Bright One Annual Report 2010

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Annual Report 2010


Founder’s Note

If Bright One’s first year was

all about testing the concept

of an organisation that used

PR professionals and

students to help charities

meet their own PR and

communications needs, then

our second year has been

about making this concrete:

firming up our processes,

building up our volunteer

community, and embedding

ourselves into the very fabric

of the PR industry. We’ve

helped more charities, had

more volunteers working with

us, and completed more

successful campaigns for

organisations that really

need our help.

Charities such as The Pixel

Project, our longest running

client of nearly two years.

Volunteers such as Alisha,

who came all the way from

Harvard University in the US

to undertake an internship

with us. Campaigns such as

Refugee Week 2010, which

we were delighted to work on

for a second consecutive

year.

It truly is humbling when we

look back at some of the

more familiar charities we

have helped over the past

year: Amnesty International,

Centrepoint and the Social

Enterprise Coalition to name

a few. That’s not to mention

some of the younger but

equally as exciting charities

that we’ve worked with: The

Choir With No Name and

Seeducation have bright

futures ahead of them.

We’ve also made some

strong partnerships in the

sector, working with fantastic

organisations such as the

PRCA and CharityComms to

achieve our aims. PRCA

director general, Francis

Ingham said about the

partnership: 'Bright One is an

initiative we’re keen to

support, as not only does it

help charities with their

communications needs, but

also helps develop the next

generation of PR

professionals - the future of

our industry.’

Helping future professionals

get their career going was

the focus at Impress London,

an event for the next

generation of PR

professionals, which Bright

One ran in November 2010.

It truly was a fantastic event

(or so the feedback from

attendees went…). Thanks

go to Edelman and Unicorn

Jobs for making the event

possible.

On a personal note, I was

delighted to be awarded the

Young PR Professional of

the Year 2010, a large part

due to what we have

achieved with Bright One so

far over the past two years. I

truly appreciate each and

every single person who has

contributed to Bright One’s

success and thank you all for

your efforts . This award is

for all of us who believe in

Bright One’s aim: to give

charitable organisations

access to valuable and

affordable communications

resources.

So what’s coming up in year

3? Well, there’s lots in store

so stick around and I’m sure

you’ll find out.

Ben Matthews

Founder


How do we do it?

Who do we work with?

What do you get?

What do we do?

What do we believe in?

A volunteer-run communications agencyWho are we?

We help organisations get their messages heard

We provide opportunities for professionals to train and

develop skills by working for the sector

The third sector, including charities and social enterprises

Valuable communication expertise at low cost

We provide a full service communication consultancy and

support from a team of junior and senior professionals

Charitable organisations should have access to

affordable communications resources

About Bright One


2010 Clients


Case Study: Choir With No Name

What was the project?The Choir With No Name is

London’s choir of people who

have experienced

homelessness. Founded on

the premise that singing

makes you feel good,

distracts you from all the

nonsense in life and helps you

to build up your confidence

and abilities, the Choir

rehearse once a week and

perform in London regularly.

What support did they want?In December 2010, the Choir were launching their debut

album and supporting Coldplay at two gigs, as well as

perfoming their annual Halloween and Christmas gigs.

Both the album launch and the gigs needed promotion

across a range of channels to ensure ticket and album

sales, were up, supporting and raising awareness of the

Choir as they looked to expand in 2011.

How did Bright One help?The Bright One team met with Marie Benton, the Choir’s

founder, to get a taste of their organisation and how they liked

to work. At a time of rapid expansion and success for the

Choir, Bright One helped to take work off of Marie’s hands.

The Choir gave key dates, materials and details of

spokespeople to Bright One, from which the team produced a

comprehensive PR plan covering the album launch and gig

promotion. The team then implemented the campaign, using

Bright One resources to create a targeted media list, which

was used when contacting press around the period of the

album launch and gigs. Bright One also acted as the main

media contact, liaising with journalists so that Marie and the

Choir could concentrate on their singing.

What were the results?• Media coverage on BBC News, The Guardian (Society and

Music), Evening Standard, The Independent

• Broadcast coverage including LBC and BBC Radio 5.

• Coverage on over 20 blogs, including Londonist, This Is

London, Optimist World and Brilliant Britain

• Over 6,000 video views on Youtube

“I have been continually delighted by Bright One; how great to be offered such valuable support at a time

when there’s no way we could afford it. All the volunteers have put more time and passion into our project

than I believed possible and the results have been great..” - Marie Benton, Founder, Choir With No Name


Case Study: Social Enterprise Mark

What was the project?The Social Enterprise Mark is the

brand for social enterprises. The

Mark identifies businesses that

meet defined criteria for social

enterprise. The Mark offers

consumers an instantly

recognisable logo that represents

enterprises working for social and

environmental aims, trading to

benefit people and the planet.

What support did they want?Bright One was briefed to design a social media

campaign that would establish a strong, strategic social

media presence for the Social Enterprise Mark. The aim

of the campaign was to establish a platform for social

media that would be a foundation for future product

promotion. However, there was not immediately a

product available to hang creative ideas around, so any

activity could not focus exclusively on the Mark itself.

How did Bright One help?The strategy was to build a group of online platforms that

could be used to engage and activate the target audience

through dialogue. The aim was to create engagement and a

large body of web content that acted as a foundation for

when the Social Enterprise Mark launched. In addition, a

range of social media channels were geared-up for use

once the Mark had launched. Through this, Bright One built

strong, long term relationships by creating enjoyable

experiences through long form content (blog posts, features

from Mark spokespeople, Voice 2010 coverage) and short

(well-written tweets, sharing interesting and relevant content

across social media).

What were the results?• 30 pieces of online coverage of the Mark, including

Guardian.co.uk, Third Sector magazine and Social

Enterprise Magazine

• 1,405 Twitter followers, a 401% increase in followers

since Bright One joined the campaign

• 349 Facebook fans in two months

• 18 blog posts published over a 9 week period

“Bright One have showed patience and dependability. I think its a fantastic organisation and I've

been thrilled with the work you've done.” - Anne Mountjoy, Social Enterprise Mark Company


Impress London

The inaugural Impress London, the event for the

next generation of PR professionals, took place

on Thursday 11 November 2010.

The Edelman UK offices played host to around

70 media and comms students looking for an

insight into the industry, top tips on how to get

their career in PR going, and to network with

others interested in media and comms. Unicorn

Jobs sponsored the lunch, complete with

cupcakes for an afternoon pick me up.

You can view all the action from the day on

the Bright One Flickr photostream.

http://impress.brightone.org.uk/

http://www.edelman.co.uk/

http://www.unicornjobs.com/

http://www.unicornjobs.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brightonegroup/sets/72157624891892577/


Impress London

Featuring speakers from:“Thanks so much for a brilliant event! There was a

real buzz, great people, interesting and engaging speakers - it was fantastic!”

“It was really amazing. I learnt so much in a short space

of time. The key speakers were amazing and honest which is good and they made us feel that we could contact them for help later.”

“Bright One did a really good job of getting hold of

quality speakers who were really passionate about what they spoke about and who are really clued up in their field of interest.”

“Thank you for the event, it was by far the best career

advice session I have attended, and believe me, I have been to many!”

“I just wanted to say that I thought it was brilliant, it couldn't have been better organised or more

informative. I have learnt so much and I’m really grateful so thank you!”

http://www.hotwirepr.com/



2010 Awards

The Social Enterprise Mark identifies Bright One as an

organisation trading for social purposes. Bright One also

helped launch the Mark and worked with the Social Enterprise

Coalition to develop the Mark’s online presence.

Bright One received funding support from Awards for All, a

Lottery grants scheme funding small, local community-based

projects in the UK.

Bright One’s founder, Ben Matthews, was awarded Young PR

Professional of the Year 2010 at the PR Week Awards. The

judges were looking for evidence of “outstanding achievement

in handling PR campaigns, showing creativity and results, as

well as the nominees ability and willingness to extend their

range of PR skills.”

http://www.socialenterprisemark.org.uk/


Social Impact

4,500 = TOTAL VOLUNTEER HOURS

DEDICATED TO DATE

£500,000 = FINANCIAL EQUIVALENT OF

SERVICES MADE AVAILABLE

To measure Bright One’s social impact we begin by looking at how our charitable clients define their own social

impact, and then we align ourselves to those goals as closely as possible. Bright One’s clients measure their own

social impact in different ways, which Bright One works to help achieve.

Bright One measures its economic impact by calculating the amount of resource that charitable organisations have

been able to access. We’ve helped charitable organisation access over £500,000 of high quality communications

expertise to date.

Bright One also makes a social impact through its own volunteers and the benefits they get with volunteering.

Bright One volunteers get to give something back to the community, learn new skills, add to their experience,

network with other communications professionals and gain jobs in the industry. In total, over 4,500 hours of

communications expertise have been given by volunteers to charitable organisations to date.


Financial Statement

Income Statement

Service Fees £4,497

Funding / Grants / Sponsorship £10,500

Total: £14,997

Expenditure Statement

Website £558

Volunteer Expenses £5,057

Organisational Memberships £100

Insurance £440

Total: £6,055

Balance sheet (2009/10):

Income £14,997

Expenditure £ 6,055

Remaining Net Assets for 20010/11 £12,045


The Team

Ben Matthews Laura Vergani Tania Smith Luica Mak Linda Jim Zoe Amar

Amanda Rose Jon Penny Ruth Cattell Agnes Jumah

Management Team

Advisors


Ambassadors

Robert Philips

President and CEO

Edelman EMEA

Neville Hobson

Head of Social Media

WCG Europe

Kristin Syltevik

Managing Director

Hotwire

Andrew Bloch

Managing Director

Frank PR

We have the honour to have a group of inspirational and visionary industry leaders as our

ambassadors. With their support, Bright One can ensure we have access to insightful direction

and advice as we continue to grow.


2010 Volunteers

As we frequently remind ourselves, Bright One would not exist without its volunteers, and we

are grateful for the dedication of the 90 volunteers who gave up their time to support us in

2010:

Zubair Ahmed, Luke Alexander, Sarah Allison, Zoe Amar, Tom Antoniw, Helen Beckett, Jeremy

Bennett, Tim Bond, Melanie Bradley, Paul Brandenburg, Deborah Burrage, Sally Chambers, Selena

Chan, Ross Chater, Tracey Chatters, Hayley Chow, Cecilia Clarke, Kate Clarkson, Abigail Colley,

Alvaro Colon, Emma Conway, Hannah Cornford, Jaz Cummins, Agnes Daloisi, Andrea Davids,

Sophie De Alberquerque, Jasdeep Deol, Gemma Dudley, Chris Elliott, Sarah Espiner, Lindsay

Freeman, Anna Funnell, Katy Galasinski, Jenna Gifford, Joe Hall, Emma Hanson, Katie Harris, Rick

Hawkins, Becky Heath, Oscar Holland, Tanya Holloway, Dan Howe, Keri Hudson, Elaina Ifill, Linda

Jim, Nicola Jones, Olivia Jones, Alexander Judd, Agnes Jumar, Gerry Kiernan, Sophie Lam, Annette

Leach, Anna Magee, Luica Mak, Luke Malcher, Emily Mathewson, Ben Matthews, Cassandra

Miners, Sarah Moffat, Devi Mohan, Helen Munro, Isabel Napier, Jennifer Nevill, Eva Novillo, Ada

Nworgu, Alison Paul, Jon Penny, Ines Quina, Alisha Ramos, Katy Robinson, Amanda Rose, Ghislain

Rubio De Teran, Corinne Scotland, Tania Smith, Rachel Steed, Emily Swanson, Vicky Taylor, Katy

Thompson, Laura Vergani, Faizel Vohra, Tazeem Weljie, Louise Wheble, Becky Whitehead, Stuart

Wragg, Helen Wurae, Lucy Yeatman, Gem Young.


Supporters

Bright One wouldn’t be able to do the work it does without the assistance of its partner

organisations. These include trade bodies, partner agencies from the industry and service

providers who give us the tools we need. If you are looking for partnership opportunities to

raise your organisation’s CSR profile and to do something for a good cause, please get in

touch using the details below.

http://www.33-digital.com/

http://www.hotwirepr.com/


http://www.frankpr.it/

http://huddle.net/

http://www.gorkana.com/


What Next?

Get Support – Become a ClientPlanning a media campaign? Want an online presence? Or wondering how to get your message

heard? Find out how Bright One can support your PR and Communications needs by vistiing our website: www.brightone/org.uk/client-services.

Give Support – Become a VolunteerBright One strives to create a supportive culture where volunteers not only feel valued but also have a sense of ownership of the team’s achievements. If you’d like to find out more about

volunteering for Bright One, take a look at our website: www.brightone.org.uk/volunteers.

Support Us – Offer Your ServicesBright One wouldn’t be able to do the work it does without the assistance of its partner

organisations. These include partner universities, agencies from the industry and service providers who give us the tools we need. If you are looking for partnership opportunities to raise

your organisation’s CSR profile and to do something for a good cause, please get in touch using the details below.

Donate – Fund Our WorkBright One is in the process of establishing a donation process for supporters of Bright One. If you would like to discuss how you can donate to Bright One in the meantime, please get in touch

using the contact details below.

http://www.brightone/org.uk/client-services



http://www.brightone.org.uk/volunteers


the volunteer-run comms agency for the third sector

Thank You

www.brightone.org.uk

Bright One Annual Report 2010

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