Its striking thesis is that the low and ebbing levels of public concern about global poverty coincide with – and directly flow from – the ways in which these NGOs deal with the public, and in particular the ways in which they fundraise from them.

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Having identified the problems, the report deliberately does not prescribe solutions; instead it sets out a programme of work which NGOs will need to undertake in collaboration if they are to achieve the transformational change in public engagement which is long overdue.  Underpinning this new vision for the relationship between public and sector is an innovative body of work, drawing on values theory and frames analysis.  This lays the groundwork for the discovery of new frames, developed in specific contexts, which can go beyond the dominant transactional relationships.
  
The report was written in 2011, and continues to resonate worldwide. It was instigated by Martin Kirk, then Campaigns Manager at Oxfam UK, in response to one of Andrew Darnton's evidence reviews on public perceptions of poverty, for DFID.  It also features evidence from Andrew’s evaluation of Make Poverty History in 2005.  Finding Frames was drafted as part of the agenda for adopting consistent ‘intrinsic’ values across the wider NGO sector; as such it is a sister piece to Tom Crompton’s Common Cause. 

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Of all Andrew Darnton’s productions, Finding Frames is the widest travelled, and the one that has gone on to have the busiest life of its own. Among other work, it is known to have led to…

 

• Buscando Marcos, a full translation into Spanish for South America

• Finding Irish Frames, a follow up report with specific frames for NGOs in Ireland

• Finding Danish Frames, applying the FF approach in the Danish context

• A Finding Frames communications masterclass was held by Globalt Fokus (Denmark) in November 2014.  

 

If you have used or are using Finding Frames, please do write to let us know about your work.

View the full report and Executive Summary at: findingframes.org