Member Article

Fluid Ideas' £7,000 charity hat-trick

Creative agency Fluid Ideas has swelled the coffers of three good causes to the tune of £7,000.

The charities to benefit are Alzheimer’s Society, a children’s hospice and YMCA Derbyshire.

Fluid Ideas usually spends a total of £5,000 on Christmas gifts to clients and taking its staff on a city break in Europe at the end of each year as a thank you for their efforts.

The pandemic meant neither gesture was possible, due to clients working from home and travel being impossible.

The agency instead opted to give the money to charity and asked clients to vote for which organisation should benefit from a shortlist drawn up by its team.

Alzheimer’s Society, the UK’s leading dementia charity which funds research to find a cure and support people living with the condition, came top in the poll.

Fluid Ideas has also raised £1,800 for Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People in Loughborough by producing 2021 calendars featuring two youth soccer teams and selling them to parents.

Joint managing director Phil Harvey, along with colleagues Dan Chadwick, Bec Utley and Jess Beeton from Fluid’s image and motion team, produced the calendars as well as individual prints of the players for Derby County Under-14s Academy and Woodlands FC Under-13s, a girls’ club based in Allestree. All of the proceeds go to the hospice.

Phil’s son Hugo plays for the Rams’ under-14s academy and daughter Siena plays for Woodlands.

Fluid’s charity hat-trick was completed by a £200 donation to YMCA Derbyshire after the full-service agency’s staff paid to wear Christmas jumpers for a day.

YMCA Derbyshire’s Jolly Jumper Day was held as part of its 2020 Christmas Appeal to fund warm meals, activities and support for disadvantaged people over the festive period.

Phil said: “We are proud to be able to give something back to help the fantastic work of all three charities, and hope the money we’ve raised and donated will make a positive difference.

“The care and healthcare sectors have been at the heart of Fluid, and Alzheimer’s Society means a lot to us all, personally and professionally.

“We have strong partnerships with our clients – they support us and we support them – and giving them the opportunity to vote for the charity of their choice felt the right thing to do in the current circumstances.

“Rainbows is an amazing place but needs millions of pounds to survive, as it gets very little in government aid. What they do there to support children and their families is unbelievable.

“Likewise, YMCA Derbyshire is a great organisation which helps less fortunate people, so we were pleased to support its Christmas Appeal.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Fluid Ideas .