A History of a Charity in Twenty Objects - #9

 

Front Cover of the London Children's Map

#9. London Children’s Map (January 2006)

Winning the Guardian Award was an ‘honourtunity’; it was an honour, of course, but also an opportunity. And of course, it was the grease that got us unstuck! No excuses. No more ‘Big If’!

 

During 2005, we spent a bit of time working ‘under the hood’ on the organisation itself. Lawyers at Winston & Strawn helped us re-form the Guy Fox charity into a non-profit social enterprise.

 

In November 2005, we moved into a basement office, which had once been a wine cellar. It had no heat; it was furnished with desks and shelves that had been donated by volunteers or that we’d found in the street; it was a cold, damp, dark space – but it was our cold, damp, dark space where we would make our vision a reality. 

 

In between meetings with lawyers and negotiating our lease, Kourtney had completed the London Children’s Map. She showed the proof to buyers at Tate Modern, the Natural History Museum and St Paul’s Cathedral Shop, who all placed orders! In fact, when we sent the map to press, we had secured enough pre-sales to pay for the costs of production. Plus, our print suppliers had agreed to a 90-day credit for payment.

 

On January 26th, we received a delivery of 5,000 copies of the first edition of the London Children’s Map. Yippee! 

 

Detail of the Guy Fox London Children's Map, including the River Thames and the City of London
The map itself is a folded explorer’s map, printed over two sides. It’s simplified but accurate and features all of London’s landmarks. Designed to fit a child’s arm span, it has an index of attractions and museums, as well as a compass rose. Recent editions of the map include a link to our online activity sheets. It’s packaged in biodegradable cellophane and includes a postcard and a sheet of stickers (eg ‘My Favourite Place’, ‘Went to a Restaurant’) to personalise it. 

 

And best of all, it was (and still is!) real. No longer just an idea! We took a moment on that cold January afternoon to celebrate, and then...

 

We fulfilled the advance orders, sent maps to our lawyers and supporters, and started cold-calling bookstores, museum shops and libraries to ask if we could send them a sample. Most local shops and museums were supportive, and, order by order, we built up a market. 

 

Getting our maps into Big British Bookstore (whose name has been changed to protect the innocent) was tricky. We’d need to secure a deal with Big British Wholesaler before Big British Bookstore would place an order. And Big Big Wholesaler laughed at us when we called them, saying unless we had an order from Big British Bookstore, they wouldn’t stock our map.

 

Hmmm... we stuck a pin in that discussion and moved on. 

 

Working pro bono, Julia Knight and her team at freerange PR secured coverage in the media over the Easter holidays. Amazingly enough, people started sending orders through our fledgling website. It was very rudimentary; no credit card, no payment provider, just an online form that included quantity and customer’s address. 


We’d pop a map into an envelope with an invoice for £2.95.

 

Our trustees thought we were crazy – they argued that people would order maps and never pay. But guess what, we fulfilled over 500 map orders that Spring and received every payment except for one! 


Our customers, in fact, loved it. Most of the cheques arrived with a letter or note. Some simply said, “A company that trusts its customers – how lovely!” or “Wonderful map, thanks”. Others went into more detail.

Front Cover of the Bartholomew & Sons Children's Map of London

One lady sent us a Bartholomew Children’s London Map she’d had as a child in the 1950s. Another customer sent us a water-bloated map, which his 4-year-old had insisted on taking into the bathtub. Apparently, he loved it so much, he wouldn’t go anywhere without it. Naturally, we sent a replacement! And we hung all of the notes and letters on our 'Bulletin Board of Happy Things'.

Other people walked into their local bookstore or Big British Bookstore and placed a special order. This generated hundreds of single-map orders to Big British Wholesaler, who eventually phoned us to ask if they could stock our map.

 

On the 89th day, after we paid our suppliers, there was still money in our bank account! We’ve kept moving forward ever since. The London Children’s Map, currently in its 31st edition, is still selling. 

 

We used that £5,000 Guardian Award to develop a self-sustainable social enterprise. The London Children’s Map (along with its New York, Paris and Washington DC siblings) has helped fund the overhead costs of our organisation. That means public donations and project funding can go directly into our charity work. 

 

In the end, everybody wins. Guy Fox wins. Children who like maps win. The local community wins. It’s a win-win-win. 


That ‘honourtunity’ was also a ‘winvestment’ in something so much bigger than a map.