Comparison of Action-Aid with Save the Children - Case Study Example

COMPARISON OF ACTION-AID WITH SAVE THE CHILDREN Word Count 745 words Two of the famouscharity organizations, namely ‘Save the Children’ and ‘ActionAid’, are compared with respect to their objectives, financial performance, fund raising activities and marketing. INTRODUCTION A brief history along with the background and purpose of both the organizations is given. ACTION-AID ActionAid is another, limited by guarantee, charity organization which is also based in the UK fighting against poverty in over 40 countries worldwide. They have a goal of providing help to over 13 million people worldwide with a common goal of eradicating the injustice and poverty altogether. History It came into being over 30 years ago in 1972 by Cecil Jackson Cole as a charity of Child sponsorship. Within just 10 years it was able to stretch in many other countries such as Spain, France, Italy and Ireland. (ActionAid, 2010) Recently, it has reached 40 countries worldwide fighting poverty and helping over 13 million people. Objective ActionAid is working with a motive to end poverty and providing children with quality education. It helps the poor in organization against injustice and to demand the entitlement of their rights from their government. (ActionAid, 2010) They have partners all over the world from large to small entities forming international networks and national alliances, working together for justice, giving education, working for women rights, working against diseases and imposing solutions for the currently faced organizations. SAVE THE CHILDREN Save the children is a UK based charity organization, set up for the rights of children and saving lives in emergencies. It also campaigns for the rights of children and providing a helping hand in their future. (Save the Children, 2010) History Save the Children was set up 90 years ago, in 1919, by a women Eglantyne Jebb. (Save the Children, 2010) It was based in the UK. The organization has now extended to about 50 odd countries throughout the world and has been able to reach over 6 Million children worldwide. Objective The objective of the organization is to promote the welfare of the children all over the globe and to protect the children from the effects of both natural and man made disasters. GOVERNANCE AND ROLE OF BUSINESS The roles of business and governance policies of both the organizations are compared and contrasted. ACTIONAID Governance refers to the operations and management of an organization or a country. It is governed by the board of trustees which is headed by Andrew Purkis, who has been the chair of three well known charities. (ActionAid, 2010) It has few of the most competent people taking prominent places in the board are responsible for the major decisions. The board works on the principles of accountability, transparency and honesty for the interest of the people. It operates with a framework of good governance as it tries to attain the concept of globalization by participating along with some of the famous organizations such as the World Trade Organization, International Monetary fund and World Bank etc. They govern the organization by defining the democracy in their organization and promotion of diversity, justice, human rights, participation and accountability. (ActionAid, 2010) The organization has always concentrated on the factors such as the exercising of the power and who will take charge in the organization. It has also a reputation of conducting governance in the field of participatory politics and institutional democratization. SAVE THE CHILDREN Save the children started its non profit business in 1919 from UK and has now extended its business in over 50 countries where it has about 29 independent member organizations which are led by one international board. (Civil Society, 2010) The organization lays key emphasis on the child-friendly governance and believes that a child-rights approach can provide a great strengthening hand to progress effective governance. They look forward to be accountable for what they do in front of the public as well as their board. They try to incorporate the element of transparency in their dealings as well as an element of justification for their steps. FINANCIAL AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT A brief comparison of the financial and performance management are stated. ACTIONAID It is included in their strategy as to the making of themselves accountable to the poor and excluded people and to their funders. ActionAid has established a performance management cell which assesses the future potential and places where they are lacking as well as their development needs. (ActionAid, 2007) Several Performance reviews take place in the organization which seeks to resolve and negotiate the issues faced by them. It sets up the roles for future years and establishes Key Performance Indicators. The website also provides a good review about the targets achieved in the prior years as well as the actions performed. The work on the process of self accountability by showing the people as to what they have achieved in the previous years as a whole as well as sector wise. The website shows a good break up of what their partner and network organizations delivered in the past few years such as the G8, World Trade Organization and the United Nations Organization. This shows their key focus on the accountability and the performance management prospect. SAVE THE CHILDREN Save the children have departments set up for their performance management which regularly audit and monitor the implementation and enforcement of their objectives and key areas. (Save the Children, 2010) It has a central reporting system for the performance management and measurement which is backed up by the disciplinary system which is well planned and established. For accountability purposed, it has employed about 4,500 people across the six regions to enforce the policies and strict action is taken once the allegations are proven. FUND RAISING A brief account of the fund raising practices is stated below. ACTIONAID In their fund raising strategy, ActionAid has taken the leverage from some of the huge organizations such as the World Trade Organization, IMF and European Union. (ActionAid, 2010) It has also launched a fund raising campaign known as the ‘Bullocks to poverty’. (Third Sector, 2009) In short term, whenever ActionAid requires fund, it responds effectively and efficiently with their ‘Strategic Crisis Fund’. In addition, it launches various campaigns and programs for raising fund all over the globe. One of the targets of fundraising activities over the prior years for the organization has been the major world organizations such as the United Nations, European Union, and G8 etc. They have done the fundraising by conducting the analysis of the most recent activities and cashing them. Such as the Haiti incident being one of the recent hit areas in the world with earthquake. They have urged the people all over the world to raise money over this issue such that they can help the poor over the period. They have also raised some key issues for which they are seeking funds such as HIV/AIDS, Food rights, women education and upbringing of children etc. They deeply concentrate on the women and children part and working with the head name of One Goal. They are also working on the aspect Sponsor a Child with the fact of raising money for making a direct link between the children and the people who want to support them. SAVE THE CHILDREN The initial fund of Save the Children was founded in London in 1919 under its founder after the First World War for arrangement of money to aid the emergency needs of the children relating to deficiencies of food and other supplies. They also have UNICEF aiding them in their fundraising exercises. They have set up a website to reach the people worldwide to donate money. Recently, Save the Children has started a program via their website which asks for contribution from people where they utilize every 85p out of the 1 pound to fulfill the needs of children and the rest for raising another 1 pound. (Save the Children, 2010) In addition, they have campaigns set up by volunteers who collect money for children’s aid. MARKETING AND BRANDING The organizations are compared with respect to their marketing strategies and branding. ACTIONAID ActionAid utilizes their over 2000 partners for their marketing and branding strategy. They also lobby the UK government and have the backing up of some huge organizations such as the World Trade Organization, European Union and IMF. (ActionAid, 2010) It has several marketing campaigns all over the globe working for them under the head of ‘Cause-related marketing’ to bring a positive brand association and credibility. The organization has fought over the years with certain obstacles and has adopted the policy helping anyone everywhere. The marketing team should keep the fact in their mind that they do not put their attention too much towards digital or direct along with the risk of making way towards some of the portions more than others. SAVE THE CHILDREN Save the Children utilizes a powerful marketing strategy. It has taken UNICEF as their partners in their marketing policy. They have utilized the media and other advertisement sources to carry out their marketing campaign. They have appointed the former Marks and Spencer marketing communication director as their marketing director. (Marketing Magazine, 2010) They have also launched a legacy marketing campaign in order to persuade the supporters of charity to keep donating even after their passing. RECCOMENDATIONS There have been over 30 years since the incorporation of the charity, ActionAid but they seem to be lacking compared to some other charities such as the latter. ActionAid needs to enhance the Mechanism of National Coordination which can be done by creating independent bodies in the countries where the charity operates and giving them authority and responsibility to respond to the head office of the company. In order to gain the attention of more people towards their organization, they should try and obtain attention from people pertaining to young age such as consulting and campaigning within the universities as well as the colleges. They shall also adopt the policy which Save the Children is using i.e. gaining and campaigning money from a very small amount such as the Save the Children campaign of 1 pound which may in aggregate a great amount in total. They must also create a cell which manages and looks after their performance as a company and with regards to what they have delivered for every year. In addition to this, several campaigns can also be arranged to arrange for charity money by holding programs and availing cooperation from some big names in the world that support such a cause. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Save the children and ActionAid are the two very popular, limited by guarantee, charity organizations which are established for a common cause, i.e. to eradicate poverty and injustice from the society and to work for the rights of the children and to provide them with the deserving basic necessities. Save the Children works solely for the children while ActionAid works for both children and adults alike. Save the Children was established about 90 years ago with a motive to work for the children’s rights, till now it has a well established network which is working in over 50 countries and has reached over 6 million people all over the world. It has a well structured network and aids to provide the children with their basic needs. It is governed by a competent board which works in the light of child right approach. It has the backing up of some of the world’s leading organizations such as the UNICEF, but as compared to ActionAid it has not been able to reach to organizations such as IMF, European Union etc. ActionAid has a better marketing strategy than Save the Children but the positive approach of Save the Children through which they have started urging the public to donate as low as 1 pound. Both the organizations have a performance management board which takes care of the issues faced by them and looks to find solution through formulating the strategy a to strengthen the organization in all respects. ActionAid needs to take further steps by employing more competent people and formulating strategies to reach more people all over the globe, in order to give support to children. REFERENCES ActionAid. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.actionaid.org/micrositeAssets/india/assets/performance_mgt_system_1.pdf ActionAid. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.actionaid.org.uk/100041/our_history.html ActionAid. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.actionaid.org.uk/100031/how_we_work.html ActionAid. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.actionaid.org.uk/index.asp?page_id=182 Civil Society. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/governance/news/content/6408/save_the_children_uk_chief_promoted_to_new_international_role Marketing Magazine. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/983522/Jude-Bridge-spearhead-new-marketing-drive-Save-Children/ Save the Children. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/what-we-do.htm Save the Children. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.net/alliance/about_us/history.html Save the Children. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/docs/safeguarding-children2.pdf Save the Children. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/donate.htm Third Sector. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/news/archive/966750/Debate-charities-use-strong-language-advertising-campaigning/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH Read More