Telephone Fundraising Campaigns
In autumn 2007, UCD’s first telephone fundraising campaign raised €269,000 in gifts and pledges for the newly established UCD Alumni Fund. One of the first campaigns of its kind in Ireland, phones were staffed by current students from around UCD. Aíne Gibbons, Vice-President for Development recalls, “I was overwhelmed with the response to our ‘call to action’. We had 200 applications for forty roles and undertook a rigorous selection process to find the best callers. Our team of interviewers was very impressed by the enthusiasm and energy shown by the students and this was carried forward to the calling campaign itself.”
UCD Alumni Fund telephone campaigns now take place twice a year, in spring and autumn. Since 2007, over 25,000 alumni have been selected to take part in these campaigns. Initially, they receive notification of the telephone campaign and all are given the opportunity to opt out – but generally only 2-3% elect not to receive a call. This type of activity shouldn’t be confused with cold calling or telesales. The objectives of the call are two-fold, to elicit feedback on the quality of existing alumni communications, reunions, events etc and, of course, to ask for a gift. Graduates are asked either to donate a single gift or, ideally, to commit to a regular payment – which facilitates budget planning and allocation of funds.
The student callers are very positive about their experiences. Third-year student Thomas O’Boyle has taken part in four telephone campaigns. He says, “The campaigns are a great way to meet new people. I’m doing Structural Engineering with Architecture, and it’s really interesting to hear from graduates who took similar programmes as students. It is by far the most rewarding job I’ve had because I know that all the money raised goes to support some great initiatives. ’
If you would like to donate to the UCD Alumni Fund, please contact Irene Timmins at alumnifund@ucdfoundation.ie or on 01 7161452.
