The London office serves as a hub for both European and International projects including the See Now campaign to end avoidable blindness, the Help Britain Breathe initiative, and a European digital rights campaign.
We partner with some of the leading non-profits and foundations including the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, WaterAid, Oxfam, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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Kate has spent the last fifteen years working as a campaigner on issues ranging from international arms control to the European Union and has a particular interest and expertise in supporting the development of impactful organizations working to make a difference in the world.
Before joining Purpose, Kate worked as Global Head of Campaigns at WaterAid, where she led efforts to get a Sustainable Development Goal on water and sanitation (and which was agreed upon by 192 countries at the United Nations in September 2015). Previously she lived and worked in Dakar, Senegal, where she led campaigns and policy work for Oxfam West Africa, covering eight countries including Nigeria and Ghana, running advocacy work on conflict in Chad and food crises in Niger and Mali. Kate has also worked with Save the Children, UNICEF, and Plan International amongst others, and has run media stunts outside the United Nations, dressed as a poop on Fifth Avenue in New York, recreated a Victorian street outside the Houses of Parliament in London, opened toilets in Delhi, organized a massive gig in Jo'burg and run "lesson for Life," a campaign that reached 12 million children across the globe.
Kate graduated (a long time ago now) from Cambridge University with an English Literature degree. She is a Londoner at heart and now lives there with her husband and two young children. When she's not enjoying time with them, she is running or pruning roses in her small but perfectly formed London back garden.
Aaron Parr is a Campaigner at Purpose Europe in London. He is an expert in social media strategy and digital optimisation, specialising in video content for online distribution. Aaron joined Purpose in 2016, bringing to the team knowledge of young people's issues and passion for environmental and social justice campaigning.
In his time at Purpose, Aaron has ensured that campaigns worked on impacting the largest amount of people possible. He has been involved in the deployment of a range of social media platforms including See Now, the campaign to end avoidable blindness, and Help Britain Breathe, a campaign in partnering with environmental charities to combat air pollution in the UK. He has also produced and developed a range of social media optimised video content, with videos reaching and engaging millions of social media users online across the world.
Aaron carries a BA Honours degree in English Literature and Film Studies from Queen Mary, University of London. At the same establishment, he also holds an MA in Documentary Film Practice.
Before coming to Purpose, Aaron ran a viral meme page called mEUw, which produced cat memes to inspire Brits to vote remain the 2016 EU referendum. This evolved into a drag character that saw him impersonate the UK Prime Minister, an act called 'Theresa Gay'. In his spare time, Aaron volunteers with the Green Party of England and Wales, having previously sat on the executive committee of the Young Greens as well as the London Young Greens. He is a passionate advocate of animal liberation and vegan, always looking for the latest vegan food pop-up - like every foodie should!
As Chief of Staff, Claire uses her problem solving, people skills and project management experience in equal measure to ensure our Labs initiatives are set up for success.
Prior to joining Purpose, Claire managed communications for the Australian Greens, helping Ellen Sandell become the first Greens MP elected to the Victorian Parliament. Before dipping her toe in the pond of politics, Claire was Deputy CEO at Oaktree, Australia’s largest youth run development and advocacy organization.
Claire holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne. Outside of the office she spends her time exploring New York, rereading Harry Potter and cooking too much food for friends and family.
Ericka is a Visual Storyteller who creates inventive ways to express campaign concepts that drive people to engage in global issues through the application of traditional and digital media. In her role at Purpose she works across a diverse range of campaigns, from mobilising creators and asking MEPs to fix digital copyright in the EU, to engaging the British people on the issues of air pollution and building assets and a collaborative space for people to openly discuss period poverty and to advocate for female empowerment. Moving to England from the Philippines at the age of 10 with English barely as her third language, Ericka adopted the performing and visual arts as a way to express herself through other means. This artistic foundation would later propel her into the world of campaigning for brands and social issues. With a background in video production and a degree in Film & TV Studies at Brunel University, she learned to capture the moving image through the camera lens from conception and preparation, to editing and final delivery on platforms online or offline. Prior to Purpose, Ericka has ventured in shooting and creating stop motion animations, written short films and viral videos, designed web content, explored photography and has been known to have a fascination for 2D 3D motion design. She has worked on campaigns for Disney Pixar, The Times and the Sunday Times, Tesco and for like-minded self-starter creatives. Her collaborative nature, love for the arts and relentless curiosity creates the perfect balance to craft and continuously evolve as a creative in an ever-changing digital landscape where people grow hyper-connected every day. When Ericka is not making videos or other content, she has an unhealthy obsession with crafting miniature clay figurines, traveling far and wide to reach for aesthetic inspiration and using memes to add colour to any situation, big or small.
Gabriel is an optimist. He believes in the power of people and a couple of cups of really amazing coffee to change the world. Born in Arizona, he has slowly migrated east: first to New York and now across the Atlantic to London, with side trips to Argentina, Central America and Ethiopia along the way. Cornwall, look out!
At Purpose, Gabriel serves as a Senior Campaigner, and he believes that the most challenging problems we face can and will be addressed through collective action and creativity. His job at Purpose is to help facilitate that action.
Gabriel carries a bachelor's degree in Sustainable Development, Coffee Production and Latin American Studies from New York University and a master's degree in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has campaigned against hydraulic fracturing in New York State, pushed for fossil fuel divestment at the LSE, co-founded an ethical green coffee importing company that has completed several development projects in Ethiopia and Nicaragua and served a brief stint in a vegan ice cream shop.
Outside of the office, Gabriel enjoys Mexican food, outdoor markets, yoga, reading, running and living life with friends and family.
Twitter: @bendavalos (warning: photos of disarmingly adorable nieces and nephews on the way
Gautam Raju is passionate about how technology can be used to create social change. Gautam is a Campaigns Director at Purpose and leads a number of projects across Kenya, India, and the US. Gautam joined Purpose from Oxfam International, where as Head of Digital Campaigns he headed the digital worldwide influencing strategy – an ambitious agenda to build the digital campaigning capacity of Oxfam and partners. There, he took on campaigns from Europe, Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and Asia, working with in-country teams, partners, and coalitions to mobilize around issues on land, climate change, inequality, and humanitarian crises. Under Gautam's leadership, the digital worldwide influencing strategy has mobilized of 2.5 million supporters around the world and built tools and resources that were accessible to over 2,000 partners. Before joining Oxfam, Gautam co-founded OurSay.org – an independent organization started by a team of young people passionate about harnessing the power of social media to revitalize critical participation in democracy. He has also worked on public policy and external relations for Teach For Australia and in the Australian public service.
Gautam has a Master's in International Development and a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) and Arts (Advanced Chinese Mandarin). In his spare time, Gautam loves to cook, travel and play the bass guitar. He is a native of Melbourne, Australia and has lived in Shanghai, New Delhi and London.
Jess Hines is a Senior Advisor at Purpose.
With over two decades of experience in fundraising and creative campaigns development, as well as the execution of celebrity-branded digital content across three continents, she has a deep understanding of best practice and cultural specificity. Her work has been focused in the UK, USA and India.
Jess Hines is an active contributor to India Today, with over 30 articles on design, film, travel, property and fashion published. She is the author of Looking for the Big B: Bollywood, Bachchan and Me about Indian megastar Amitabh Bachchan written about her years of lived experience in Bollywood.
Jess has a BA in Comparative Religion from SOAS, an MA from the BFI in Film and Television and is also a trained clown (the Pochinko school - Mump and Smoot). This unique combination allows her to see connections across disciplines and easily comprehend and translate complex information to different audiences. Jess is a firm believer that culture is the best path to creating lasting social change.
Maddie Dai was born in Australia but found both the wildlife and political scene too poisonous for her liking, and so she sought greener pastures on the picturesque island of New Zealand. NZ is renowned internationally for doing important things before anyone else in the world, and it gave Maddie the *head start* she needed to develop a profound, lasting confidence that some would argue outweighs her personality and abilities.
As an Art Director at Purpose, Maddie uses visual storytelling and strategic creative content to tackle the world’s toughest challenges. She considers herself to be "medium agnostic" and uses whatever it takes to get the job done, whether it's design, illustration, animation, infographics, web products, comics, humor, or brute force. Her design work at Purpose has won both a Webby Award and a Lovie Award. She has built visual campaigns across a range of issues in and out of Purpose, working on the refugee crisis, youth voter turnout, racial justice organizing, and grassroots climate campaigning. Maddie also art directed an animated short film, 11 Paper Place, which was featured on The Atlantic, Wired, Huffington Post, and numerous film festivals.
After graduating from Middlebury College, she spent two years working in the New York Purpose office before relocating to London. She now enjoys observing America and its antics from afar and providing sporadic commentary in cartoon form – since June 2017, Maddie has done this primarily for The New Yorker and her family WhatsApp group.
In her spare time, she enjoys making 3D computer generated animated films, writing down ideas in her notes app at inopportune moments, producing small comedic pieces for the internet, and thinking about what to eat for dinner.
Manuela works at the intersection of strategy and creativity, with a focus on brand development and sustainable business models. At Purpose, she helps shape campaigns, brands, and organisational models from an analytical standpoint. She has worked on campaigns in Kenya, India and the EU across avoidable blindness, youth participation in governance, and freedom of expression.
Before joining Purpose, Manuela contributed to the development of a citizen engagement hub in Colombia for post-conflict integration. Prior to entering the world of social impact, she worked as a brand strategy consultant for major Latin American corporations, identifying stakeholder insights and integrating compelling narratives into corporate strategies, in order to better connect brands to target audiences.
When not at Purpose, she can be found advancing her personal project to transform civic spaces in Colombian territories that are affected by violence.
Manuela holds a Masters in Strategic Design and Management from Parsons – The New School and a Bachelor in Service Design with a focus on Business and Social Psychology. She has lived in Bogota, New York City and London, and speaks English, Spanish and German.
Before joining Purpose, Sarah worked for Her Majesty's Government (Civil Service) in the UK. Sarah was instrumental in the successful passage of the Charities and Social Investment Bill in the House of Lords. And for the two years prior, she worked within the coalition Government for the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg.
In her Senior Program Manager role at Purpose, Sarah uses her varied and deep skills in project management, event planning, and administration. Sarah carries a BA degree in International Relations and Modern History from the University of East Anglia, which served in spurring on her interest for international and humanitarian development.
Sarah is a strong believer in recognizing mental health as a global issue and tries to champion this message as much as possible. Sarah has run the Brighton Marathon 2016 and a half marathon in order to raise money for Mind, a mental health charity in the UK, and she also worked with mentally and physically disabled children in a respite centre in New York in 2011.
As Campaigns Director, Scott brings together strategy, communications expertise, digital campaigning experience, and a passion for climate and the environment. With a background in campaign strategy, electoral politics, and environmental campaigning, Scott devises and executes on campaigns across Europe and Africa that deliver on creating access to clean energy and the adoption climate change solutions.
At Purpose, Scott runs programs in the UK such as a consumer switching company that drives demand for household clean energy and reducing energy bills for consumers. Scott has been leading a national coalition of NGOs, health organizations, and professional bodies in an effort to create a new clean air act. Scott is also the co-founder of the UK100, a recently launched network of local government leadership to drive the transition to clean energy and a low carbon economy. In Poland, Scott has been leading a team to mobilize climate activists online and is initiating efforts to begin faith organizing with local Catholics networks and churches. Scott has also launched Purpose’s climate work in East Africa with a campaign to raise the issue of clean energy access in Kenya.
For the past decade, Scott has been an organizer, activist, and campaigner with experience working in British politics and the Labour movement.Prior to working for Purpose, Scott worked for the Communication Workers Union, spent three years as the Chief of Staff to the Labour Party's General Secretary, and – up to the 2015 General Election – was an advisor for the Labour Party's policy review and manifesto.
