What Will You Do With Your $900?

banging on about advertising, marketing and social media

19 March 2009 5 Comments

I had a “that’s why I’m in advertising” moment this week. It was a moment that made me feel that I could make a difference and use my powers for good over evil.

One of the clients that we do pro bono work for is Children’s Hospital Foundation Australia. The foundation is a partnership between the five major children’s hospitals in Australia. They do great work in conducting research, providing new equipment and making children’s stay in hospital a little more enjoyable. They are amazing people who do amazing work.

So when Kevin Rudd said he was giving all Australians $900 (initially $950… grrr) to boost the economy I saw the opportunity for Australians to increase their charitable givings. $900 is a decent chunk of money and it isn’t too much to ask for people to donate $50 or $100 of this to people who are requiring even greater assistance than themselves.

So, with the help of the team at Children’s Hospital Foundation Australia and Working Wonders at the Royal Brisbane Hospital we grabbed a video camera and went through the children’s ward asking the sick children…

“What Would You Do With $900?”

What amazed me was the strength and the positivity of these kids. Some had drips upon drips, been in hospital for months and could not even interact with other kids as they were at a very delicate stage in their treatment. Yet they were all imaginative and vibrant – there were no feelings of self pity or detachment regardless of how sick they are.

There was one girl who was particularly moving. She was in the latter stages of chemo and about to spend some time at home. When asked what she would buy with her $900 she replied that she would buy “petrol for the car so that her family could drive around and go to the movies and stuff that we haven’t been able to do”. Purely selfless.

So, if you are in a situation where you can donate a portion of your cash bonus please consider the Children’s Hospital Foundations Australia – they do a great job in helping kids who require a far greater amount of assistance than us.

5 Comments »

Tannie said:

It’s really great to see something like this. Quite inspiring for a uni student looking to be in marketing to know that you can actually do a lot of good like this to counteract any of the ethically questionable things you have to do.

I really am proud to see it and I think I might even do up a post using this video in my blog in a day or so in order to share the message just a fraction further.

# 20 March 2009 at 1:35 am

Angus said:

Must have been an incredible experience.

# 21 March 2009 at 9:33 pm

Nathan Bush said:

Thanks for the support guys!

http://gruentransfer.blogspot.com/2009/03/what-will-you-do-with-your-900.html

# 23 March 2009 at 5:35 am

m a t t b o w e n said:

Love it mate! Genuinely impressed with the concept, its nice but not tacky approach. I imagine if you are first to market with this, there will be plenty of charities following this line of thought…

# 24 March 2009 at 8:15 am

Nathan Bush said:

@mattbowen I would assume they would but haven’t seen any yet. Let me know if you see any?

# 25 March 2009 at 4:40 am