Joshua wins £2m charity account

Charity Sight Savers International has appointed Joshua to handle its £2m through-the-line account in a bid to increase the number of donors and frequency of their contributions, following a four-way pitch.

Charity Sight Savers International has appointed Joshua to handle its &£2m through-the-line account in a bid to increase the number of donors and frequency of their contributions, following a four-way pitch.

Clark McKay & Walpole, the incumbent for the past two years, did not pitch for the business.

Director of fundraising and communications Jennie Meadows says the agency was appointed because of its experience on direct response television (DRTV) and website development.

In 2001, almost &£10m of Sight Savers’ &£16m income came from responses to direct marketing, with &£3.5m coming from legacies.

Meadows says that the charity has been investing in direct marketing over the past four years and has seen voluntary income double in that time.

Sight Savers, which was formed in 1950, claims to have restored the sight of 5 million people and treated almost 55 million in that time in developing countries.

The charity works alongside local organisations and governments to teach basic eye-care skills and hygiene to adults and children. It also provides training to help irreversibly blind people to lead independent lives.

A recent survey to raise awareness of the charity’s work found that 89 per cent of the British public were more afraid of losing their sight than of losing any other sense.