#1mLives: How we’ve improved the lives of 15,784 people so far...

Last October, we launched our initiative to improve the lives of one million people. If you’re not familiar with our 1m Lives campaign, you can read all about the why and the what, here.

And today, we’re celebrating! Six months on, we can proudly say that we’ve improved the lives of 15,784 people. Here’s a quick tour of what we’ve been up to so far…

#1mPledges

We kicked off our mission with each member of our team pledging to improve their own lives in some way. And that’s because firstly, we wanted to hold ourselves accountable for being proactive in investing in ourselves, too. We then wanted to encourage others to pledge to do something, no matter how big or small, to improve their lives. And they did! We’ve been keeping up-to-date with everyone who’s made a pledge and we’re really pleased to see the positive impact it’s having on their lives and beyond. Sound like something you’d be interested in doing? Find out more about it and make your own pledge, here.

The Manchester Sleep Out

As a Manchester-based team, we also wanted to do something that would help improve the lives of those close to home. So, last November, we took part in The Manchester Sleepout to raise much-needed funds for a homeless charity, The Booth Centre. For one night, the 1m Lives team dug out their sleeping bags and spent a night sleeping rough. It was a really humbling experience, and we’re pleased to have raised over £2,500. Find out more about it, here.

#1mTimeofGiving2019

The 1m Lives team replaced their typical Christmas gifts with ones that will help others. From providing meals to children in need, and medical donations to treat war-wounded people, to funding for mental health guidebooks in GPs, and donations to Macmillan online communities, we gave a life-improving gift to others, every day for 12 days. Take a look at our 12 days of giving here.

#OrdinaryBoy

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is a rare disease with very little awareness. We decided to find a way to change that. Our creatives got brainstorming and we realised that the best way to help people really understand how a condition affects people’s lives, is through storytelling. So, we created our very own five-part podcast drama series. Listen to it here.

Talking about Tinnitus

The great thing about our 1m Lives campaign is that we get to work on projects that we’re truly passionate about. Just one example of this is our Talking about Tinnitus project. As one of our team members suffers with tinnitus, we wanted to help improve awareness and understanding of the condition, in the hope to help others protect their hearing and reduce their chances of experiencing tinnitus. See what we’ve been up to so far, here.

#MSuncovered

Multiple Sclerosis is a condition that many of us will have heard of, but few of us will truly understand it. In partnership with the MS Trust, we helped launch the MS Uncovered campaign to educate people on what life is like with MS and put things into perspective. Take a look at what we helped to create, here.

#OneMillionStories

Through the power of storytelling, we’ve begun to put real people at the heart of our projects, to help give them a voice. We many stories to tell, but our first follows Suzanne, and her experience of coping with loss and grief. Watch it here.

Donating our time

In addition to our bigger projects, we’re always looking at ways to give our time or share our skills to help others. For example, our Digital Manager gave an inspiring talk to students soon to be graduating from university. While our Copywriter and Account Manager spent a day working with advertising students to help them put together a pitch to win a placement and have their ideas brought to life.

We’re really proud of what we’ve achieved so far, and we’ve plenty more exciting projects in the pipeline, so watch this space!

This blog was originally posted here.