Telefundraising: Democratic National Committee

Telemarketing Responsive Election Year Renewal
Democratic National Committee
Submitted by Chapman Cubine Adams + Hussey

The numbers

• Recipients: 99,224
• Response rate: 23.07 percent
• Total cost: $420,088
• Income generated: $1,524,502
• Average gift: $66.57
• Cost to raise a dollar: $0.28

In 2012, the DNC knew it had its work cut out for it. It had to engage its core donors as quickly as possible by reminding its low-dollar donors — the bread and butter of its resources — that their renewed support was essential. This campaign also set out to renew these donors early to allow time to upgrade them throughout the presidential campaign.

The message behind this telemarketing script was simple but effective: “There’s hard work in the months ahead, but an early renewal gift will help us hit the ground running to elect Democrats up and down the ticket.”

CCAH also segmented the donors by previous giving — the best callers got the best leads — and monitored calls at least weekly, adapting the messaging to fit the changing needs of the fast-moving political landscape.

In the end, the campaign renewed 23,000 telemarketing-responsive donors — a 23 percent conversion rate, with a return of nearly 80 percent of the dollars pledged.