When we think of the type of charities who rely on fundraising, we probably think first of healthcare charities. The sort of charities we are referring to might include Alzheimer’s Society, British Liver Trust, Dementia UK, Epilepsy Action, JDRF, National Autistic Society, Pancreatic Cancer UK, Samaritans, Sense – these are just a few QTS clients who use the telephone as a key part of their fundraising strategy.
Some background…
Of course, giving to healthcare charities is nothing new – it can be traced back several centuries, when wealthy philanthropists recognised the need for an organised healthcare system, resulting in the funding of hospitals and provision which would pave the way for the NHS.
But the desire to promote the welfare of others through donations shows no sign of waning (thank goodness) – we only have to look to the pandemic to see how philanthropy directly impacted our healthcare provision at the time, notably the infamous ‘Nightingale’ hospitals, as well as vaccine development, and a marked increase in donations to all sorts of health research and care organisations and charities.
And no doubt this is because, as individuals, we all know that serious illness, whether it happens to us or our loved ones, is life-changing. And the evidence suggests that this awareness inspires us to be much more charitable as a result. So health charities often have a far more wide-ranging supporter base than they may be aware of: it extends beyond those who have officially ‘signed up’, it can include service users, their friends and families, and people who appreciate these services for completely altruistic reasons – the scope really is quite significant.
Our experience…
Here at QTS, when we talk to supporters of healthcare charities, we are always reminded how knowledgeable they are about their subject, which means conversations can often be quite diverse and emotive. This is why fundraisers making the calls on behalf of the charity need to be well trained, highly informed and with good emotional intelligence, in order to handle potentially complex and sensitive conversations. And this is another reason why the telephone is so well-suited to fundraising for healthcare charities – a two-way conversation enables personalisation, flexibility, compassion and support where needed.
When it comes to the type of campaigns we are currently running, regular giving is still a very popular option, as is lottery. We are also seeing increasing numbers of charities running digital marketing campaigns as a handraiser or valex – perhaps resulting in a giveaway item such as a pin badge, opening the door for a telephone call in order to fulfil the mailing of the item.
Challenge and sponsorship events are also on the increase, with more charities recognising that the phone is ideal for both recruiting and motivating supporters who are fundraising for one of their events. In fact, our telephone calling campaigns for events and sponsorship challenges have demonstrated that, on average, for every point of telephone contact, the supporter will raise an additional £70, thanks to feeling appreciated and encouraged. And 20% of those who are contacted by telephone will go on to do another event in the future.
Concluding thoughts…
With such highly personal and meaningful reasons for supporting a healthcare charity, supporter journeys are often long term, with interest and engagement sustained all the way from first point of contact through to an interest in leaving a gift in a will.
Here are just a few words of feedback from some of the healthcare charities we’ve worked with:
“The campaign reinforced our belief that calls are worth it! These campaigns are our chance to show supporters how much we appreciate them and to get to know them better. The best thing about the campaign was seeing how delighted some of our supporters were to receive the call and what it meant to them. We listened to call recordings where supporters happily chatted away with QTS staff. And it’s fair to say we couldn’t have done better ourselves! We’ve always been impressed with the warmth and friendliness that QTS display when talking to our supporters, but it was something else to see this during such uncertain times.” – Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation commenting on a thank you campaign during the pandemic
“Our recent lead conversion campaign beat both our CPA and average gift targets – conversion rates were good and our pin badges were really popular.” – Samaritans
“Our supporter acquisition campaign with QTS ran for 10 months – and achieved 460 new regular givers!” – Epilepsy Society
“I’ve worked in this sector for 15 years and experienced most of the telephone fundraising agencies – QTS is the best!” – Alzheimer’s Society
And finally a few words from our MD Ben Suffell:
Thanks for reading – if you are a healthcare charity and you would like to find out more about telephone fundraising, please do get in touch.
