From about 1985 to 2003, telemarketing grew as a fundraising technique and, although people complained about receiving these kinds of calls, it did work with a large cross section of the population. In the late 1990s and early part of this century, it was not unusual to receive two or three calls in an evening, made to your landline, with paid callers selling anything from credit cards to rain gutters. In 2003, Congress passed a popular piece of legislation, the “Do Not Call Act.” You can now opt out of receiving commercial telemarketing calls by registering your phone number with a master “Do Not Call” list (nonprofits are exempt from the Do Not Call list). This one law decreased the volume of calls enormously. Then, over the next 10 years, as email increasingly replaced the phone as a communication tool for all of us, and fewer and fewer people had landlines, we all started doing much of our communication on our cell phones by text and email. The phone rarely rings. This situation has led many people to proclaim that the strategy of calling people and asking them for money is over. Stanford University took this state of affairs so seriously that in 2016 it announced with great fanfare that it was ending its alumni phone‐a‐thon (https://web.stanford.edu/dept/OOD/communications/telefund/index.html).

Yet, many of us observe, we still get a lot of prospecting calls—from politicians, from insurance companies, from companies wanting to extend our warranties (sometimes on products we do not own), and occasionally from nonprofits. If cold calling did not work at all, no one would use it. As with all fundraising strategies, however, small nonprofits must think about how (and even if) phoning will work for them. In this chapter, we suggest ways to use the phone effectively, without calling people you have no relationship to, and without using large lists or paid callers. This includes calling donors you personally know as a strategy to strengthen relationships with them, and the more impersonal phone bank. As with all the strategies, if you are going to use the phone, you will need to have a clear plan for how it fits in with the overall fundraising program. Given these parameters, for many organizations, the phone bank is a worthwhile strategy.

The effectiveness of the phone banking lies in how it is conducted and who is doing the calling. Calling someone who has given before, particularly if the person calling is a volunteer or a board member (and, by definition, also a donor and an organizational insider) is an entirely different experience from the robocalls we are all trying to avoid. Providing this kind of personalized donor experience is a great way for smaller organizations to stand out, engage their donors, and make them feel known and appreciated.

Telephone fundraising continues to result in a greater percentage of response than direct mail or online appeals, and it is an excellent way of reaching many people with a (somewhat) personal message.

Small organizations need to use very warm lists (such as lapsed and current donors; friends of board members, staff, and current donors; or lists of donors to similar organizations) and to use volunteers to do the calling. Even if some people are annoyed to be phoned, they will be less annoyed being called by a volunteer who doesn't sound as smooth as a professional telemarketer and who is giving up their valuable time.

BASIC TECHNIQUE OF THE PHONE BANK

In its simplest terms, a phone bank involves a group of volunteers calling people to ask them to support your organization with a donation. A phone bank is an excellent way to involve volunteers in fundraising because it teaches them how to ask for money in a way that many may find less intimidating than soliciting donations in face‐to‐face situations.

Phone banks can be good moneymakers. They are usually inexpensive to produce and have a high rate of return. About 5% of the people reached will contribute. This percentage goes up when you are calling lapsed donors asking them to renew their gifts and can go as high as 20% of those reached when you are calling current donors about a specific campaign. The costs involved may include food and drinks for volunteers doing the calling, printing and postage to send a reply envelope for people preferring to give by check, and if you want, the costs of sending a letter or email to people who did not answer when you called. (The latter is more of a mail appeal, but it is a good way to follow up from a phone bank.) For maximum effectiveness, in addition to encouraging people to make gifts on your website, you will want to be able to accept donations by credit card on the phone.

A phone bank can be organized by one or two people. It takes several hours of preparation followed by a two‐hour block of time for the event. Several people are needed to make all the calls (for how to determine how many people, see the formula further on).

PREPARATION

To prepare for a phone bank, the organizers take the following eight steps.

1. Prepare the List. Create a spreadsheet of people who will be called. These potential donors are people who have either expressed an interest in your organization, are friends of some of the people who will be calling (and ideally will be called by those people), or are past or current supporters of your organization. The main criterion is that they would probably recognize the name of your organization and have positive feelings about your work. People attending community meetings you have organized and who have given you their email and phone numbers, alumnae, and friends and colleagues of board members can all be prospects. (If you can't find someone's phone number, chances are this person does not want to be phoned. Do not spend a lot of time tracking down phone numbers. Just phone the people whose numbers are easy to find.) The list of prospects includes the names, phone numbers, codes indicating each person's relationship to the organization (L = lapsed donor, FB = former board member, E = attended an event), and any information it would be helpful for the telephone volunteer to have. The list will also have a column for recording whether the prospect made a donation and of what amount, which will be filled in after the calling is completed.
2. Create a Method to Record Results of Calls. Volunteers should have a spreadsheet of their own prospect names, with each column noting different results from the calls. Ideally, callers keep track of results online but the spreadsheet can also be printed out and the data entered online later. After the calls have been made, you will update your database with gifts or pledges that you received.

   Here is a list of what the callers will record:

   If you have a choice of calling a home or cell phone, use the home phone; however, because many people don't have landlines, you'll be mostly calling cell phones. In that case, you could reach them anywhere, which makes it imperative to ask whether this is a good time to talk and, if not, be willing to call back or be called back.

3. Set a Date for the Phone Bank. When looking for a date for your phone bank, pay attention to other events in your community. Don't call, for example, on an evening when everyone will be at an anniversary party or benefit auction for another organization similar to yours. Most people find that calling on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday night between 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at the beginning of the month (near payday) works best. (Pay attention to time zones—it may be 7 p.m. where you are and 10 p.m. where the prospect lives.)

   Some organizations call on weekends with success but calling on a sunny weekend afternoon will interrupt people while gardening or entertaining and may irritate more people than necessary. Few people are sitting in the sun on a Wednesday evening at 8:00. Pay attention as well to what's on television: don't call during the Super Bowl, or the World Cup Finals, or on an election night, or during the Academy Awards.

4. Write a Script. Generally, volunteers can ad‐lib after the second or third call, but initially a script of what to say gives them a feeling of security. The script should be brief and to the point, as in the following sample.
5. Prepare Responses to Be Emailed or Printed out As Needed:

   If you are using snail mail, enclose with both the second and third types of letter a reply card or form that the donor will fill out (as discussed in Chapter Fourteen, “Direct Mail”), a fact sheet about your organization, and a return envelope. It is not necessary to put a postage stamp on any of these envelopes. If you have a small list, you can personalize each letter.

6. Determine the Number of Volunteers You Will Need. Estimate that one person can make 30–40 phone calls in an hour (most people won't be home or won't pick up; they will talk to no more than five people), and that people will call for no more than two hours but will be part of the phone bank for another 30–60 minutes to take care of follow‐up. Therefore, one person can make about 60–80 calls in an evening (including calls to people you don't reach) and take care of the appropriate follow‐up correspondence. Most people will use their own phones; however, if you have an office with more than one extension, people who don't want to use their phones can use those.

   Suppose you have 600 names to call. If one person made all the calls it would take 15 hours plus breaks (600 calls at 40 calls per hour). But 7–9 volunteers will be able to get through the calls in one evening.

   You may wish to conduct the phone bank over two nights. This has two advantages: you can call more people or use fewer volunteers, and you can call people on the second night who you did not reach on the first night.

7. Find a Place or Go Virtual. If you do the phone bank from a physical space, you will need one room or a suite of connected rooms that aren't too noisy but create a certain camaraderie. An office suite is ideal for this, but it can also be someone's home. You can conduct a phone bank with volunteers connected by videoconference and each working from their own space. Once the calling begins, everyone is on mute, but you can see people calling and talking, and this is inspiring. Hundreds of thousands of calls were made this way during the 2020 presidential election—to get people to register to vote, to ensure turnout, to spot voter suppression, and to raise money. In a group setting, even one that is virtual, successful calls or rude responses can elicit immediate praise or sympathy as appropriate. A group effort is also helpful in keeping track during the evening of how much is being pledged, because someone can announce that or post it in the chat every so often.
8. Recruit Volunteers. Use the phone bank as an opportunity to bring in some new volunteers. People who have limited time or who cannot volunteer during the day can often be recruited to work one evening on a phone bank. It is a straightforward commitment for a short time period and does not require preparation outside of a training session during the hour before phoning begins.

THE NIGHT OF THE PHONE BANK

The person or committee planning the phone bank should arrive at the phoning site 30 minutes before everyone else. Be sure that desktops or tabletops where volunteers are to sit are cleared off so that nothing you use for the phone bank gets confused with anything else. Put a script at each space. If you are doing this virtually, be sure to send any materials and the spreadsheet ahead of time by email or use a browser‐based editing system like a Google Doc that everyone can access.

Bring in juice, coffee, and snacks. Pizza, sandwiches, or other simple dinner food should be provided if volunteers are arriving at dinner time. Do not serve alcohol. The food should be kept in one part of the office, and volunteers should be discouraged from having food by their phones. After all volunteers have arrived, been introduced to each other, and had a chance to eat, go through the phoning process step by step. Review the script and make sure people understand and feel comfortable with it. Review difficult questions they might receive and simulate a few phone calls (one from each of the response categories: yes, maybe, no). Be sure people understand all the forms of follow‐up (email, snail mails), what to say on each, and what information needs to be noted on the list of prospects.

Make people practice at least two times. Have them sit so they can't see each other (back‐to‐back works well) or put them in breakout rooms of two people each, and go through the script, including ad‐libbing to questions their mock prospect asks. For a really good practice session, have people move to different rooms and call each other. This warming up is very important. It builds cohesion in the group and allows you, the coordinator, to make sure people are really going to ask. Take a few moments to obtain feedback on the exercise, which will probably raise some additional questions.

You will need to decide whether volunteers are to leave a voice mail or simply hang up. If you're going to send out a “Sorry we missed you” letter, you can instruct people to leave a brief message such as the following: “I called to talk with you about our work, but I'll send you some information instead. I hope you'll be able to help us.” Be sure the message you leave is brief, and, if calling a cell phone, consider texting the message rather than using voice mail. Texting is always briefer and has a higher chance of being seen.

After the orientation, the committee that has planned the phone bank begins making calls immediately to set the tone and the pace. When a few people are on the phone, shy volunteers will feel better about beginning to call. Try to avoid a situation in which everyone in the room is listening to one person's phone call unless that person feels comfortable with that role.

A staff person or a phone bank committee member acts as a “floater.” They answer questions and field difficult phone calls. The floater also continually tallies how much money has been pledged and records the changing total on a large board visible to the group. (If people are calling from different locations, updated information can be sent frequently using the chat function, or by text.) The volunteers then change their scripts to reflect new totals.

Each individual should be encouraged to take breaks as they need to, but the group as a whole does not take any breaks.

At 8:30 p.m., stop phoning and begin wrapping up. The first steps in wrapping up are to finish addressing all envelopes or emailing donors who gave you their email addresses, and make sure all information has been recorded on the spreadsheets. Tally the final amount pledged and let the volunteers know how successful the evening has been. If the amount pledged is below your goal, explain that you set your goal too high. Do not let the volunteers leave feeling discouraged.

AFTER THE PHONE BANK

Within two or three days, send all the volunteers thank‐you emails for their participation. Thank everyone for whatever they did to make the event a success.

If most people who donate give through the website or directly to the phoner by credit card, you will have received most of your money right away. During the next two weeks you should collect about 90% of the pledges made. Obviously, everyone who gave should be thanked. At the end of two weeks, go through your list and identify anyone who promised to give but has not yet sent money. Send a gentle reminder, like the one shown here, accompanied by a return envelope and a reply form.

Most organizations do not find it worth the time and cost to remind people of their pledges more than once. As noted elsewhere, the way some people say no is to say yes and then not pay.

Generally, about 7–10% of people who pledge do not send money. If you have a higher loss than 10%, it may be that your volunteers noted someone as yes who only said they would think about it. Make sure volunteers understand how important it is to be accurate and that they need to hear what the prospect said, which may be different from what the caller wants to hear.

Tally up the final amounts received and write an evaluation of the event. The evaluation should note how many people were called, how many people gave and how they gave, what percentage of pledges were received, how many volunteers participated, where the phone bank was held, and who arranged for the space (if donated). Include copies of all the letters and return forms used. File all this away so that the next time you do a phone bank you won't have to start from scratch.

GETTING PUBLICITY FOR YOUR PHONE BANK

A phone bank may present a good opportunity to generate some publicity for your group. Publicity can make the community more aware of your organization's work and can alert listeners or readers to the fact that many of them will be receiving phone calls from your organization on a specific day or evening. The organization's address, phone number, and website URL can be included in all publicity so that people can make their donations ahead of the phone bank and avoid being called. Be sure to use your other channels to invite people to be part of your campaign. Post a message on social media and the home page of your website that you are doing a phone bank, and encourage people to call in or just go to your site to make a donation. You can tweet during the evening to let people know how much money you are raising and to encourage people to give.

Unless you are on very good terms with press people, the phone bank alone will not be a newsworthy event. It would be best, therefore, to use the occasion of the phone bank to emphasize a new program, tell a human interest story, or have some other newsworthy reason to get press attention in which you mention the phone bank.

All of your publicity should emphasize the need for community support. Stress that your organization relies on the community for the bulk of its support—or wants to rely on the community if you don't now. Talk about what a gift of $35, $50, or $100 will do for your programs so that people have a sense that a small gift can make a difference.

One way groups have interested the press is by having one or two famous people participating in the phone bank. “Famous people” include not only national celebrities but also people well known only in your community, such as a beloved clergyperson or teacher, a well‐respected community activist, the president of the community college, or a major corporate executive. The novelty that someone famous would help your organization lends credibility to your work. Also, almost everyone is flattered to be called by someone famous. If you decide to ask public figures to participate, be sure that they are well liked by your constituency.

Public figures can simply come for the first half‐hour of your phone bank and make a few calls without making an enormous time commitment to the event. It is an easy way for both you and them to gain goodwill while they show their overall support of nonprofit organizations and specifically of the work of your organization.

As you can see, grassroots organizations can take advantage of fundraising by telephone. In addition to raising money, increasing renewal rates, and allowing an organization to have more personal contact with its donors, fundraising by telephone has an added advantage of teaching volunteers how to ask for money. The skills volunteers learn through phone banking can then be put to use in major donor campaigns.