Boost Your Fundraising Via Telemarketing

It’s no secret that nonprofits that have the most success raising money and retaining donors, are the organizations that use multi-channels to deeply connect with their supporters. Did you know multi-channel donors are nearly 3x more valuable than single channel donors, according to Leslie Karp, of Defenders of Wildlife who recently presented on the Care2 webinar Turbo-charge your Online Fundraising with Deanna Bickford of Stratcom, Michael Johnston of HJC New Media and Eric Rardin of Care2.  

Incorporating telemarketing is key, said Bickford because it has the informality of email but the personal touch of face-to-face. 

Benefits of Telemarketing

“Using the phone in the right way - at the right time - will vastly improve the value of your online investment,” said Johnston.

Using the phone is a low investment risk, because programs can be started and stopped at any time. It also cleans up your house list so that you have the most up-to-date contact info about your supporters, said Stratcom.

If your nonprofit is thinking of starting a telemarketing program, Bickford recommends:

• Sooner is better to launch your phone conversion program – preferably within 3 months after the online action
• Larger lists are more cost-effective, best if 8000 + 
• Be sure to do phone number verification and look-up for those records without phone numbers  

Leveraging Texting and Telemarketing 

Nonprofits should also focus on maximizing fundraising opportunities and that includes leveraging texting – especially if you have a large list. Johnston presented a great example on how nonprofits can do this effectively. When Greenpeace finished their mobile text campaign they had 800,000 new contacts, and 180,000 whom agreed to be called.

Greenpeace called those individuals and had a 9.65% conversion rate to monthly giving. That’s 15K donors and will generate over $7M in 5 years. Not bad. 

Click here to listen to the presentation or check out the slideshare presentation below.