2020 has been a challenging year for us all, as we look towards the end of the year and 2021, we thought it important to reflect on life over the past 12 months and give something back to those who have helped everyone through.
During our two national lockdowns a report by Mind, The Mental Health Emergency, found that more than half of adults and over two thirds of young people said their mental health got worse during these periods. This year also saw a rise in cases of domestic violence, with tragically, over 40,000 calls and contacts were made to the National Domestic Abuse Helpline during the first three months of the first lockdown this year.
This year has also seen small businesses and charities hit extremely hard. For charities, fundraising opportunities and in-person donations have effectively been wiped out for the year and these organisations now find themselves relying on their financial reserves to stay afloat. A report by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) found that on the whole, giving in the UK has seen an overall rise of £800m in 2020, compared to last year. However, the report also suggests that whilst donations to charities supporting the NHS have risen significantly, smaller charities such as animal shelters and homeless shelters have seen a dramatic fall in overall donations.
Given these statistics, we wanted to do something a little bit different for Christmas this year. Instead of spending our budget on printed mailers or gifts, we decided to create an advent calendar. However, in place of a traditional advent calendar, we’ve decided to run the Make it Clear 12 Days of Giving campaign. Our savings on production costs has allowed us to donate our whole Christmas budget to charities and those in need instead. Each day, for a total of 12 working days in December, donations to a different charity will be behind each door of our advent calendar. These are largely smaller charities that are close to our hearts and have been picked by members of our internal team.
Following our rebrand earlier this year, it’s been a great opportunity to apply our new illustration style to something festive. Our designers, working alongside our motion design wizard, have created a suite of animated festive themed doors to reveal each charity donation.
Head over to our Instagram as we unveil a new charity every working day from today until the 22nd: https://www.instagram.com/make_it_clear/
Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and New Year from the Make it Clear team, and we look forward to working with you in 2021.