It is estimated that members of the public give around £7 billion a year to over 180,000 different charities operating in the UK. These breathtaking figures reflect the number of causes there are to support and the amount of funding the organisations need to keep running.
Charities use a wide range of different techniques to reach out to supporters and obtain donations. Each one will have a unique strategy based on their needs. This could include door to door collections, talking to people in the street, telephone fundraising, sponsoring public events and many other tactics. Whatever option they choose, it is crucial that the organisation considers the wellbeing of supporters, delivers the best value and behaves in an appropriate manner.
Successful charities build a reputation for caring not only about the cause they are supporting but also the people that share in it, either by donating, volunteering or promoting the organisation. It is important that each charity builds trust and confidence from the public. Those that don’t will quickly find they struggle to achieve their funding goals.
Telephone fundraising is a good way to contact potential or existing supporters but every call doesn’t need to be a push to achieve a donation. In fact, doing this can cause problems and leave people feeling alienated by the organisation. Instead it is better for some calls to be about progress and interesting news stories. This helps to build the relationship and can increase the happiness of donors. Call handlers should be looking to have conversations with supporters and get them to take further action on their own rather than pushing for it.
At QTS we work as a telephone fundraising agency for a number of different charities. Organisations call on us for advice and professional services because they know how much effort we put in to providing value for both charities and members of the public. We are conscientious at all times and make sure that each member of our team represents clients in the right way.
