London calling

As fee income looks set to tumble for some schools, a proactive response can be critical. Tori Roddy outlines how her school introduced a successful telephone fundraising campaign and here reveals the results

At Westminster School, we have had an active alumni relations programme and have targeted major gift initiatives for more than 20 years, both run through the development office. Last year, keen to engage our entire community, we launched our first long-term annual giving initiative. Fully supported by the governing body and heads of department, The Fund for Westminster’s purpose is to support bursaries and a number of academic and community projects that help the school meet its commitment to excellence in education.

Like many annual funds, direct mail and email communications play a part in our approach. However, it was decided that telephone campaigns would be used as the principle approach to our community.

Why call?
Telephone campaigns cost, are time-consuming and tend to place heavy demands on database and administrative support. However, the effort engaged in these campaigns is extremely worthwhile. Results from a successful campaign speak for themselves: calling remains one of the most effective ways to engage support.

Using consultants
There is clearly a cost implication when deciding whether telephone consultants should be used in your campaign. If this can be overcome (and there is usually a good deal of room for negotiation based on the services you engage), then the benefits include the use of the most modern technology associated with industry, administrative support throughout, caller recruitment and training, and a wealth of experience gained in the secondary and higher education sector. If you are inexperienced at running a telephone campaign, your team is small or perhaps you have not run a campaign for some time and need a refresher, then consultants can be invaluable.

Many organisations use consultants as part of a long-term development strategy, gathering know-how and training experience to bring campaigns inhouse in the future.

While consultants bring calling experience, we must not forget that we know our communities well. We have invested time and funds in engaging our alumni and parents, and so accordingly have a connection and understanding of these groups. The relationship between consultant and school needs to be reciprocal, the approach made by one school may not be appropriate for yours. Do not be afraid to question their suggestions and refine the approach so that you are comfortable with it.

The approach
Westminster’s 2008/2009 annual giving campaign targeted not only our alumni but also our parent community. The approach to each group was similar: the target group for the campaign was selected and we sent pre-call letters, informing people of our intention to call.

Our callers, in both campaigns, were selected because of their connection to the school, with current parent volunteers recruited to ring parents and recent pupils (most at university) were employed to call alumni.

Both campaigns lasted for two weeks (calling evenings and Saturdays) and reached around 600 people each time, with a participation rate of around 40 per cent. This is clearly much higher than a direct mail approach. The entire telephone campaign (from pre-call letter to pledge reminders) secured more than £350,000 for the fund, comfortably surpassing our target of £130,000. The benefit in financial support is clear, but the telephone can also realise other forms of support.

Speaking to your community directly not only gives you the chance to secure pledges but helps you to gather intelligence, feedback and other offers of support (work experience, careers advice etc). You hear what your community feels about your school and development programme.

Pure affinity campaigns give us another tool we can use to connect with our communities. Each campaign brings a wealth of new experience and knowledge, and leads to improvements in future campaigns, which can help to make calling a positive experience for all involved.

Tori Roddy is head of alumni relations in the development office at Westminster School. The school used Buffalo Fundraising Consultants (www.buffalofc.co.uk) for their 2008/09 telephone campaigns.

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