How to Ask for Donations by Phone

Raising money over the phone is an effective way to create revenue, despite the success of the Internet and social media. Most phone fund-raising campaigns involve efforts to collect donations for non-profit, educational and political entities. The following steps will help improve your phone solicitations.

• 1

  Develop a strategy when asking for donations. Do this before you begin calling so that you have a workable plan and good reason to ask for money. Decide what points you wish to emphasize in your phone presentation.

• 2

  Conduct a preliminary training session, where all phone solicitors get to meet as a group and receive pertinent information from the organizers.

• 3

  Allow the staff to practice their phone etiquette and presentation. This can be done with one-on-one exercises, during which one prospective caller talks to another staff member as if he were making a real over-the-phone presentation to a valued customer.

• 4

  Evaluate the phone lists. All organizations have varied levels of supporters, donors and interested parties. Before the calling begins, it is a good idea to separate these different groups of perspective donors. Perhaps, by calling the interested parties first, the phone solicitors can become familiar with the goal of the organization and more confident with their approach. Then they can approach the more likely donors.

• 5

  Emphasize patience, clear diction and a friendly approach. Sometimes it is better to build a good rapport with prospective clients before trying to get the other party to commit to a specific donation figure.

• 6

  Follow up during the year with activities that are not geared toward fundraising. This could include sending out a newsletter or a thank you note, or sponsoring a fun event, such as a marathon that gets everybody involved. Fundraising is not just about asking for money.