To Call or Not to Call? The Do's and Don'ts of Telemarketing Fundraising

Telefundraising can still be a big boon for fundraisers. However, there are some do's and don'ts Kirchoff shared during the webinar.

Telefundraising do's

• Use telemarketing strategically, integrating it into your overall multichannel donor-acquisition and communications channels.
• Call warm prospects to potentially convert to donors, such as online activists, petition signers, volunteers, etc.
• Use telemarketing to reinstated deeply lapsed donors and to recruit new monthly donors, putting a little spin on donor acquisition.
• Make it part of your housefile efforts as well. "The more folks you have on this channel the more likely you're going to have a feeder track for things like your monthly giving program," Kirchoff said.

Don'ts

• Call the phone book. Cold calling rarely works in this day and age.
• Assume all prospects are the same … or that telemarketing works the same for every organization. You have to segment and target donors based on testing.
• Forget to analyze telemarketing results and look at both initial ROI and lifetime value.
• Assume that all telemarketing partners have the same strengths. Some are great at renewals, others at sustainers, etc. "Talk to colleagues, and understand who is the right partner for you to work with," Kirchoff said.

To learn more about telemarketing and multichannel donor acquisition, including Infogroup Nonprofit Solutions Senior VP for Strategic Development Larry May's direct-mail acquisition presentation, register for the free on-demand webinar here.