Charity solicitations

Like most people, I give to charity. Not heaps but regularly. I share it around although the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre is my fave.

A thought I had while washing dishes: a percentage of what we all give to charity goes towards fundraising. The appeals to which we respond are partly paid for by those who responded to earlier appeals. And so on back through time.

Looking at all advertising, beyond charities – some it is about a new product or service. (Of course sometime the 'new'ness is fake). Maybe it's trying to get you to try mint flavoured milk instead of chocolate or strawberry. In charity terms it's trying to solve a problem no-one else is solving. If it is successful and can motivate you to donate to help fistula sufferers in Rwanda for instance – that's going to make a difference to those people.

But often advertising is trying to get you to change brand. Virgin wants Jetstar's customers, and Coke wants Pepsi's customers.

It has just occurred to me that this brand-switching must be a big part of charity advertising too. And from the point of view of people who the charity is meant to help – I cannot see how that money benefits them.

I might have been giving to Red Cross, who are working at earthquakes alongside Medicins Sans Frontieres, Oxfam, Unicef etc. If MSF come out with a very convincing and sincere ad, it might sway me to give to them next time not Red Cross. It benefits MSF and helps their work.

Does that money MSF spend on getting me to change, benefit the people I care about in any way?

Robbie Flower merch and the Australian Cancer Research Fund

Robbie Flower was a wonderful footballer and a wonderful man. I feel privileged to have had a very brief correspondence with him.

I designed this t-shirt a few years ago, and contacted Robbie for his permission to sell it. He replied;

Hi Chris. Designs are fine and look good. I would love to have one ( XL).....Hope they sell well.

One night I saw musician David Bridie wearing one on the Marngrook Footy Show on TV. I emailed Rob with a link to the clip, and mentioned he was being outsold by another design I did with his good mate Bernie 'Superboot' Quinlan. Rob wrote back;

Hi Chris

Shirt looks great. I will have to catch up with David sometime ! I am catching up with 'superboot ' later today........ I will tell him I have got him covered in the sale on the the t-shirts. I don't want him getting a bigger head than he already has !!! Thanks for the update on the sales and the youtube clip.

That was in May 2014. Sadly Rob passed away that October after a brief illness - he had had treatment for prostate cancer and cardiomyopathy in the 2000s.

I did not feel comfortable profiting from Rob's untimely passing, so from that point all profit on sales of his designs goes to the Australian Cancer Research Fund. I sell these through a site called RedBubble who take their usual cut; so from a $30 shirt they keep $20 and the other $10 goes to ACRF.

If you know anyone who you think might like a mug, shirt, hoodie, baby romper suit(!) or a framed print (lots of of other items available) why not pop over and get one?