Forget-Me-Not Project
Alzheimer Scotland
Pery Zakeri
Rosanna Innes
September 2010
Contents
1. The ProjectPage 3
2. Our SolutionPage 4
2.1 ‘The Business Card Idea’Page 5
2.2 ‘The Gallery Idea’Page 8
2.3 ‘The Public Art Idea’Page 11
2.4 Investigation within the artsPage 13
2.4.1 Projectability Page 13
2.4.2 Cultural Enterprise OfficePage 13
2.4.3 GlasgowCity CouncilPage 14
3. MerchandisePage 15
3.1 ‘The Glass Gifts Idea’Page 15
3.2 Other Merchandise IdeasPage 16
4. ‘The Cocktail Competition Idea’Page 19
5. ConclusionPage 20
1. The Project
Since 2008, Alzheimer Scotland’s Forget-Me-Not project has trained 61 volunteers and placed them into 18 different care homes and hospitals across Glasgow and Greater Clyde. Volunteers offer support and companionship to elderly individuals with dementia. By providing person centred care, greater emphasis is placed on emotional care and allows connection, involvement and the promotion of well-being. To date, the project has been extremely well received, not only by persons with dementia but by carers, relatives and the Care Commission.
To run the Forget-Me-Not project costs £35,000 per year. It is currently in the second year of a three year funding by the Voluntary Action Fund.
The task posed to us was to investigate options for independent and enduring funding for the project, with a target of the full yearly sum of £35,000.
2. Our Solution
In addition to investigating business ideas which would reach the financial target, we saw value, both financially and in terms of marketability, in raising the culture-based profile of the charity by increasing its appeal to a wider demographic. We also wanted to pursue business ideas which would raise awareness of dementia. By increasing charity profile, we hoped to reach individuals who would consider making Alzheimer Scotland their charity of choice and go on to make further donations.
After brainstorming, we identified two major possible solutions: either work with local business that could help us to generate income or design a product or service that was desirable independent of its relation to charity. One obstacle that we were faced with was that Forget-Me-Not is only based in Glasgow, therefore we realised that any financial solution needed to be gained within the city.
Having decided upon the approaches we deemed the most effective in tackling this problem, we pursued four main ideas that followed this strategy.
2.1‘The Business Card Idea’
Our most developed and successful idea that is currently being piloted in the city is the distribution of business cards that ask for a small donation.
We realised that local businesses would benefit from being seen to support a local cause and so, if we could design a simple and minimal effort way for businesses to help us, both parties would gain from a partnership. We designed a method in which local businesses could financially support the project without any outlaying costs to themselves.
We thought about under what circumstances the public would be most willing to make a donation to the charity. Under the current financial climate, it is more effective and sustainable to get small donations from many sources rather than rely on a few larger donations. We thought that a great way to access a large number of people from a varied demographic would be to tap into the restaurant and hotel trade. This idea is particularly relevant to Glasgow because not only is the trade thriving but we were able to distinguish reputable, charitable and respected businesses. We purposely selected restaurants and hotels where the clientele are likely to have a comparatively disposable income.
This lead to the thought that, when customers are spending over a certain amount of money and areasked for a one pound donation together with their bill they would be likely to donate.
We designed a business card to be handed to the customer with their bill. The card says a little bit about the charity and asks for a donation of one pound. Our initial idea was to give these cards to businesses and supply them with a money tin to put donations in. Lebowski’s, Argyle Street, agreed to do a pilot which allowed us to identify any problems. We discovered that staff members were unable to differentiate between a tip and a donation. To solve this problem, we ordered envelopes in which business cards could be presented in so that they could be sealed by the customer at their discretion. We bought money boxes in which sealed envelopes could be placed inside by staff, this minimizes time and confusion.
We then wrote to and visited a large number of hotels and restaurants in Glasgow to ask them to carry out this idea for a time period of their discretion. We are now working with The Ubiquitous Chip, the Mother India chain and Rab Ha’s boutique hotel and restaurant. All businesses are enthusiastic about the idea and are considering having a more permanent relationship with Forget-Me-Not. During our research, we spoke to the general manager of Malmaison, Blythswood Square, who informed us that guestsdonate one pound as part of their stay to the Elizabeth Montgomerie Foundation. In addition, for every burger sold in the hotel’s brasserie, 50 pence is given to the foundation. This scheme has been running for just over one year and has generated over £100,000. Rab Ha’s is considering dedicating a small profit from a particular dish on their menu to Forget-Me-Not.
If Alzheimer Scotland were to establish permanent relationships with these businesses it would be more cost effective if businesses could add to their bills the option to donate a pound that can be recognised by the till system.
2.2 ‘The Gallery Idea’
For our second idea we decided to investigate businesses within the art scene in Glasgow. This related to our strategy to create a business idea that was desirable independent of its relation to charity.
In our research, we became increasingly aware of the amount of artworks being done on the theme of memory and on Alzheimer’s itself.We initially thought that it would be a good idea to open an art gallery using established and new graduate artists. This could generate income through donations, merchandise and entry fee. The other benefit of this idea would be to generate awareness to a wide market.
We investigated and then contacted many artists, both Scottish and International, whose current work is focused upon memory and Alzheimer’s disease and found that they were very receptive to our idea. It then struck us that within our tight timescale that it was more realistic to first create an exhibition in an existing gallery.
We investigated independent galleries in Glasgow and chose the Compass Gallery as our preferred exhibition space. The Compass Gallery is the most established independent art gallery in Glasgow and is renowned for high calibre art. Working with the Compass Gallery would enable the charity to benefit from its reputation and its established client base. Furthermore, many of the clientele fit in with the demographic of Alzheimer Scotland’s existing donators.
We met with the owner, Jill Gerber, of Cyril Gerber Fine Art, who was immediately interested in the idea of creating an exhibition to showcase artwork that addresses the theme of memory and memory loss. After several meetings, she offered us a letter of commitment, agreeing to hold an exhibition in the Compass Gallery and split the commission for every painting sold with the Forget-Me-Not project. This theme should create extremely diverse responses from artists and will generate a lot of thought on the consequences of suffering from Alzheimer’s.The exhibition will, due to the quality of the artwork, create a new dimension of the charity and bring it to the awareness of this new and ideal market.
Once funding has been gained, between Jill’s contacts and our own, we will invite around 40 artists to create work based on our given brief. They will then have 6 months to design their artwork before the exhibition. We are considering, by means of Jill’s contacts, then touring the exhibition around Scotland.
This idea is set in place but requires funding in the region of £4,000 to pay for a mail out, catalogue, advertisement and first transportation. In our research, we met with Jenny Brownrigg of the Glasgow School of Art. She advised us that we would not be applicable for many types of art funding because we would be using the grant for money making purposes. Therefore, gaining funding might be challenging. However, if Alzheimer Scotland covered the costs, or gain it from an independent donator, we are confident that a profit would be made.
2.3 ‘The Public Art Idea’
Our third idea also relates to the arts. We wanted to create a public sculpture to bring the community together, whilst generating income and promoting awareness of Alzheimer’s.
Whilst researching ideas, we came across love padlock bridges. These bridges exist worldwide, and are very popular, so much so that they can be found in many tourist guides, including the Lonely Planet. The idea of the bridges is that couples lock a padlock on a bridge to ‘seal their love’ and then throw the key in the river. The idea of the physical manifestation of love led us to think of the physical manifestation of memory. In past and older generations people wrote letters and printed photographs which contrasts with today’s generation who write emails and store photographs on their pc. Consequently, older generations have tactile memories that exist independently of their own mind. Thus, should they lose their memory, the physical traces remain.
Our idea was to use the concept of love padlocks but change the theme to memory. We believe that people would take pleasure in the opportunity to physically lock a memory in a public space to exist out with the remit of the human mind. As you can see, the bridges are very beautiful. We didn’t come across any case where profit is being made from these living sculptures and so considered this an opportunity to make financial gain.
We hope to design, with the help of an artist, a structure upon which the public could ‘lock’ a memory for a fee. As advised by the Cultural Enterprise Office, we have set out a brief via Creative Scotland and artist networking sites to find a suitable artist to design both the structure itself and the memory tokens which will be placed upon it. We have had some responses of support and interest but due to the timescale of our project we were unable to take this idea further. We continue to receive emails of artist ideas and hope that Alzheimer Scotland will take this further.
2.4 Investigation Within the Arts
Regarding both of our artistic projects we met with several relevant bodies.
2.4.1 Projectability
We met with Elizabeth Gibson of Projectability, a Glasgow-based visual arts organisation which creates opportunities for people with disabilities and mental health issues to express themselves and achieve artistic excellence. Elizabeth informed us that they work with residents of a care home, aged between 60 and 80 years, all of whom gain a lot of pleasure from the whole experience and it generates a lot of conversation between the group as they are all focusing upon the same activity. Had we more time, we would have liked to investigate combining gallery and art therapy space.
2.4.2 Cultural Enterprise Office
As previously mentioned, we met with the Cultural Enterprise Office, a body who offer support and advice to people starting new artistic projects. Our advisee offered to keep in regular contact with us, so we shall pass on her details to Alzheimer Scotland.
2.4.3 GlasgowCity Council
Regarding the public sculpture, we spoke to a member of the arts office within Glasgow City Council who began to do some research into this project and considered our proposal fully feasible. We will also pass on her details to Alzheimer Scotland.
- Merchandise
Our final area of investigation focused upon charity merchandise. In our brief, Alzheimer Scotland asked us to research methods by which other charities fundraise. We saw that other charities put more of a focus on merchandise, which lead us to consider ways in which we could add to the current merchandise on the Alzheimer Scotland website.
3.1‘The Glass Gifts Idea’
We had the idea of selling glass gifts with Forget-Me-Not flowers on them, similar to items which the London based company spaceform manufacture and sell. Initially we investigated Glasgow glass companies that could create such an item but after more research discovered that spaceform already manufacture a glass forget-me-not token. Spaceform sell their products in two shops in Glasgow, one of which is Illuminati. The manager of Illuminati informed us spaceform products are one of their best sellers. Spaceform sell the tokens on their website for £8, but we contacted them and they offered to sell the forget-me-not tokens to Alzheimer Scotland at wholesale price of £6 to give the charity the opportunity to sell them at a profit.
3.2Other Merchandise Ideas
This led us to consider other ‘forget me not’ items that we could consider selling as part of a collection. If we could get a student from the Glasgow School of Art to design us a textile pattern, we could use it in different fabrics for different products.Through our research we found that the American Alzheimer Society have already done this; they have a range of items including silk scarves, bags and hats all in the same forget me not design. These items are both practical and attractive and could be bought as a gift or for oneself.
The scope for reinventing the merchandise is very big. We wanted to think of ways in which through merchandise we could associate the charity with positive activities and ideas.
i)Firstly we struck upon the ‘retro’ idea. Vintage fashion is big business. Vintage clothes and household item are a great link between young and old people, desirable to all and a great talking and thinking point in terms of memory.
ii)Drawing on our other ideas to generate income for forget me not we could sell related products. Should we follow through with the idea of the living sculpture, we could sell a merchandise product that would match the tokens to be attached to the structure; for example we could design a charm or locked in the same shape as the token.
iii)There are practical items that we can sell to all generations. Activities such as gardening, baking and knitting are not only favourable to the older generation but have gained popularity and even fashion credibility in our generation. Thus, if we sell items relating to these activities we can widen our market and offer goods that appeal to all. These items can be purchased for personal use and as gifts.
iv)We were informed that Alzheimer Scotland are currently reconsidering the charity merchandise and briefly did some research into daily living aids that can help people with dementia.Whilst we did this research we agreed that any daily living aids sold on the Alzheimer Scotland website should be of a high quality so that people with dementia do not have to sacrifice the quality of their home wear for the sake of its practicality.
In order to make merchandise sales, it is important to think about what buyers want. The products we have considered are both desirable to all and also a great tool to bridge generation gaps.
Sub note.
One avenue that we considered pursuing was that of the vintage clothes market. Vintage clothes sell extremely well in today’s society, and it should be noted that vintage clothes sold today belonged to the elderly generation. It occurred to us that buyers of vintage clothes have not considered the history of the items, and may be interested to know when and where a party dress was first worn. We did a bit of research and found that most buyers would be interested in the story behind the clothes. We think this is a great selling point, even in terms of an exhibition, and a good avenue for further investigation.
4. ‘The Cocktail Competition Idea’
Early on in the project we designed a cocktail competition to raise funds. The idea was that mixologists around Glasgow should design a ‘forget-me-not’ cocktail using Scottish spirits and fruits. They should then sell this cocktail in their respective bars for one month, during which a pound from each sale would be donated to the Forget-Me-Not project. At the end of the month, all contestants would meet together and make their cocktail. The winner of the best cocktail would be announced and receive a prize as would the bar who made the most money. We were deterred from pursuing this idea by Head Office as the charity can not be seen to promote the consumption of alcohol. We were then informed explicitly of the risk and statistics of alcohol-induced dementia.
This led us to the thought that people are largely unaware of the connection between alcohol and dementia. Had we more time, we would like to consider a fundraising idea that would raise awareness of this issue.
5. Conclusion
We have confidence that our ideas, in particular the business card idea, are fully sustainable andcombined; have the potential to generate the £35,000. We see definite potential for Alzheimer Scotland to establish permanent relationships with local businesses. The businesses that we contacted were extremely receptive and helpful towards the project. We see no reason why other businesses would not react in the same way.
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