2019 London Marathon is aiming to raise £3.5m.
Speaking at Fundraising First Thing in London yesterday, Nina Ziaullah, campaign director for Dementia Revolution; Lucy Squance, director of supporter-lead fundraising at Alzheimer’s Research UK and Kat Cox, head of sports events at Alzheimer’s Society, set out the charities’ joint vision for the campaign.
Squance said the partnership was aiming to raise £3.5m from next year’s London Marathon to fund a new Dementia Research Institute in the UK, as well as raise awareness of the disease.
“So the campaign objectives are to raise £3.5m for the Dementia Research Institute, and to use the joint partnership as a platform to attract attention around dementia and break down the stigma around the disease. These campaign objectives are ultimately the glue that holds the partnership together. “
Squance said the Dementia Revolution campaign would be aiming to raise this amount through its runners and from leveraging its partnership with Virgin Money.
Dementia Revolution take on NTT
Nina Ziaullah told the conference that, in order to ensure that Dementia Revolution reaches its targets and gives its runners a “seamless supporter journey”, she had made the decision to outsource all of its supporter care to telephone fundraising agency NTT.
“One of the big decisions that we took around our campaign, which was a difficult one to take, was how we were going to manage the stewardship of our runners. Actually what we’ve decided to do is outsource that. We’re working with NTT; the supporter care and telephone agency. They will be providing our supporter care.”
Ziaullah said that, while outsourcing this was proving somewhat costly, it gave the campaign increased scale given that this is the biggest appeal either Alzheimer’s Society or Alzheimer’s Research UK has ever run.
“The reason that we decided to do that, is because we’ll have a dedicated database of all of our runners and supporters that we can then access across both organisations. So it’s a central hub. We want that single journey; that seamless supporter experience, and we felt that was the best way that we could manage and do that.
“It also enables us, because we’re looking at a much larger campaign than both organisations would normally run, NTT has given us that increased scale. It’s not without its challenges, or cost, but sometimes that outsourcing can be really helpful to help get you through.”
£66,000 raised through Virgin Money Giving already
Kat Cox said that Dementia Revolution have already raised £66,000 through its partnership with Virgin Money Giving, which she said was “well ahead of target”.
Cox said that, so far, Dementia Revolution had filled 537 of its 585 Gold Bond marathon places and had recruited a further 559 Own Place runners. She also said that, so far, 348 volunteers had registered to support on the day next year, although Dementia Revolution was targeting “around 1,000 volunteers, as we want to take over the London Marathon on the day”.
Cox said Dementia Revolution had also recently struck a corporate partnership with New Balance, an athletic clothing company.
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