Welcome to Professionals with Purpose

If you are wondering how you can have a more positive impact while you run a business or earn a living, you’re in the right place.

Read on for examples of businesses, charities, government organisations, individuals and entrepreneurs who have done it or are achieving it - and often doing so at pace.

In addition we help you discover opportunities, tools and resources to help you in your aims to work with a social impact or to find a social impact role or employer.

This week we hear from Johnny Pitt, founder of The Creative Shootout. His success shows that you don’t need to work for a charity to achieve positive change: sometimes you can just use the skills and team at your own business to introduce a new programme or initiative that benefits others and your own business.

And then magnify the impact by involving your contacts and partners in your sector. An element of competition also goes down well.

Howard Lake
Editor
[email protected]

Johnny Pitt and The Creative Shootout

Tell us about The Creative Shootout and its aims

The Creative Shootout was created by me in 2016 as I was utterly bored of going to traditional ‘award ceremonies’ that seemed to serve little purpose other than to line the pockets of the organising company.

Whilst I appreciate that these awards have their place and are important, they never celebrate the talent, or the shortlisted campaign ideas, in any meaningful way. Have a dreary dinner in a hot hotel ballroom, smile, collect a trophy (or not!) and walk off stage. And fork out loads of money for the privilege! Where’s the integrity or fun in that?

The Shootout abandons the standard awards format altogether and sets out to do three things.

First, it shines a light on talent in a raw but brilliant way.

Secondly, it promotes and celebrates brave and inspired creative thinking, and then showcases it live on stage.

And most importantly, it gives back. Our overall aim has always been to transform the fortune of a charity, every year, through the collective power of creativity.

How have you grown its impact and reach?

By being bold and ambitious. Fearless ambitious is the most important thing when you embark on any new venture and The Shootout is no different.

Whether that’s committing to the live show format (it can be a bit hairy at times!), the choice of charity, the judging line up, the brief, the prize fund, or even the venue. We’ve never played it safe.

Partnerships are also a key one here. And the longevity of those partnerships. We’ve had partners with us since year one, and we’re proud of that. We’ve also developed some game changing collaborations over the years, and The Guardian and Channel 4 seem like another big step up, of late.

What have you learned about growing an industry partnership campaign like this at pace?

Brand, brand, brand. Standards, standards, standards! You’ve got to be obsessive about how the brand looks, sounds and feels. And seven years later, I’m proud of The Shootout brand.

Be ambitious, as mentioned. Be flexible. Constantly evolve. And always consider how you can commercialise it, but in a way that does not damage the fundamental integrity. But it does need to wash its face! And the more successful it becomes, the better for everyone; charity, industry, entrants and of course, Launch.

How is it funded? What further plans do you have for the event?

The Shootout is funded by Launch, ticket sales, sponsorship and partnerships, of which we’re constantly looking to grow and develop.

Future plans are all about scaling up, whether franchise, international or TV. And we’ve looked at all three in some detail, already.

Tell us more about how charities have benefited from it?

So far, The Shootout’s been held for UNICEF, A Plastic Planet, Time to Change, FareShare, Crisis and most recently, FoodCycle.

FoodCycle is about to embark on its biggest awareness and volunteer recruitment campaign they’ve ever done. They would not have had the budget to do this campaign without The Shootout. And that’s what it’s all about. Turbocharging the reputation, awareness and understanding of a charity each year.

What skills, experience, contacts and qualities do you and the Launch team bring to this initiative?

The Launch team are truly brilliant on it; committed, professional, selfless, nurturing and passionate.

Everyone loves working on it too, and I appreciate that it’s a pretty unusual thing for an agency to do. On Live Final day, my heart bursts with pride for how every member of the Launch team goes about their role. And people notice the professionalism too, which is always special.

What would you advise someone else trying to do good as a business?

My advice would be to think very carefully about ‘why’ you want to do good as a business. It sounds an easy thing to do, but isn’t. It all starts with the why. And is there real integrity there? Then you move on to the ‘what’. And assuming you have a good idea, you should be halfway there!

Entries for the 2024 Creative Shootout are open until 30 June 2023.

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Resources

Looking to move into the social impact sector, to set up or grow your own purpose-driven company, or want to gain skills and knowledge in this area? Here are some events and opportunities that might help.

Fundraising Apprenticeships at University of Kent

The Level 3 Fundraiser Apprenticeship Programme at the University of Kent offers free/almost free 13 month training starting September 2023 for new fundraisers working in England.

Apprenticeships are available to those already employed in a relevant position and require the support of an employer to take part. If you are not already employed in a relevant role, the university offers advice on Becoming an Apprentice.

Global Change Awards for fashion

H&M Foundation has announced the winners of its annual Global Change Awards to transform the textile industry. They have “doubled the winners and the grant”.

The Foundation launched the awards “to provide the tools, connections, and resources necessary for early-stage innovations to move from idea to scale as quickly as possible”.

This year’s award categories were:

1. Regenerate – solutions towards positive effects

2. Repurpose – solutions towards circularity

3. Reimagine – solutions we have not even thought about yet

The winners receive €200,000 each and embark on the year-long GCA Impact Accelerator.

The winning projects covered recyclable and biodegradable polyurethane, food waste polyester, circular dyeing, natural bio-colours, ultra high-performing textiles, seaweed material, AI textile sorting, corn husk and sugarcane fabric, zero waste pattern system, textile-to-textile recycling for polyesters.

H&M Foundation is privately funded by the Stefan Persson family, founders and main owners of the H&M Group.

Struggling to break into the charity sector?

If you’re over 50 and have been experiencing knockbacks despite your talent due to a lack of sector experience, this may be the programme for you.

Join Charity People on Thursday 29th June at 1pm for their LinkedIn live with the leads of the pilot Charity Interns programme.

Charity People’s Board and Leadership Associate Director Tiku van Houtem is partnering with Maya Bhose, Charity Interns Founder, and Woosh Raza NCVO Director of People, Culture & Inclusion, for this pilot, and during this live event, they will be discussing how to apply, along with providing further information on the programme itself.

The initiative aims to help people from outside the charity sector to bring their transferable skills into the sector. The pilot is going to focus on 4-6 marketing roles within several leading “household name” charities.

Charity People say: “This is such an exciting opportunity to break into the sector in a paid internship.”

The pilot starts in October 2023, placing people in paid, six-month internships.

Applications will open on June 29th and will be advertised on the NCVO Job Board.

Charity Interns was founded by Maya Bhose, who is also the project lead. She has a wealth of marketing experience, with a career spanning TV, media and partnerships. It will be incubated by NCVO, operating independently but within NCVO’s governance structures.

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If you have a story to tell about how you’ve grown a business’ income and social impact at pace, do get in touch with us.

If you’d like to advertise on or sponsor future editions of Professionals With Purpose do contact Connor Seaton.