PSBT uses popular mass media to get people doing things for themselves and for others.
The Trust has an innovative approach to Social Action that puts people first. We don’t have a single client group; we engage everyone in activities which benefits those taking part as well as the wider community.
We have been running engagement projects for the past 17 years (as the Meridian Broadcasting Charitable Trust until 2004), which encourage people to come together to solve their own problems. We use people's self-interest to motivate them, but develop, through a process of engagement, a sense of social responsibility. We give them a new energy and ambition to make a difference to themselves, to their families and to their communities.
We are the only charity in the country producing editorial for ITV regional news, built on a relationship of trust over the past years, and we use that valuable access to the ITV audience to engage people who are often designated ‘hard to reach’. All our projects go beyond offering a telephone number for information. There is always a practical opportunity that everyone can take up, carefully managed by ourselves.
Interestingly, our projects are inclusive, but among the thousands who participate we have a larger percentage of disadvantaged people than you would get by any other marketing method. We have engagement rates of 90% and over because we use a trusted agent and follow up designed to make people feel good about themselves and what they can achieve.
Our projects have ranged from identifying carers and providing support, to ITV Fixers which recruits young volunteers. Our next project, Save Yourself A Fortune, could in fact be the one that helps the Government to ease family financial difficulties through the impending cuts.
Our policy is one of mass engagement and social responsibility and social justice. Our practice over the years demonstrates the opportunity for the big society. We t that the Trust has the experience to help establish a working model of engagement which has the potential to help everyone to contribute to society rather than simply being the consumers of it.
