Meet our NFP team: Andrew Campbell, Head of Product for Access Workspace for Charities
How long have you worked for Access?
I have been at the Access Group since Sept 2016, working in New Business sales, and then as Head of Product.
But I was one of the founders of the thankQ company (in 1992) which was acquired by Access in 2012.
Having left Access in 2012, I was working in the charity sector until 2016, ending by being CEO at a children’s hospice. But I am a techy at heart and wanted to get back into IT, so re-joined Access.
As a CEO of a charity you can really “make a difference”, but with one charity.
Now back working for Access we can make a difference to hundreds of charities and help so many more people, while doing the techy stuff we’re best at.
So, with a 4-year gap, I have been working with the Access Charity CRM software for about 24 years.
What do you love most about what you do?
I love being able to look at problems and the ways in which charities work, finding how to help by using software and technology – Inventing something new which will help do things easier, quicker, better and cheaper.
What are you passionate about?
Solving problems: I think I am a bit OCD about working out how something could be simpler and easier.
Flying: I am an aeronautical engineer by training and still find anything that flies fascinating. I watch birds, kites, aeroplanes, drones. Really, anything that flies. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a bird watcher. I am rubbish at telling you what type of bird it is, I just love watching birds fly. A pigeon that flies in arcs, a falcon that hovers flapping furiously, a red kite that soars effortlessly. I also used to paraglide and want to again once we get out of lockdown!
What is your favourite food or drink?
I love my Saturday night Pizza and homemade chips. Perhaps it is more that it is a family tradition, and it is sitting with all the family laughing at some trash on the telly, playing game, AND Pizza and chips that I like so much!
What excites you about the NFP sector?
My dad wanted to “make a difference” and chose a career as a teacher in Kenya, then a headmaster, then a church minister – He made a difference. My brother became a doctor, my sister a teacher. I went into the commercial world and IT – the black sheep. It was only when a friend asked me about our software, and if it could be used by charities that I began to understand:
The NFP sector? Dedicated to making things better? Helping where it is desperately needed? Now, that is where I want to spend my time!
Do you have a top tip for charities?
Grab as much information as you can, and stick it in your computer systems. More and more, as we move forward, we will be able to use IT and AI to give us some amazing insights into what we do and how we do it. But in order for this to work, every charity needs to capture as much information as they can. For example we did some analysis for a charity to work out who on their database would be likely to become regular Direct Debit supporters. But all they had was name, address and how much they had given in the past. All we could really say was that people that gave lots, were likely to give lots! But if we knew how often the visited the website, how many times they volunteered, how far they were willing to travel to help the charity, who they were connected to etc. wouldn’t that help us understand our supporters better – So… gather as much information as you can… and get consent! 😊
