Telefundraising

The 2022 FINZ awards, announced last week, celebrate the very best of New Zealand’s fundraising.

Katherine Raskob looks at how fundraisers have come up with creative ways to ensure the money still flows in to help their beneficiaries.

There is good news when it comes to phone fundraising. Founder and CEO of GiveTel, Martyn Hartley, shares his insight.

A bill before the Federal Parliament is threatening to take away the special status of charities as exempt from the Do Not Call Register.

It’s noisy out there. You must start asking questions. No one piece of information will tell you all you need to know about a supporter.

Nicola Kaufman, Head of Donor Services at Plan International, shares how her organisation overhauled an overly complex system of recording donor communications preferences.

Our virtual workforce model has been very successful in attracting and retaining mature tele-agents who bring a wide depth and breadth of work and experience to our team. It’s all about empathy and life experience, explains Ruth MacKay.

Mark Stewart, Fundraising Department Head at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, describes how it increased its Radiothon revenue to $1.2 million – with the help of its corporate partners. Lise Taylor reports. 

According to Anna Walsh, successful fundraising campaigns are all in the storytelling, especially when it’s integrated.

At just five years old, telemarketing lead conversion campaigns are relatively new to the fundraising sector. Anna Walsh shares her top tips for getting a successful one up and running.

Delving into the complex realm of telefundraising, Lise Taylor discovered the dos and don’ts of this area from a couple of experts in the field.

At just five years old, telemarketing lead conversion campaigns are relatively new to the fundraising industry. Anna Walsh shares her top tips for getting a successful one up and running.

If your organisation is struggling with effective management of data query issues, read on for Glenn Harrison’s helpful tips – because it matters.

Asking supporters their thoughts on including Bush Heritage Australia in their wills, by mail then a phone call from a telefundraising agency, has proven effective for the national conservation organisation, Liz Henderson reveals.

Ben Coverdale shares how listening to telefundraisers highlights the importance of not giving up, saying thanks, and talking like a human.

Looking for ways to sustain the performance of your raffle or lottery through whatever might lie ahead? Liz Henderson asks the experts to share their tips and ideas.

RSPCA NSW’s first Australian Internet Cat Film Furstival event did more than raise $100,000. Paige Gibbs reveals how a phone conversion campaign to attendees signed on 47 new regular givers with 93.62% retained at six months.

The telephone is an increasingly valuable component of nonprofit fundraising programs. So your choice of supplier is important. Ashley Rose suggests seven areas to cover with agencies you’re thinking to enlist so you can be sure you’re speaking the same language and getting the best bang for your telephone fundraising buck.

The word is that raffle income is either flat or falling. Liz Henderson lends an ear to the industry experts to discover their ideas for ratcheting earnings up a notch.

Online social action with a phone follow up has created regular income for Greenpeace Australia Pacific. Liz Henderson explores the program’s evolution and how it rides current affairs waves to amplify numbers of both campaigners and monthly donor prospects.

Nicole Richards reveals how an innovative warm phone conversion trialled in early 2014 is set to double The Shepherd Centre’s regular giving income this year.

Telefundraising income skyrocketed by 67% between 2010 and 2013. Keith Elliott looks at what is behind the growth and gives the key trends in this channel based on analysis from the 2014 Pareto Fundraising Benchmarking Project report.

Apple Marketing’s new bequest telemarketing service is helping charities qualify prospect lists with carefully crafted calls, explains Liz Henderson.

Ashley Rose explains the keys to effective donor reactivation processes using the telephone.

Voice broadcast is helping nonprofits share messages with a vast number of supporters instantly, learns Greg Johnson.

Appealing to a wider donor demographic and rejuvenating their fundraising program were key motivations for RDNS (Royal District Nursing Services) to embark on a foray into telefundraising. Jeremy Bradshaw traces RDNS’s path to develop a comprehensive and successful telefundraising program.

With few donors and a sharp increase in demand for its services, Lifeline had no choice but to acquire more supporters. Jeremy Bradshaw outlines how Lifeline took up the telefundraising mantle and has not looked back. 

Regular giving through child sponsorship and other programs is a key part of Plan International Australia’s fundraising mix, and Jonathan Wright explains how the overseas aid organisation is using the phone to build an army of on-going supporters.  

Utilising existing donor data is both easier and cheaper than acquiring new donors. Mel Jenkins explains how changing your approach to data can yield results.

House with No Steps has successfully encouraged many of its art union and raffle supporters to become regular givers. Natasha Duncan explains how its telephone program has raised over $100,000 extra from these supporters in just year 1.

A telephone campaign to event peer donors saw Schizophrenia Research Institute convert over 30% to a second gift, discovers Greg Johnson.

Experts and leaders give their views on the last 18 months across a range of fundraising methodologies and look to the future as global economic uncertainty casts a shadow over an otherwise resilient economy. Compiled by Greg Johnson.

A verbal conversation is still the most effective method of communication, especially when it comes to developing donor relationships. Margie Read Flavell explains how telefundraising can be used to nurture your donors.

The conversational medium of telefundraising has helped University of Wollongong build connections with donors and grow its annual fund, writes Monique Harper-Richardson.

OURTEL Solutions is offering new broadcast services as part of its virtual call centre, including broadcast SMS, email and fax. These products are designed to integrate with OURTEL’s existing tele-fundraising service.

Explaining cost of fundraising to the giving public is not only complicated – it is often not a real issue for donors until we nonprofit people make it so! Sean Triner gets agitated about ensuring our focus is on what really matters: net income.

When it comes to using the phone for donor acquisition, Margie Flavell Read says there are three critical aspects that must be addressed.

So just how is telefundraising performing in today’s softer economic climate? Quite well actually, according to Mel Jenkins.

Trinity College at the University of Melbourne is one of a few educational institutions in Australia recently to trial the telephone as a way of building relationships and acquiring donors. Alan Watkinson reports on how the college raised some serious dollars but also learnt some important lessons along the way.

The purpose of the annual fund at schools and universities has always been recognised in North America as a nursery for larger gifts. Elsewhere examples exist of everything from a simplistic whip-around to generate undesignated income to an activity spawned more by an institutional desire to copy others than a strategic vision.

Although there was much fretting by nonprofit organisations when the Do Not Call Register was first mooted, Sue-Anne Wallace reports that it’s mostly a case of all quiet on the communications front since implementation.

At the end of this month telemarketing will undergo an overhaul through the federal government’s introduction of the Do Not Call Register (DNCR). Will charities, although exempt from the DNCR, nevertheless be impacted by its implementation?

Just like direct mail, a telephone fundraising script is a highly creative and skilled piece of direct marketing; however it is rarely viewed this way. Vikki Furse explains that, as with any good direct marketing, telephone scripts require crafting, originality and structure.

The Heart Research Institute established its donor base almost single-handedly over copper wire networks. Maggie Johns explains how telemarketing transformed an organisation.

The proposed setup of a “Do Not Call” Register in Australia comes in response to consumer pressure for protection against the telemarketing industry. But is the industry at fault, or are the wayward minority spoiling it for the responsible majority? Mel Jenkins reports.

Despite the sometimes negative reactions elicited by telemarketing, Mel Jenkins says the practice is thriving.