Bite-Sized Case Study: CALM Photography Movement

The Cause 

CALM is an award winning charity dedicated to preventing male suicide, the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 in the UK.

The Calm Photography Movement was founded to help men express their emotions and provoke conversation through the medium of photography.

The Event

CALM asked professional and amateur photographers to submit photographs for an exhibition taking place at Getty Images Gallery in London. The photographers’ brief was to shine a light on the limitations of traditional masculinity.

The free exhibition ran from 10 to 19 May 2017, which coincided with Mental Health Awareness Week.

The Fundraiser

Alongside a curated collection of selected photographs that could be purchased in support of CALM, the organisation ran a silent auction at the closing night party.

Auction Logistics

CALM opted to run the auction at the event themselves.  Advanced briefings helped the organisation run the auction without the need of additional on-site support from GalaBid . However, CALM found it beneficial to have a GalaBid contact available (via phone) on the night for any queries.

Auction Promotion

The auction was launched the week of the event going live. The Calm Photography Movement used their own social media channels and also looked for support from their partners

Things We Loved

The CALM fundraiser was a thoughtful and natural fit for the organisation’s aims and objectives.Alignment with Mental Health Awareness Week was a good way to attract additional focus to the issues CALM is concerned with.The photography was a beautiful way to express the themes, challenges and concepts around men’s mental health.

What They Said

“Feedback we received on the night was positive and we raised much more than we expected, which was a great result for everyone involved in the project.

The silent auction definitely created a lot of excitement and suspense during the closing party. We would highly recommend displaying the live results on a screen at such events. It definitely got competitive towards the end and allowed us to raise funds for CALM.”

Megan Tag, Account Director, Fuse International (event organiser)