As Clocks Go Back, Marketing Agency’s ‘Extra Hour’ Donation Spotlights a Growing Trend in Corporate Giving

The Power of an Hour

As millions of Britons prepare for the annual ritual of turning back the clocks, a Gloucestershire-based marketing agency has found a novel way to mark the occasion. Apt Marketing and PR is donating 15 hours of its time to charities, cleverly reframing the “extra hour” gained from the autumn time change as a resource for social good. While a welcome act of generosity in its own right, the initiative is more than just a novel piece of seasonal marketing. It serves as an insightful example of a broader, more strategic trend in corporate giving. By tapping into a shared cultural moment, the campaign leverages a deeper psychological understanding of philanthropy, particularly the perceived value of donating professional time over a simple cash equivalent. It highlights a growing sophistication in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) but also brings into focus the complex and sometimes counter-intuitive relationship between the biannual clock change and the UK’s charitable sector.

Apt Marketing Says “Pay It Forward”

At the heart of the story is Cheltenham-based Apt Marketing and PR, which is offering 15 hours of free, professional support to mark the end of daylight saving time. The offer is a tangible commitment to the third sector, open to applications from UK-based charities, social enterprises, and certified B Corp organisations.

The expertise on offer is precisely what many resource-stretched organisations need, including strategic PR, campaign brainstorming, copywriting, and crisis communication support. Applications for a share of the time are being accepted until midnight on October 29th, with the firm stipulating that the donated hours must be used before the end of November.

Victoria Petkovic-Short, Director at Apt, frames the initiative not just as a donation, but as a symbolic act.

“We wanted to use the symbolic ‘extra hour’ to give something back and help time-poor teams and organisations. The clocks may be going back, but we’re paying it forward.”

This campaign is not an isolated gesture but is consistent with the firm’s established commitment to the sector. It operates the ‘apt Foundation,’ which, in the director’s words, takes ‘5% from the fees of our for-profit clients to ‘buy’ hours for pro bono work.’ This specific initiative powerfully links the firm’s ethos to a national moment, illustrating a broader trend of companies using the ‘extra hour’ as a catalyst for social good. The potential impact of the ‘apt Foundation’ on the charity sector is significant, as it provides a sustainable source of professional support that can help these organisations achieve their goals.

Capitalising on the Clock Change

Apt’s campaign is a prime example of a growing phenomenon where the autumn clock change is leveraged for social and commercial purposes. Tech-for-good platform Neighbourly created a national campaign, #TheExtraHour, encouraging individuals to perform simple acts of kindness in their community. The initiative has garnered widespread support, including from the Swindon-based charity FoodCycle and celebrity Kelvin Fletcher, demonstrating its broad appeal.

This motif extends into the purely commercial sphere. The vodka brand Ketel One Botanical, for instance, created an Instagram wellness campaign centred on a “toast to the bonus hour,” featuring influencer-led sessions on meditation and mindfulness.

Viewed through a strategic lens, these initiatives are modern expressions of Corporate Social Responsibility. They move beyond simple corporate philanthropy towards a more integrated approach. When CSR is aligned with brand identity, as seen in these campaigns, it can become a powerful tool for brand differentiation, managing corporate reputation, and building trust with key stakeholders. Within this strategic framework, the specific choice to donate professional time—as Apt Marketing has done—is not accidental, but a calculated move that leverages a distinct and powerful psychology of giving.

The Unique Value of Donating Time

The decision to offer professional services instead of a cash equivalent is a strategically significant one. For both the company offering support and the charity receiving it, the impact goes far beyond the balance sheet. Academic research into corporate giving provides compelling reasons why donations of time are so effective.

Studies drawing on attribution theory show that consumers view donations of time or products more favourably than cash donations. The key factor is perceived altruism; the public tends to believe that giving time requires a more genuine, personal sacrifice.

This is underpinned by a psychological principle researchers call “differential warm glow.” An NBER working paper on the subject found that individuals have a stronger intrinsic desire to donate their time and effort than to donate money, even when doing so is economically less efficient for the recipient charity. This principle is amplified when the time donated is not merely manual labour but specialised professional expertise. For a resource-stretched charity, an hour of strategic marketing consultancy can deliver an impact far exceeding its cash equivalent, making such pro bono offers not just altruistic but exceptionally high-leverage. This theory helps explain the seemingly inefficient choices observed in the real world, such as a high-paid consultant volunteering at a soup kitchen. While donating their hourly wage would be more economically efficient for the charity, the ‘warm glow’ from the direct donation of time provides a more powerful intrinsic reward for the donor, overriding the purely financial calculation.

Yet, while the symbolism of the ‘extra hour’ provides a potent positive hook, data-driven research reveals that the biannual clock change also presents a hidden and counterintuitive financial threat to the sector.

The Impact of the ‘Lost Hour’

While autumn’s “extra hour” has become a symbol of giving, its springtime counterpart—the “lost hour”—has a documented negative effect on charity finances. Groundbreaking research from the University of California, Berkeley, uncovered a direct link between the spring clock change and a 10% decline in financial donations in the days immediately following.

Lead researcher Eti Ben Simon attributes this drop squarely to the negative effects of sleep deprivation on human generosity. The study, published in PLOS Biology, demonstrated across multiple contexts that when people get less sleep, they have less desire to help others.

Crucially, the researchers found a stark asymmetry. They looked for a corresponding increase in giving when the clocks go back in the autumn, but found no significant effect. The reason, they suggest, is that people do not consistently get an extra hour of sleep, meaning the generosity boost is not realised. This creates a fascinating contrast: the autumn hour is used symbolically for positive campaigns, while the spring hour represents a real, data-driven financial threat to the sector.

A Timely Lesson for the Charity Sector

Apt Marketing’s initiative is a commendable act of corporate citizenship, but its true significance lies in what it reveals about the evolution of CSR. It masterfully combines a shared cultural moment with the potent, psychological power of skilled volunteering. It demonstrates a strategic approach that seeks to build brand reputation and stakeholder trust by offering something more personal and perceived as more altruistic than cash.

For charity professionals, this presents both an opportunity and a warning. The narrative of the “extra hour” is a powerful, positive theme that can be used to engage corporate partners in the autumn. However, the data on the “lost hour” serves as a stark reminder that this same biannual event brings a hidden financial challenge in the spring, a period when fundraising appeals may fall on less generous ears.

The lesson is therefore twofold. First, fundraisers must re-evaluate their corporate partnership strategies, moving beyond simple financial asks to actively co-design skilled-volunteering opportunities that tap into this psychological ‘warm glow’. Second, leadership must recognise that corporate giving is no longer just a financial transaction but a sophisticated value exchange, requiring charities to become equally adept at pitching the non-monetary, reputational returns they can offer their partners.