As I look out from my office at our 40 foot bowtruss ceilings, exposed beams, weathered brick interior walls, shimmering hardwood floors, paneling from the 1930’s combined with freshly painted graffiti art and the old Hollywood Reporter neon sign left by a previous owner in our space, I am reminded of that Ad Agency.  Our offices are 20,000 square feet of coolness.  We even have the pool table, though not in my office.  But, what resonates most about our space is that it embodies who we are, and perhaps, who we are not.

The Donor Services Group is not another telefundraising company….a vendor, hired to make the requisite 2 minute calls at dinner time.  We are creative strategists, who have spent the last twelve years incorporating donor cultivation techniques into telefundraising.  We are pioneers trailblazing inventive programs that offer highly personal and interactive calls to the masses of current and previous non-profit contributors.  We are the ones who routinely receive gifts of $100,000 over the phone on a credit card and who a few months ago, received a commitment for an 8 figure gift from a donor we were unable to reach by phone but to whom we took the time to write a personal handwritten note on behalf of our client.

The Donor Services Group is not a telefundraising vendor at all.  We are a fundraising agency whose products can’t even be considered similar to all those other firms.  Sure we still use the telephone, but other than that, to compare DSG to other firms serving the non-profit sector is comparing apples to oranges.  Even for those programs that we do offer that have some similarities to our competitors, DSG’s orientation and company philosophy infuses very real differences to create new and fresh alternatives.

Unlike the boys from “Thirty Something,” we don’t sit around brainstorming while tossing Nerf basketballs, but when you think about what you want from your telefundraising firm, is it a vendor with a cookie-cutter, highly scripted approach and a cheap price or do you want something more?  Do you want creativity, problem-solving, and a “donor centric” approach that has been proven to leave less of the negative footprint on your donorbase than most other calling programs while also delivering  greater donor loyalty and longer-term retention rates?

So the next time you put forth an RFP or pit one telefundraising firm against another, or try to compare pricing, I ask you to consider this:

• Do the firms you are comparing even produce the same product?

DSG Headquarters in Los Angeles

Busy Making a Difference in the World

Wall of Inspiration at DSG

Well, as the CEO of one of those firms you love to hate, let me tell you how to make those calls stop.     You may ask yourself why am I telling you how not to receive these calls?   Well, the answer is simple.  At my company at least, we really don’t have any interest in bothering those of you who genuinely don’t want to receive calls on behalf of a favorite charity.   So here is all you need to do to get these calls to stop:

1.      Answer the phone.  Yes, I know it sounds counter-intuitive but if you ignore these calls or just let them go to voicemail, you are inadvertently inviting even more calls.

You see, the telefundraising industry does not generally get your name out of the phone book. Rather, they are provided with your name by an organization you support.  But as a result, there are usually a limited number of supporters to reach to achieve the goals the organization has set for the firm.  Reaching as many of you as possible becomes imperative.   To reach even half of the names provided, often requires attempting that person once or twice a day for as many as  thirty days.  The calls will keep coming until either the campaign runs its course (generally 30 days or so) or until you answer the phone and either pledge a gift or elect not to.

2.     If you also want to avoid receiving calls in the future, by answering the phone and speaking with a live representative, you now can instruct the person who has called you to place your phone number(s) on their “internal” Do Not Call List.  (Non-profit organizations and the telefundraising companies that work on their behalf are exempt from the rules pertaining to the National Do Not Call List so registering on the National list will not prevent you from receiving these calls).

When you request that your name be placed on the company’s internal Do Not Call List and/or the organization’s Do Not Call List, the company and the non-profit are obligated to not call you for five years.

PS – ask politely.  These are human beings making these calls, often young people just trying to earn a meager living or at a firm like mine, genuinely trying to do good work on behalf of important non-profit organizations.  It’s not their fault that you are receiving unwanted calls.  But they have the power to make these calls stop by coding you as someone who wishes to be on the company’s Do Not Call List.  Don’t give them an incentive by attacking them or verbally abusing them to accidentally/on purpose enter your information incorrectly.

Ok, so now you know how to make these calls stop.  But, before you eagerly await your next telemarketing call just so you can tell the firm to leave you the Hell alone, let me ask you to consider one important thing:

If you genuinely support the work of a charity or non-profit organization, a call from a respectful, well informed caller can provide you with your only opportunity to actually interact personally with someone representing that organization.  It is your chance to ask questions (can’t do that when the organization sends you a letter), give your opinions and become better informed about the organization’s work, how they are using your donations, and what their priorities will be going forward.   Organizations find your feedback very valuable so by engaging with a representative, you are doing your favorite charity a lot of good.

That said, if organizations, or people like me, are asking you to actually accept these calls, it’s our responsibility to do a better job of hiring and training callers who are well educated and well spoken.  It’s also imperative that the company employing these representatives allows callers to take their time to really talk with you.  Far too often, telefundraising companies are trying to complete calls as quickly as possible and pressuring callers to move from one call to the next because it saves money.  It’s time everyone recognized that making supporters listen to some stranger read a script in their ear is no fun for anyone.  Having a spirited conversation, on the other hand, can be truly formative.  So, rather than refuse to take these calls, consider simply insisting that your favorite non-profit hire firms committed to informing and cultivating contributors like yourself (even if it costs a little more) and not just those only interested in how fast they can get you to contribute.

FYI – Reputable telephone fundraising firms are precluded by ethical standards from taking as their fees a percentage of the money raised (percentage based fee arrangements are considered by the ATFP, the trade association that works with the telephone fundraising industry as well as the Better Business Bureau as unethical).  Good firms generally charge a fixed fee per call or per hour and report to their clients the results and costs of the calls daily, providing the non-profit with the option to stop their programs any time it is underperforming or becoming too expensive.  Therefore, be aware that press reports detailing the percentage of contributions going to the telephone fundraiser as fees are often misleading and do not accurately reflect the role telefundraising may play in benefiting an organization’s overall fundraising program.

Perhaps even more than you, we get angry thinking about those telephone fundraising companies giving the reputable ones a bad name with their shoddy, aggressive calls made by poorly trained, poorly paid callers who don’t know how to dialogue with contributors, who only read a script that concludes with three rote asks for money.  We know, perhaps better than most, that when the phone is used badly it can be terribly destructive to an organization’s relationship with its donors, alienating supporters and undermining all the hard work an organization might do to engage contributors in the importance of their mission.

However, certainly what keeps me in this business, despite all the muffled contempt, is the knowledge that when used well…. when time is taken on the phone to actually talk with contributors, and not just at them…. that the phone can be the single most powerful tool an organization has to reach tens of thousands of its supporters and actually engage them in a positive interactive and educational conversation about the importance of its work.   After all, the unfortunate reality is that the vast majority of your supporters aren’t actually reading your direct mail.

The fact is that the phone, when used well, is the only current way a non-profit organization can develop a truly human connection with thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of its supporters.  When used interactively it transcends anything possible through direct mail, e-mail, text messaging, advertising or press releases, which are in essence one-sided dialogues.  You might be surprised to learn that I receive positive feedback from donors all the time who are shocked to find themselves in dynamic and informative conversations with intelligent and deeply committed telemarketers.   It may actually be your telemarketer who holds the key to what your supporters and contributors are really thinking and feeling about your organization’s mission and efforts. Where a focus group gathers the opinions and attitudes of two dozen supporters, your telemarketer offers access to the opinions and attitudes of thousands.

So as I look at myself in that mirror reflecting on how I got myself into this profession, I find myself repeatedly wondering why administrators, executive directors, board members and organizational fundraising professionals aren’t turning to their professional telefundraisers for input on their marketing program overall?  Why do they so rarely seek the advice of the people who know the most about their donors?

As telefundraising is often the second largest expense line in an organizations direct marketing fundraising budget behind direct mail, I for one believe it might be worth holding your nose, putting your hatred of the medium aside and welcoming your telemarketers out from in front of their bathroom mirrors so you can ask us what we are hearing on the phones and how to ensure that calls on behalf of your non-profit are empowering for donors and not alienating.