$1 million and counting
Student-staffed call center reaches fundraising milestone thanks to generous supporters
2:06 p.m., March 1, 2016--The students who staff the University of Delaware’s phone fundraising center are a diligent and focused bunch. Night after night, call after call, they connect with alumni from across the country, taking time to chat with each about their shared campus experiences, and explaining with cheery enthusiasm why their alma mater needs support.
Then, on one chilly night last month, the call center’s seemingly ceaseless buzz suddenly stopped, and the students callers were given momentous news: Their thermometer-like pledge chart had hit a milestone – $1 million in pledges, raised in just seven and a half months.
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Immediately, whoops were whooped. High fives were thrown and fists were bumped. Headsets were pulled off and the vital task of inspiring community philanthropy was set aside for a moment as they celebrated. Just five years ago, it could take 11 or 12 months to hit $1 million. This year, they are well on track to meeting or surpassing their goal of $1.35 million for this fiscal year, which runs from July 1-June 30.
“You go into it at the beginning of the year hoping you can do it,” says Bruce Watson, program center manager. “This has definitely been a strong year for us. We’re on track to hit the fiscal-year goal and probably exceed it, which is exciting.”
For these students and the UD Development and Alumni Relations staff who oversee them, hitting lofty goals is about more than just the money, though. It’s about inspiring allegiance, creating connections and ultimately giving UD the organic support needed to help keep tuition hikes at bay and fund an array of campus causes, from athletic teams to the Botanic Gardens.
“When a student caller speaks with a potential donor, they provide a perspective of what student life is like on campus today. This experience reconnects our constituencies and builds stronger relationships with UD,” says Drew Dinbokowitz, director of annual giving and alumni marketing for UD.
The program itself also plays a role in the future potential of the callers themselves. A job in the call center means extra spending money for the semester, but also valuable experience for the many aspiring sales-and-marketing students who seek work here.
“It’s a good thing to put on your resume,” says veteran caller Seiko Takahashi. “It counts as professional experience if you want to go into sales. You can also say how much money you’ve raised for the University, which can be impressive to employers.”
Many are seasoned pros by now, and a select few are considered true standouts in the phone-fundraising field. Consider senior Katie Coats, who raised $500,000 in four years as a student caller, and has recently been hired as a sales representative at Lexus. Then there’s student supervisor and current junior Amanda Kee, whose team routinely tops the fundraising charts, with some occasional inducements to step up efforts.
“I buy them pizza from time to time,” she says. “Food is good incentive.”
Experienced callers such as Kee become adept at tailoring their approach to each potential donor, and teasing out the touchpoints and recollections that help keep UD a fondly regarded part of their lives.
“It’s about making them feel more connected to UD through their memories – through their major, for example, or through their fraternity or sorority,” Watson says. To help translate those memories into an inclination to help, callers alert donors that they can assign their gift to any one of 2,000 programs, colleges and other facets of campus.
“The generosity of our alumni, parents and friends has helped to create a student experience at UD that we can all be proud of,” Dinbokowitz says. “These student callers play a big role in ensuring that UD remains a great school for future generations of Blue Hens.”
The student callers are typically staffing the phones from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. each night, Sunday through Thursday, through Winter Session and the summer break. Watson relies on a pool of about 55 trained students — about 20 are on duty on any given evening, meaning each student works about three nights a week.
Considering the challenging nature of cold-calls, their success rate is remarkable, and says a lot about the devotion of UD alumni, parents and friends, Dinbokowitz says. In about 24 percent of calls where the donor is asked to give, they do so gladly. “Most of them have that positive experience with UD,” says Takahashi, who handles about a hundred calls a night.
This year, it took 5,175 pledges to reach the $1 million mark, and average of $193.23 per pledge. While the amount of the pledge is sometimes not as important as the establishing that sense of connection, the call center team points proudly to one pledge they get every year by phone from a certain donor.
“There’s a $50,000 gift we get every winter, and he only wants to give through students,” Watson says. “He loves it.”
Article by Eric Ruth