Mental Health UK
Mental Health UK (MHUK) brings together the heritage and experience of four charities from across the country who’ve been supporting people with their mental health for nearly 50 years.
They provide support and services for some of the biggest societal challenges that pose a threat to people’s mental health, including money problems, navigating through the system to get the right support, understanding mental health, loneliness and isolation, and resilience in young people.
What we did for them
A large proportion of MHUK’s income comes from corporate partnerships, involving a considerable amount of staff fundraising through various fundraising products and activities. These partnerships varied in size and sector, from retail, building and construction, financial services to hospitality and leisure.
With the impact of the pandemic and the changing work patterns adopted by many people, including an increase in remote working, led MHUK to consider how they could best develop their partnerships in order to stay relevant for their supporters.
We interviewed a range of stakeholders from different organisations, seeking to understand how the workplace has changed (high working from home in some office-based professions, little change in retail /manufacturing etc.), how attitudes towards both fundraising and the office have changed, and the needs of the workforce within these new situations.
Our research:
- Segmented both the overall corporate market place and groups of individuals within those companies, according to the new working practices.
- Looked at what charities need to do to create and evolve fundraising products suitable for the different markets.
- Considered what changes are likely to remain –such as the increased use of zoom, teams and other remote working technology –and how charities can adapt to meet the needs of their corporate partners.
- Gave examples of best practice from across the charity sector, setting out how charities have risen to the challenge, responding rapidly in many cases during the pandemic.
The results have allowed MHUK to develop their fundraising. We presented our findings with them at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s Convention 2022 in London.