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Sailors' Society

Mentoring the organisation to re-work its presentation and Case for Support

Situation

The Sailors’ Society Auckland is the largest of the six Sailors Society groupings in New Zealand and a partner in the running of the local Seafarers Centre and in the provision of ship visiting and chaplain support. To deliver this, some funds were made available from Southampton, the rest has to be raised locally.

Larry Robbins is never shy in coming forward. With responsibilities for developing the Auckland operation, he had already called in favours from old colleagues and friends and had been able to get some funds to boost the meagre resources of the charity. Even more than most kiwi organisations, the Sailors’ Society Auckland really did run on “the smell of an oily rag.”

Then, one Sunday night, along with some of the ten thousand multi-national seafarers that visit the Centre annually, appeared David Williams-Jones. Having provided fundraising support to the Society in Southampton and recently arrived in Auckland, he was keen to see what actually happened to the money raised.

Challenges

It was not long before Purple Vision was issued with a challenge. Fundamentally, though New Zealand is almost entirely dependent on the sea for the import of most of its consumer goods (as well as for the export of raw materials to fund it all), most people just “did not get it”. Before potential supporters could help with the solution, they really needed to appreciate the nature and implications of the problem.

With the problem clear, the charity then needed to be able to present an external perspective and present its Case for Support in an inspiring manner.  All of this also needed to happen with a new look and a Kiwi style.

The prime need was for a new leaflet to present the work of the charity. But this had to be multi-purpose in role. Finally, given that the total annual income of the charity was not enough to pay for even half of the salary of the chaplain, there was nothing left for ‘consultancy’. Luckily, Purple Vision always has seen themselves as providing support rather than consultancy!

Solution

Purple Vision decided to say it as it is. In big, bold block-coloured letters it simply stated: “Replacing isolation with belonging”. This was backed up by using strong colours, positive visuals of people (pictures of ships were banished!) and clear bullet points.

Individual were invited to help both financially and in other ways with a clear explanation as to the difference that each gift could make. The whole piece was held together and justified by the story of Lito and the difference that he had found the Sailors’ Society had made to him.

Benefits

From the outset, the design and the sharper, more confident approach was well received.  Larry Robbins himself professed that it was “brilliant”. The design will also act as a template for further communication and newsletters from the Society.

But, more important, the material and Case for Support is being used to fuel a new approach to trusts, shipping companies and individual supporters. It remains early days but the first gifts are starting to come in and the whole exercise is showing a positive return on investment. So, amongst other items required by the world’s sailors, the Society is now buying itself some new rags to replace that oily one!