Top 7 reasons why you should still use the telephone as part of your fundraising program

The most overlooked fundraising strategy starts and ends with a dial tone.

An important strategy, telemarketing has taken backstage to direct mail, email, video, and text messaging.

Once considered the next best method of personal solicitation, fundraisers use it less and less as other forms of technology have taken over. Still, yet its relevance and importance, just like direct mail, shouldn’t be overstated. And it should be part of your overall fundraising program.

Here is how you can use the telephone in your fundraising program:

1) to acquire, renew, and upgrade donors through a high-volume method of personal solicitation with rates far outperforming direct mail or email alone. Because of the personal interaction, you can easily facilitate upgrades of donors’ giving.

2) to convert one-time donors to regular or recurring givers. A phone campaign conducted yearly facilities conversions from one-time givers to make monthly or other recurring gifts.

3) to steward and care for your donors through the power of a live thank you.

4) to welcome new donors into your not-for-profit family

5) to conduct a second solicitation of your donors, which has the potential to yield a better response rate and a high average gift rate than the first solicitation.

6) to solicit major donors for gifts for more significant contributions.

7) to conduct major donor discovery calls to get to your donors on a deeper level.

Don’t overlook the power of the telephone. While some countries still maintain a strong telemarketing program, the recent pandemic crisis has led to a resurgence in telephone fundraising. This type of fundraising should be the foundation of your annual fundraising calendar. While it continues to evolve and landscape, it is one strategy that you should not toss aside. It is a robust method and adds tremendous value to a philanthropic program.

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Photo by Mike Meyers on Unsplash