a professional fundraising consultancy for the non-profit sector

Welcome Calling

A welcome call to donors who have recently agreed to donate to your charity has many benefits.  It helps to make the donors feel appreciated and valued which has been found to increase retention.  It is an opportunity to quickly check name and personal information including bank details, thus quickly picking up any administrative errors.

At Future Fundraising we use welcome calling to enquire about the motivation of the donor, as well as find out how they viewed the fundraiser they met in the field.  This information is priceless: it can help target future communications with the donor and genuinely support their engagement with the charity.

Reactivation Calling

Payments can cease from donors for a variety of reasons.  It is always worth calling to stay in touch with a donor, and very often there may be a simple administrative error which can be easily identified.  Talking with the donor can resolve any issues, and in a large number of cases they are quite happy to continue, and be “reactivated” as donors.

In some situations they may be presently unable to pay but would like to establish a payment date for the future. During the conversation the way the donor perceives the charity is likely to become clear, which is additional vital information we pass on to our partners.

Thank you Calling

Saying thank you is a simple courtesy that can often be overlooked in modern life.  Saying thank you to donors is particularly well received on the first year anniversary, and according to the DARS Survey is a major defence against attrition.  But of course thank you can and should be said at many stages along the donor journey.

A genuine thank you by telephone which acknowledges the length of time that a donor has been supporting the charity is extremely powerful.  Our callers are trained in both knowing the difference that a donation has contributed, and in building a relationship for the long term which is based on respect.

Upgrade Calling

After a donor has supported the charity for some time it may become appropriate to call to ask them to upgrade their donation.  As the callers at Future Fundraising are well briefed about the charity, donors can also learn more about the cause they are supporting.

Our calling centre finds that people who upgrade when asked tend not to take action without a prompt.  Paying a larger donation each month therefore never makes it on to the top of the “To Do” list.  However, when the call is handled with courtesy, and it is made easy for them, they are happy to donate more.