AFFINITY> Project Oscar?

The last posting on 26 August 2005, by Jill Small, an employee of The National Autistic Society (NAS), has quite rightly been brought to the NAS' attention by Project Oscar. Ms Small's posting was unauthorised and the language used was objectionable. The NAS wishes to disassociate itself entirely with the comments made by Ms Small, to retract the posting that was ostensibly made in the charity's name, and to apologise unreservedly to those involved in the management of Project Oscar for any upset and inconvenience caused.

Jill Small attached an email from the Chairman and Founder of Project Oscar that properly encapsulated what is understood to be the true situation, namely that Project Oscar, which is used as a fundraising vehicle by a number of reputable charities, is winding down its operations in the Isle of Man to reduce its overheads, and starting up a similar operation in the UK, called the New Oscar Telephone Affinity Scheme (NOTAS).

An internal investigation has confirmed that Ms Small had no reason to question the validity of Project Oscar or to make the comments that she did. The NAS also has no reason to doubt the propriety of Project Oscar, of NOTAS, or of the individuals concerned in either or both those undertakings.

Vernon Beauchamp
Chief Executive
The National Autistic Society

[This message removed on 4 October 2005 by Howard Lake, UK Fundraising Forum moderator, on the grounds that it contained inaccurate information. See the message below for further details].

Here we are in December 2004. That is, Project Oscar is still here.

I am very happy to report that some charities have foresight and have taken the decision to use Project Oscar for regular, monthly donations.

I appreciate that there have been similar affinity schemes in the past which have not lived up to their promises. There are other companies trying to gain new clients by climbing on the charity bandwagon.

Charities looking for funding must look at the facts and decide for themselves.

As far as Project Oscar is concerned, the facts are as follows:
1. Project Oscar has provided monthly donations to registered charities.
2. The Project Oscar staff are all unpaid volunteers.
3. We are very proud that charities such as the MSRC have received over £3,000 to date with only a small number of supporters.
4. Charities such as Oxfam perform 'due diligence' on companies providing affinity schemes. I don't think Oxfam would use Project Oscar if the company wasn't solid based.
5. Project Oscar has no debt or borrowings. It is financially stable and will continue to be so through it's unique business model.
6. Project Oscar is only for charities. It is not a bolt-on service that is normally available to the public.
7. We don't accept all charities.

It is a pity that there are so many sceptics in the charity community. Perhaps you prefer to hold your begging bowls out and continue to use tin-rattling and ad hoc, risky jumble methods for fundraising. Or, just maybe, you will accept that there are companies like Project Oscar that are genuine and want to help.

Charities have to become more professional if they want to survive in today's market. Stop wasting your time worrying about where the money is going to come from and engage a professional fundraising consultant to look at your projects.

Project Oscar won't provide all your funding needs. It isn't a panacea or miracle fundraising method.
What it will do, is to provide monthly donations that you wouldn't otherwise have. It is also a very easy method for supporters to provide donations.

I hope this doesn't sound like an ad, but I want to put the record straight. Particularly now that we have a track record.

Regards,

Andrew Barrow
Project Oscar Ltd
[URL=http://www.projectoscar.org.uk]admin@projectoscar.org.uk[/URL]

Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 00:42:00 +0100
From: Gareth Edwards

Having been involved with various schemes directly and indirectly around 5
years ago in the low cost telecoms business, I can say that nothing seems to
change here. Most charity supporters are exceedingly reluctant to change
provider on the recommendation of the charity and so the best benefit for
the charity is just to shop around for its own direct expenditure and not
waste a direct mailshot on such an issue to its supporters which could be
used for far more inventive and lucrative pursuits.

I still get an approach every few months from another provider in my
capacity of chief exec of a small animal rescue centre which are all very
similar and promise the world.

If anyone does want a view of what questions to ask any such provider if you
are considering signing up directly in terms of the cost savings to ask for,
just contact me off list. I dont have any commercial links with any of
them, but am happy to let anyone know the relevant questions to ask.

Gareth

Gareth Edwards MInstF (Cert)
Company Solutions (UK) Ltd
Creative, Fundraising and Training Solutions
[url]www.companysolutions.biz[/url]
[email]gareth@companysolutions.biz[/email]

Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 11:42:31 +0100
From: Alistair Currie

I was approached by another charity who, as part of the sales pitch on an
e-mail from Project Oscar, had been told that Project Oscar was already
supporting Trinity Hospice, which was not in fact true. I was subsequently
contacted by someone at Project Oscar who denied that they had made the
statement about supporting Trinity Hospice, even although I had a copy of
the e-mail sent to the other charity. As far as I am aware they have only
been going a very short time and therefore it is probably too early to
ascertain whether they (and the charities that work with them) will be
successful.

Regards

Alistair Currie

Alistair Currie
Trinity Hospice
E-mail: [email]alistairc@trinityhospice.org.uk[/email]

Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 07:59:48 +0100
From: Charlie Marshall

Yes, I've been approached and, like you, was suspicious. A friend of mine in
the IOM did some spadework and believes the setup to be legal. I haven't
followed up further so I cannot add any more comment.

Charlie Marshall

Fundraising Manager
Age Concern Scotland
113 Rose Street
Edinburgh EH2 3DT
Tel. 0131 625 9320
Fax 0131 220 2779
[email]charlie.marshall@acscot.org.uk[/email]

Age Concern Scotland is a registered charity no. SC010100