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staff who are best suited to the telephone. These will be the people who can have a genuine, warm and sensitive conversation and who can improvise and deviate from their fundraising scripts where necessary.
ACADEMIC FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
Tony Charalambides, managing director at Listen, shares some top tips on how to sharpen up your fundraising skills
F
or universities, the need to fundraise has rarely been greater. As pressures on
budgets multiply, universities will need to work smartly to find new people who will give funds and keep them flowing. The telephone is one of the most effective channels that universities can use to do this.
The right content Carefully chosen stories and examples can add a real edge to a fundraising appeal. If you are raising money for a hardship fund or a bursary, for example, a good case study of a student who has benefited can really ‘bring home’ what the appeal is about. Conveying the urgency of appeal
is a must. The case must be made for why funds are important now – and why they are needed to make a difference in the short term.
The right tone Supporters are more likely to respond to a fundraiser who has the personal touch. Fundraisers should address the person that they are talking to by name and have a note of the course they studied and when they atended. Don’t just ‘cut to the chase’. Instead, treat the conversation as an opportunity to build rapport by sharing memories and swapping experiences of university life.
Put the best people on the phone Even the best-laid plans can come unstuck if the wrong people are doing the talking. One option is to use a professional fundraising agency that can call alumni and solicit donations on your behalf. If a university prefers to run its fundraising ‘in-house’, then it should try to identify the students or other members of
ABOVE: Tony Charalambides is managing director at Listen
Choose who to talk to Choosing who to talk to can be challenging. Two options for choosing prospects, or people to call, are according to the subject they studied at university or by identifying those in full-time work whose income exceeds a certain threshold. This will hinge to some extent on the strength and detail of your alumni and supporter records – so do keep these up to date. Other groups to consider are
people who were active members of the university community, such as student union representatives and members, and active alumni groups. Lastly it is often the case that ‘upgrading’ existing supporters can be more fruitful in fundraising terms than acquiring new ones. Active givers, one-off cash donors or lapsed donors may well be open to increasing their existing support or renewing it if lapsed.
Do take no for an answer The outcome of each call should be recorded immediately and accurately. In particular, fundraisers must take great care to respect people’s wishes and preferences if, for example, they have asked not to be called again. The details of past donors, alumni and anyone else being contacted should be checked and updated frequently to make sure that the right people are being called and that people who have asked not be called again are left alone.
Protect your data All fundraising teams, large or small, must be trained on the importance of data protection, and robust systems should be in place to ensure that data security is guaranteed. After all, a fundraising team’s hard work can unravel quickly if the people they are calling do not have confidence that their details are being handled carefully. UB
Image: Tony Charalambides
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