Hello. Just posting to see if there are any CoTech members who would be interested in creating a joined up pitch for the below.
I’ll preface by acknowledging that St Mungo’s have been hit by some terrible scandals recently, so this may be something that puts people off. We’re still thinking about this as a coop.
So, the opportunity is for advertising services for St Mungo’s Homeless charity. You can see details of the tender here:
Blake House would be pitching for Lot 5D, the video production.
Are there any other coops who would be interested in working together on a pitch under the CoTech banner?
The most recent comment from their Chief Exec was yesterday:
"We take all complaints very seriously. Our policy is that we do not share information about individuals [with] the Home Office except when an individual has given their consent, or in situations where people are at significant risk to themselves or someone else. We think leaving a vulnerable person to die on the streets is unacceptable, which is why we work with various agencies to actively offer support to people away from the streets and on with their lives.”
The initial complaint from The Public Interest Law Unit:
“As evidence is continuing to emerge in the aftermath of the judicial review, we felt it was important to report St Mungo’s to the Information Commissioner’s Office as well as the Charity Commission. We are calling on the ICO and the Charity Commission to thoroughly investigate the extent and nature of communications and working relationships between St Mungo’s and the Home Office.”
According to this article it seems like various other homeless charities pass on information to the Home Office as well.
The deadline for this is in mid June, so I’m minded to not do anything until further information is released.
I’m sorry but any charity that collaborates with the home office to deport people should be considering as scabbing on our class.
I know organisations that work with people that find themselves homeless and told Home Office ICE officers who fishing for info on their clients to get lost. You really have to question the motives of people and culture of an organisation who think that collaborating with ICE is a legitimate response to to horrific “no recourse to public funds” policy that uses these vulnerable migrants as a political tool to appease racist narratives.
Forced deportation is horrific and I know people who have been through it. I really think anyone pitching for this charity should reconsider while this investigation is still underway. St Mungo’s undermined themselves with this strategy despite some of the good work they may undertake.
If you doubt the complicity of their actions, just look at the report. Corporate Watch are actually a co-op too.
I just want to say that I don’t want to portray myself as condoning the actions of St Mungo’s - the more I read about it the more I am disgusted.
So, in the interests of transparency with the other replies to this post, it’s probably better to hold fire on this pitch until the conclusion of the investigation.
Calverts has discussed going in with Blake House on Lot 5 which also includes creative dev, design, copywriting and photography. We won’t pitch if BH don’t.
We considered Lot 5A (Concept Development …) but likewise followed the BH lead. We also wondered whether, pitch or no, we should communicate our position.
