44 marketers signed up in six days. Thanks.

Last week I (eventually) kicked off an idea that had been hanging around in my head for some time.

The plan was this: Help charities, by finding them smart, enthusiastic, hardworking and motivated (marketing) student grads. Charities generally can't afford to hire extra employees. So in return for working for six months for free, the grads would get six months of high-quality marketing classes and workshops from some of the best marketers in Ireland. See here for details.

The first part was to find marketers. I posted about it last Saturday.

And in the past six days, a staggering 44 marketers have signed up to teach. Such goodwill is so impressive. I'd like to think we can double this number.

The next step is to find a number of charities that can benefit from extra help (it doesn't have to be marketing help, just help in the office). And then to find and choose the right kind of student grad - smart ones that see the value in picking the brains of the best marketers in the country, while getting a chance to impress them. If you are one, or know one, please drop me a mail.

At a glance, we've got some really top marketers that can teach and help grads learn about the following areas - segmentation, pricing, strategy, planning, insights, research, proposition development, creating advertising, media planning, media buying, creative, brief writing, IMC, direct marketing, brand management, sponsorship, behavioural economics, fundraising, PR, copywriting, account management, client handling, digital, social media, community management as well as workshops from marketing recruiters on what marketing managers look for when recruiting grads.

In the meantime, I'd like to thank the following for volunteering their services so quickly: Una Herlihy, Brian Ross, Lucy Masterson, Cormac O'Shea, Gordon Newman, Arabella Judd, Piaras Kelly, Geraldine O'Neill, Lisa Domican, Nick McGivney, Conor Byrne, Rob Reid, Daragh Byrne, Emer McCarthy, Elaine Knowles, Jonnie Cahill, Helen O'Rourke, Aidan Green, Michael Clancy, Stuart Mathews (thanks Helen), Aisling Campbell, Maria O'Dowd, Ed Conmy, Kay McCarthy, John Dunne, Darren McGrath, Brendan O'Flaherty, Lindsay Browning, Gary Mullen, Patrick Meade, Pat Stephenson, Gordon Newman, Kevin Dunne, Michelle McEnroe, Lynne Tracey, Brendan Hughes, Darragh Doyle, Sarah McDonough, Liam Pender, Damian Crowe, Dave Pepper, Lisa O'Dwyer and Derek Hobbs.

Thanks also to Damien Mulley, Conor Prendergast, Naoise McNally and Sinead Duffy for blogging, tweeting, offering to help and to project manage it.

Hope I didn't miss anybody. If I do, I'll add in the comments.

I'll update next week. If you know marketers, charities or students - please pass on the message and ask them to contact me.