Purpose-led comms agency The Ripple Effect announce charity partners

THE Ripple Effect has announced its two chosen independent charity partners for the 2023/24 financial year – Changing Faces and Refuge4Pets.

Having started life in April 2022, Co-Founders Sam Dibley & Frankie Wheeler set out to establish an agency that leaves a lasting impact and decided to donate 2.5% of their profits from every project to two small, independent charities where every gift makes a difference. Currently on track to achieve 200% of their Year 1 revenue target, the agency has been able to make a real, positive impact.

For this year, the agency has selected the following two partners.

Changing Faces

Changing Faces is the UK’s leading charity for everyone with a scar, mark or condition on their face or body. This can be something you are born with like a birthmark, or something you acquire later in life like scarring from an accident or hair loss after cancer treatment. For over 30 years they have been providing advice and support, challenging discrimination, and campaigning for a world that respects difference.

The charity provides support services for people with a visible difference, including self-help factsheets, covering topics including applying for jobs and handling staring and other people’s reactions. There is a support and information phone line where people can talk and receive confidential support to explore their options around coping with visible difference and the impact it has on them, a skin camouflage service which uses specialist creams and powders to reduce the appearance of a visible difference –  giving people a choice over their appearance and a sense of control over how they want to look day to day as well as face-to-face counselling from trained practitioners and an online peer-to-peer forum where people with a visible difference can get advice and support from others facing similar problems and concerns. 

Their campaigns challenge the discrimination, attitudes, behaviours, and systems that contribute to loneliness, isolation, social anxiety, and inequality – keeping the voices of people with visible differences at the heart of everything they do: empowering them to speak out, tell their stories and call for change together.

Speaking of the new partnership, Heather Blake, CEO said:

“We are delighted to be selected as a charity partner of The Ripple Effect. Nearly one in five people in the UK self-identify as having a visible difference, and our research shows that they are often vulnerable to isolation, loneliness, social anxiety and low self-esteem – facing significant disadvantages in all areas of their lives; from access to education and getting jobs, to receiving the healthcare they need.

“There is a lot to do to achieve lasting change, and partnerships play a significant role in helping us achieve our goal to grow our services and reach so that everyone with a visible difference can access the support they need and deserve.’’

Refuge4Pets

We discovered Refuge4Pets via our fundraising PR campaign for the Kennel Club Charitable Trust last Christmas. Their CEO, Mary, joined Bill Bailey for an interview with their local BBC in Cornwall. Their story and the struggles facing them as charity got us thinking about what more we could do to support them.

Refuge4Pets provides an animal fostering service across Devon and Cornwall to victim-survivors of domestic abuse so that they can leave with their much-loved pets.  

Often individuals and families escaping domestic abuse are unable to take their animals with them, as most temporary accommodation is unable to take pets.  In many cases, this will stop people from leaving.

Dr Mary Wakeman, CEO of Refuge4Pets commented:

“We are delighted and incredibly grateful to be a Charity Partner of The Ripple Effect this year. Their support will really make a difference and means we can help more people and their animals escape domestic abuse.’’

Speaking about their founding charity partners, Dibley added:

“We wanted to take a moment to thank all of our client partners for their support in our first 12 months. The projects you’ve trusted us with have meant we could offer so much to our two charity partners.

“For the Southern Thailand Elephant Foundation, your generosity has meant that we have helped to fund the mobile clinic every month last year, enabling STEF’s dedicated vet to travel to elephants in need who cannot be transported to the Veterinary Centre at Khok Kloi. We have also been able to feed a huge amount of elephants with delicious, nutritious pineapple leaves and sugar cane.

“For The Childhood Trust, our funds have meant that thousands of children experiencing abject poverty in London have been able to sleep a little warmer and live a little better through the cost of living crisis… We provided about 6000 meals for 200 kids over the holidays. The Trust uses our quarterly donation in their matched funding which means each £1 generates around £4.50.”

Wheeler concluded:

“Our mission continues to be about ambitiously driving communications with a conscience. When we founded The Ripple Effect, the name embodied our vision to use communications to affect positive change and our 2.5% pledge underpins this. The Ripple Effect is already carving out a reputation for its heart, as well as a track record for delivering phenomenal campaigns.”

The Ripple Effect is proud to work with brands such as KAYAK, OpenTable, The Kennel Club Charitable Trust, Gousto, Paramount and Glasses Direct among others. To find out more about the agency, and its new charity partners, please visit: www.therippleeffect.london.