Whitehouse Communications delivered four months of pro bono political communications support to Motivation, a development charity and social enterprise that specialises in providing high-quality wheelchairs to those who need them in low-income, low-provision countries.
Selected as the recipient of Whitehouse’s 2019 pro bono scheme, Motivation was introduced to its local MPs, to key Whitehall departments including the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), the Department for International Trade (DIT) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and to the embassies of countries where the charity operates, including Kenya and Uganda.
The challenge
Motivation is a development charity and social enterprise that specialises in providing high-quality wheelchairs to those who need them in low-income, low-provision countries. Its work depends on a network of relationships with UK government departments, in-country partners and international donors.
Motivation was selected as the recipient of Whitehouse Communications’ 2019 pro bono scheme, and briefed the firm to deliver four months of political communications support to boost the charity’s political profile in the UK and establish key political relationships and advocates in what were then uncertain times. The engagement had a defined start and end, and needed to leave Motivation with both immediate relationships and the internal capability to sustain them independently once the pro bono support wound up.
Our approach
Whitehouse Communications delivered a structured four-month programme designed to leave Motivation with both immediate political relationships and the internal capability to sustain them independently after the engagement ended.
The work focused on:
- Opening with a workshop to hone Motivation’s messaging for each of its key stakeholder groups, and to help the charity see its own organisation from a political perspective and use that perspective to its advantage.
- Introducing Motivation to its local MPs and securing visits by three of them to the charity’s warehouse in Bristol, giving Members of Parliament first-hand exposure to the operation and building a set of local political champions.
- Introducing Motivation to key Whitehall departments with tailored asks, including the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), the Department for International Trade (DIT) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), building on the charity’s established relationship with the Department for International Development (DfID).
- Opening channels of communication with the embassies of countries in which Motivation is active, including Kenya and Uganda, to shore up support and enable the charity’s in-country partnerships to flourish.
- Winding up the engagement by devising a legacy communications strategy for Motivation to take forward independently, with continued informal support from Whitehouse Communications available as and when needed.
The outcome
Over four months, Whitehouse Communications introduced Motivation to a network of local political champions in Bristol (including three MP visits to the charity’s warehouse), and built new working relationships with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), the Department for International Trade (DIT) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), alongside the charity’s existing relationship with the Department for International Development (DfID). Channels of communication were also opened with the embassies of countries where Motivation operates, including Kenya and Uganda.
The engagement left Motivation with a working parliamentary profile, direct lines into the Whitehall departments most relevant to its international development mission, and a legacy communications strategy for the charity to take forward independently, with Whitehouse Communications remaining on hand for informal support as required.
