IPC MEDIA/T IME INC CHARITY OF THE YEAR REV IEW CALM were thrilled to have been chosen by IPC Media staff to be the official Charity of the Year in 2013, and were even more delighted to see that relationship continue in to 2014, a first for charity partnerships within IPC Media. This partnership has helped us raise the issue nationally, you have supported us financially, we’ve benefited from the expert advice provided by your staff, and your support literally helped furnish, and staff, our Tea and Secrets Tent at Secret Garden Party over the last two years. During this period, and with your support, CALM has grown as an organisation, and extended our service provision. Our rise in donations has helped us more than double the staff on the helpline. In 2012 we handled just under 20,000 calls on the helpline. This year we’ll take over 40,000, and we’ve launched a new webchat service. We’ve grown in influence, and seen public awareness of CALM as a charity dedicated to preventing male suicide rise from 12% in 2012 to 33% this November (YouGov), and awareness of the issue of male suicide rise from 11% in 2012 to 20% in 2014. You have played an instrumental role that growth.

PRESS COVERAGE The support from particular titles and from the advertising department at IPC/Time Inc played a key role in the very significant increase in awareness of CALM, and in our finances. One of the biggest fundraisers for CALM has been the Tour de Test Valley, and which has had great support right from the start from Cycling Weekly both through editorial and advertising. This support helped bring in over 600 riders last year, and almost a 1000 riders this year (including staff members Paul Phillips and Jane Boswell), helping raise profile of the issue and CALM, getting our number out to hundreds more men, and rising over £50K each year towards the helpline. A very significant achievement. In 2013, we worked closely with Andrea Thompson at Marie Claire to produce a very hard hitting and compelling article about the impact of suicide on those left behind, on mothers, girlfriends, wives and sisters, a very powerful and an important piece of press in raising awareness amongst a female audience.

 

In February this year the Editor of Uncut, Allan Jones, wrote an Editors blog about the CALM Charity album, Life:Tarka and Friends, helping to promote the record and also highlighting the reasons behind the release. CALM benefitted from the print space given us for our ‘Save The Male’ campaign artwork across a variety of IPC Media titles such as Golf Monthly and Rugby World, thanks to Lynne Springett and team. This brought us before new audiences in a way which we could not otherwise have afforded, and the impact of these ads and the media coverage you’ve given us is clearly reflected in the YouGov stats.

PRO BONO WORK Over the last two years IPC Media/Time Inc staff have support CALM with invaluable pro bono work and advice. Alex Menhennet helped with the design of our Annual Report in 2013, various staff including NME, Marketforce and sales came together to advise our magazine editor on how to maximize impact and fund the magazine, which was extremely helpful, we’ve had analytics advise re our website, and benefitted from marketing insights into both men and women. Working at CALM can be tough, and we haven’t the benefit of a meeting room or any kind of separate space where issues which affect the staff can be aired in private. So we are hugely grateful to have been given access to meeting rooms in Blue Fin where our monthly staff supervision sessions have taken place across the two years.

 

IPC Staff Volunteers, Michela Colling and Stephanie Hendries at Secret Garden Party 2014

VOLUNTEERS Volunteers are the lifeblood of CALM, and keep the charity going in every sense. IPC/Time Inc. UK staff have volunteered in the CALM Tea and Secrets tent at Secret Garden Party over the two years, engaging with festival goers, serving tea and biscuits and helping to raise awareness of CALM and our campaign. IPC/Time Inc. UK staff have also volunteered at Freshers Fairs and charity events, such the recent Topshop fundraising week, with staff volunteer Ian MacEwan providing CALM with two interviews for our own magazine, the CALMzine.

Time Inc’s Ian MacEwan (second left) volunteering at a Topshop Fundraiser event

 

EVENTS & FUNDRAIS ING The fundraisers at IPC/Time Inc have been brilliant, and has brought in £4,068.10. These events included numerous cake sales, pool tournaments, a charity auction, an Oscars sweepstake, a magazine reader competition and a summer fayre. These events we know are time consuming to organize and require a real commitment from staff to ensure they take place – so we’d like to say a heartfelt thanks to the fundraising team at Blue Fin. The Homes Network helped make our Tea and Secrets tent at Secret Garden Party Festival look amazing for two years running. You provided us with two fantastic sofa’s from Ikea, plus chairs and soft furnishings, the carpets to help us create a cool chill out area for festival goers. Without this support we wouldn’t have even attempted a presence at Secret Garden Party. And then your staff helped give out the tea!

Fabulous furnishings at Secret Garden Party

YOU’VE BEEN BRILL IANT! THANK YOU! Thank you everyone that has helped not just keep CALM going, but help us create a bigger, better campaign, reaching thousands more men across the UK, taking literally thousands more calls, raising awareness, saving lives. This has been a fantastic opportunity and a fruitful partnership for CALM. All the staff and volunteers at CALM wish IPC/Time Inc all the best going forwards, and we would like to thank everyone for their enthusiastic support, advice, time and expertise. You have literally helped us grow in every sense. So many people to thank. Jack Shannon for nominating us, Laura Nineham for her analytics magic on our website, Leonie Eastwood for Secret Garden Party, Isabel Price McKenzie for putting the word out about the need for furnishings, Alex Menhennet for his design expertise, Vicky Chandler for the brilliant CALM Pool tournament at Spots and Stripes, Allyson Johnstone, Jo Smalley, Ben Cooper, Paul Phillips, Emma Freebairn, Clare Lordan, Andrea Thompson, Vicky Geary, Pete Cashmore, Jane Bosewell, Michela Colling, Jessica Latapie, Belinda Sorensen, Richard Day for the projector.

 

All the staff & Volunteers at CALM