Digital Marketing isn’t usually seen as a particularly socially conscious industry. However, there are several people working within the sector who are looking to change that. One of these is Rich Sutcliffe, the founder of Agency For Good, who has dedicated his career to helping charities and nonprofits with their marketing. We talked to him to find out more.
“We saw a lot of people getting taken advantage of,” said Rich, after being asked about what Agency For Good does. With an extensive background in sales and marketing, he is still surprised at the ways in which this occurs. “For example, yesterday we went to see someone who had been quoted £11,000 for a website. We just want to make sure that sort of thing is not happening.”
It is for this reason that Rich set up Agency For Good. “I worked for years in digital, about 12 years in sales and marketing, across varying platforms and different companies,” he said. “but it’s just one of those deep-seated things that I’ve always wanted; to do something fulfilling and worthwhile with my time.”
After those 12 years, he realised that he had the ability to help others using the same abilities he’d been utilising in his career up to that point: digital, tech and marketing skills. He set up Agency For Good, which he called “a social purpose ethical digital marketing agency, which is a bit of a mouthful!”
The company’s aim, Rich said, is “to help people in the third sector and nonprofits make more of an impact with better marketing and better digital”. For example, the organisation above that had been quoted £11,000 for a website? Agency For Good provided them with one for £650. And all the profits are reinvested by the company to further support its work.
As might be expected from someone who has dedicated himself to making a difference, Rich has big ambitions for the Leeds Digital Festival. He’s running an event, but that’s not exactly how he sees it. In his own words, he’s looking to “start a movement”.
“It might be a bit early days to call it a movement,” he added, “but that’s what I like to create.” The event is called All You Good Good People – a sly reference to the band Embrace, which Rich admits to being a fan of since his youth – and is intended to bring people together from the digital industry and the third sector to see how they can help each other out.
“The main purpose of any event that I run is to bring people together,” Rich said. “This is going to be a forum to inspire people, either in the tech or third sector, to see how their peers create social impact using digital. So we’re going to have a number of speakers to inspire that. But what it’ll also do is act as a platform to bring people together from the two sectors, and hopefully start some conversations.”
So why choose the Leeds Digital Festival for an event like this? Well, Rich puts it simply: “Why not the Leeds Digital Festival?” He’s had experience here before, having run events with organisations he was involved with in previous years, and described it as “an amazing forum; what better place to start a little bit of a movement?”
“I’m also from Yorkshire,” he added, “specifically in the Leeds region. I spent a lot of time in Leeds, so I wanted to really make an impact there.” The Leeds Digital Festival has provided Rich with the perfect opportunity. “I mean, it’s one of the biggest digital events in the north during the year.”
The end result, Rich hopes, will be the beginning of a movement across the north. He described All You Good Good People as “what I’d like to see as the catalyst to start a real adoption of digital by the third sector”. However, he added:” I think actually it’s just as important to see the tech and digital sectors adopt a more third sector and social approach to what they’re doing as well.”
It’s certainly an ambitious goal, but Rich is no stranger to ambition when it comes to making a difference. With his experience and drive, professionals in both the digital and third sectors should be on the lookout for Rich’s initiative in the near future.
To find out more about the All You Good Good People event or to book your place please visit their Eventbrite page.
Details of all Leeds Digital Festival events can be found here.
