Is Compassion in your DNA?
Does Nature or Nurture make you a Fundraiser?
In the first of a series of profiles we chat to people associated with DTV Group to unearth what drives them to fundraise.
It’s our theory that the fundraising community is populated by people who are passionate about the causes they represent in their professional lives, and additionally devote a high proportion of their personal lives to making a difference through volunteering, raising money and donating goods to the not for profit sector.
First to put our hypothesis to the test is Claire Choe, Producer at DTV Group London.
Q. What were your earliest experiences of helping others?
A. I started learning the violin and the piano from an early age, and I would often perform for the elderly in care homes and other groups of people. It was a simple way of giving back to the community I was growing up in.
Later in high school I volunteered as a children’s telephone counsellor for several years. Whilst I received good training, looking back it was quite a big responsibility for a teenager. Most of the calls were from children who were lonely or were being bullied, and there were the occasional calls from victims of more serious abuse too. It gave me insight into the hardships that other children were experiencing and made me realise that it can take as little as a few minutes of listening to make a difference.
Q. And what about actual fundraising? When did that part of your life begin?
A. Again, this began as a child doing bucket collections and sponsored runs. The first organisation that I remember raising money for was Kidsline, the children’s helpline that I volunteered with.
Q. So did you kick off your working life in a fundraising organisation?
A. I began my career working in marketing for large commercial organisations. I learnt a lot and enjoyed my roles, but I always felt a disconnect with what I was supposed to be selling or promoting.
12 years ago, I became a volunteer at Radio Lollipop in Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand and I now volunteer with the same organisation at Great Ormond Street Hospital here in London. This gave me the chance to meet and play with the most amazing sick children and making them happy worked wonders for me as well as them. Initially, I felt that volunteering balanced out my corporate working life, but over time I started looking for a role in full-time fundraising. When the job came up at DTV Group London in 2015, I knew it was the right move for me!
Q. Who inspires you as a fundraiser?
A. There are so many amazing role models at DTV and working for our clients, but it’s the people I meet through volunteering and my clients’ work that humble and inspire me the most.
The kids I meet at Great Ormond Street Hospital through Radio Lollipop are amazing. They face life-changing and life-threatening illnesses with incredible bravery and resilience.
The families I have met filming in the field in Ethiopia for Smile Train who deal with isolation and displacement just because their child has a cleft are incredibly strong.
The people of Zambia I met when filming for Sightsavers who seem so happy and content despite having so little food, clothing and access to healthcare.
Q. So if you could solve one world problem, what would it be?
A. I really love dogs… as followers of Dogs of DTV on Instagram would know. So, if I could grant one wish, it would be to give all the stray dogs of the world a loving home.
If you want to share Claire’s love of dogs follow @DogsofDTV on Instagram. More information on Radio Lollipop can be found here. https://www.radiolollipop.org/
Bio
Claire is a Producer at DTV and works across a number of our global clients. She is a New Zealander who moved to London almost five years ago and has been working for DTV since then. Claire loves dogs, theatre and volunteering with Radio Lollipop.