Having a strong presence on social media can be both a blessing and a curse, depending on which platform it happens to be that you choose to impart your wisdom on the waiting world.
However, for one industry individual, that being LinkedIn’s Phil Pearson (or CEO of WhiteLabelCasinos.com to offer the official title), that presence is now being utilised to conduct an ambitious charity drive.
In conversation with CasinoBeats, Pearson elaborates on the charity effort, a history with Malta’s SPCA, delight a recent significant cash injection and why we can do more as an industry.
CasinoBeats: Utilising such a strong presence for such a charity push is certainly an admirable move, how was this idea born?
Phil Pearson: The idea came from working with them last year. The charity is doing amazing work and I wanted to help as much as I can and having a presence like I do on LinkedIn made me want to use it as much as I can to do some good in the world, not just self-promote or sell some product.
You can see from my profile I don’t use any media, podcasts, or work like this to sell, just to show were a caring company who doesn’t ask for anything back.
CB: You touched upon a history with the Malta Society for the Protection and Care of Animals, how deep does this run and what has this entailed? And tell us a little bit about charity and the work it does.
PP: I worked with them last year around my birthday, raising almost 6,000 Euros for them just to make a charitable contribution. After going there and seeing the work they do, the care that goes into each animal, and the love that they have for what they do, it made sense to help them this year.
After hearing their plans for 2023 and what they want to build, it made sense for me to try and help by raising as much of their target, if not all of it, for them. The plan is for the MSPCA to expand into the other land that they have by building a new boarding area for animals, along with a day care facility to generate some day-to-day revenue that can be invested into the charitable side. The cost for this is quite high obviously so that’s where the 100k target came from.
CB: A fundraising past was also briefly detailed. What past activities have you been involved with? And how does this target compare to those?
PP: I’ve been involved in five projects now. This and the past one for the MSPCA. Last year I raised 5k for an arson attack on a local club in my hometown in Wales, and before that to send a boy with a horrific illness from Wales to the Playmobil land in Malta (This hasn’t happened yet still due to health issues but it will happen ASAP).
My first fundraiser was for an animal hospice in my home area which raised just over 1k. I liked the challenge of hitting a certain target and keep wanting to go bigger
CB: A huge injection was recently received by GumBallPay, how much of a shock was this? How much confidence did it instil in reaching the target?
PP: This was a huge shock on the amount they gave! I was speaking to their CCO about my plans and he wanted to help. They gave a huge donation which is very uncommon for a company to do, usually its individuals not the companies who help. I have a large target to hit this year, but I am confident of doing it just from the plans we have.
We are fundraising at a few venues this year, and it starts at ICE 2023, where we will take random donations on the stand for more attempts to win our prize trip. N8-250! My genius marketing manager even found a way to take card payments so people couldn’t make excuses!
I’m also going to be working with a few streamers on charity streams on Twitch and YouTube, with a couple of summer events in Malta, and I’ll make a personal match month where I match the donations made. My team also donates for their birthdays if they want to, and we should hit his target with a bit of luck and hard work.
CB: If all the above isn’t already enough, why should the industry donate?
PP: As, to be honest, the industry is a bit greedy. You read about a few things online, tree planting or plastic awareness, but no one actually gives much money to them. You see companies spending 30k on a sponsorship to a fake awards, or paying for advertising pieces, even funding their own staff to take nap breaks and work less hours?!
What you don’t see that much is people doing charitable donations and contributions not expecting something back. Everyone wants their name on a building, or a huge article somewhere. I just want to spread what we’re trying to do without a company name attached.
If we get some promotions from it then great, but if we don’t then I don’t care as that money will do a lot more good than it would in the pockets of some CEO or some media giant. I feel like we could do more as an industry, as a lot of people get behind what I do and donate every time, some in significant amounts. I want people to help as they want to help, not because they want to profit from it.
If you would like to donate to Pearson’s charitable efforts, you can do so HERE.
