Marcus Blease

Co-founder and Director

Marcus is the Co-Founder of Donor Republic a full service fundraising and marketing agency assisting many of Australia’s favourite charities with their fundraising strategy and campaigns. Immediately prior he worked as the General Manager of Marketing and Fundraising with Cerebral Palsy Alliance for eight years. His role encompassed fundraising, brand development and client service marketing. Over that time fundraising grew from $12m to $30m. Marcus has worked in similar roles for Cancer Councils NSW and QLD for six years, and at the other end of the spectrum a small HIV/AIDS charity in the preceding role. He founded the current incarnation of the innovative social change campaign, ‘Include a Charity’ funded by 140 Australian charities to increase the number of people who leave a gift in their will. He is currently a Board Member of the Fundraising Institute of Australia.

Having worked in the Australian charity sector for the last fifteen years, prior to this, Marcus worked in the corporate sector as Head of Sales and Marketing at the Financial Times in London, which wrapped up a 14-year stint in the media sector.

He’s passionate about fundraising and marketing. 15 years of transforming charities has given Marcus a wealth of experience covering strategic planning through to execution across almost every area of charitable giving. Setting up an agency to share that expertise to assist other causes seemed a natural step in his career.