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Dialing For Dollars-Fundraising For Charities- Another Offline Model

by John Durham
35 replies
Another area of offline marketing that many dont realize has alot of money making potential is Fundraising for "Charities". This can be big business.

I use to run a fundraising room that did about 7 million per year raising funds for a charity cause. The owner of our call center was a multi millionaire.

I say this because I had an idea awhile ago, this is off the cuff so take it with a grain of salt:

There are two things that make for a POWERFUL business.

A: When you are passionate about what you are doing. It fuels you effortlessly.

B: When enough others are passionate about what you are doing. You make sales.

Charity fundraising brings those two together.

I have a passionate cause that I could think about 24 hours per day...and I know alot of others are passionate about it too.

If I were to start a fundraising room on this subject it would be a perfect marriage...

Thinking out loud:

I could start an offline office, and I could have a pod on my sales floor that does my offline "bower" stuff and a floor full of passionate people raising money for an important charity cause, and I could cover my whole expense for fighting the cause by licensing my room as the fundraisers for the charity, for a percentage to operate on.

Fundraising for charity is an excellent offline business model that is often overlooked.

Im done. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Bouncing an idea off of you that I cant get out of my head today.

Some people are searching for ways to succeed at making money, and I already have ten of those... Im rather searching for ways to bring all of the elements of self together along with making money and house them under one proverbial roof and thus bring unity of all my elements, and raw power to my picture.

Fund raising for a passionate charity could be a way to do that for me... use my training, telemarketing, marketing, fundraising skills, entrepreneurial spirit, and passions altogether... Hmmm...

Im deciding that certain causes need support, and Im too busy making money to fight all the fights I want to...those things need to come together in my life somehow and form a powerful bond.

Just expressing to my offline homies...
#charities #fundraising #model #offline
  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Autrey
    How do you profit off of charities?
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    Not us... Not marketers. We live far above mediocrity. Always keep this in mind at all times..

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    • Profile picture of the author John Durham
      Originally Posted by marketforus1 View Post

      How do you profit off of charities?
      By forming a non profit organization (not for profit), then forming a fundraising organization (for profit), and having the charity contract the fundraising organization to raise funds for a percentage.

      On another note there are a gazzilion existing charities that will give you contracts if you are a licensed fundraiser. My room use to have a department that did nothing but test and pilot new contracts all day long...In my case though I would want to start my own cause.

      NO JOURNEY IS MORE PASSIONATE THAN ONE SPENT FIGHTING FOR A CAUSE THAT YOU WOULD DIE FOR.

      It happens that fundraising is also lucrative.
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      • Profile picture of the author sandalwood
        Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

        By forming a non profit organization (not for profit), then forming a fundraising organization (for profit), and having the charity contract the fundraising organization to raise funds for a percentage.

        On another note there are a gazzilion existing charities that will give you contracts if you are a licensed fundraiser. My room use to have a department that did nothing but test and pilot new contracts all day long...In my case though I would want to start my own cause.

        NO JOURNEY IS MORE PASSIONATE THAN ONE SPENT FIGHTING FOR A CAUSE THAT YOU WOULD DIE FOR.

        It happens that fundraising is also lucrative.
        John,

        When you say by forming a non profit organization do you mean going the full blown IRS route? I ask because I have a state sanctioned non profit and didn't go the full route.

        If you are talking about the IRS route, if I remember correctly they upped their app fees and lengthened their approval time. What is your experience?

        Regardless, you are on the money w/this idea. I raised money for my org w/o the phone. All face to face but the phone is golden as we both know.

        Good luck,

        Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    Thanks Tom, I dont know. I think I would want it to be a full 501c3 charity, so people can get full tax credit for donating...however this idea is just forming however heavy on my heart, and however anxious I am for it to fully form.

    I am a pro fundraiser...My experience is in rasing "funds" for charities...I dont know much about the aspects of setting up a charity itself as of yet. There is only one way to find out; putting one foot in front of the other.

    My family owns a church that is a full charity, it has a food bank that feeds poor people... Im going to ask my mother if we cant just set up a charity more easily under that umbrella.
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    • Profile picture of the author ShayB
      Interesting.

      I have a fundraising business, but it's a much different model than what you're talking about. I like the model you present.
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    • Profile picture of the author sandalwood
      Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

      Thanks Tom, I dont know. I think I would want it to be a full 501c3 charity, so people can get full tax credit for donating...however this idea is just forming however heavy on my heart, and however anxious I am for it to fully form.

      I am a pro fundraiser...My experience is in rasing "funds" for charities...I dont know much about the aspects of setting up a charity itself as of yet. There is only one way to find out; putting one foot in front of the other.

      My family owns a church that is a full charity, it has a food bank that feeds poor people... Im going to ask my mother if we cant just set up a charity more easily under that umbrella.
      John,

      If the church is already recognized as a charity, you shouldn't have any problems asking for donations. The only problem I see is the area you can call. It will be pretty small compared to people calling for the local police or firefighters.

      On the other hand, you have a membership base. That's a good thing. Being a former TMer you know where to get lists of donors as well.

      As you already know, because it has a food bank you could make that the focus of the call and expand your net. To me, that's probably what you'd do in the first place. I know I would since nobody cares about a church. A food bank is anohter thing.

      You could also kick off the project with both radio and TV PSAs. By law, the media has to give you free advertising. Have people bring food by or mail a check to XXXXX. That might solve your money problem.

      As for starting a charity, PM me and I'll tell you how you can avoid the long and expensive IRS route and still be as legal as all the big boys. I realize your time is pretty well spoken for so I am not ordering you to PM me . BTW, I won't answer anybody else's PM on this topic so please don't ask me.

      Good luck and if I can help you, I will.

      Tom
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      • Profile picture of the author John Durham
        Originally Posted by sandalwood View Post

        John,

        If the church is already recognized as a charity, you shouldn't have any problems asking for donations. The only problem I see is the area you can call. It will be pretty small compared to people calling for the local police or firefighters.

        On the other hand, you have a membership base. That's a good thing. Being a former TMer you know where to get lists of donors as well.

        As you already know, because it has a food bank you could make that the focus of the call and expand your net. To me, that's probably what you'd do in the first place. I know I would since nobody cares about a church. A food bank is anohter thing.

        You could also kick off the project with both radio and TV PSAs. By law, the media has to give you free advertising. Have people bring food by or mail a check to XXXXX. That might solve your money problem.

        As for starting a charity, PM me and I'll tell you how you can avoid the long and expensive IRS route and still be as legal as all the big boys. I realize your time is pretty well spoken for so I am not ordering you to PM me . BTW, I won't answer anybody else's PM on this topic so please don't ask me.

        Good luck and if I can help you, I will.

        Tom

        Wow. Tom Thanks for all the input, that was alot. Man I appreciate you. Never knew someone who could say so much in so few paragraphs.

        Yes I have some ideas about a call list and things...and you are correct that people dont care about a church, but a food bank has tangible meaning. Most of the people they help never even come to the church more than once, but thats okay because its help, not a bribe, is what we were taught.

        Anyway, I literally cant sleep at night over my passion for this subject. If something is going to drain that much energy from you, you should redirect that energy into something productive.

        As I wrote in the posting report, there are alot of money making ideas, but when you comebine a good one with a passion that you think about 24/7 anyway... then you are onto a very powerful combination.

        Most people think success is in the "idea", and its partially true, I know that because Im an idea man. Anytime Im working on a mediocre idea I get mediocre results, but when Im working on a great idea, I get great results... But there is something WAAAAY more than that.

        If you are working on a great idea, that you cant stand to walk away from after 8 hours and you take it home thinking about it, and lay in bed at night doing the same... If your idea really DRIVES YOU, then you are REALLY onto something.

        No idea is any good without someone driving it, no plan on paper has ever accomplished itself.

        I will never forget as a teen reading a quote by a fashion designer who said "When you wear clothes that dont move you, then you carry yourself in an unmoved fashion".

        You have to move with a certain momentum and spring in your step to succeed, and its important that your ideas move you.

        Back whn I worked in a factory as a youngin, I had to move FAST... and in order to move FAST I had to totally change my body language...

        You see, alot of things work, but they dont work "slow" or they dont work unless you are at a certain level of "momentum"...Money loves speed. Its a fact that i have proven to myself time and time again- worth remembering -"Money Loves Speed".

        Walmart may want a contract for a million pairs of panty hose per month from the Haines factory... but they dont want "2 pairs"....Lets say you own the Haines factory...if thats all you can deliver it wont work, it has to work at a certain momentum to make sense....

        But it should work the same but only on a smaller scale right?

        Nope. Go try to sell 2 pairs of panty hose to Walmart and see what happens on the smaller scale. lol

        Another example is that a room with two telemarketers doesnt not produce 25% of what a room with 8 telemarketers produces, even though it should in theory...there is a momentum and energy factor...when the room is full it rocks harder and even INDIVIDUALS scores come up.

        If you arent moving, and not having momentum, then alot of things that makes sense normally wont make the same sense at the slower speed...and you wont get far with alot of things... Example: a telemarketer that is moving will do more in 4 hours than one who isnt will do in 10.

        A home that sits in a frame for two years without being bricked...because the buolder is taking his time... is not the same as a home that was bricked the same month the frame was put up...because the bricks partially protect the frame from weather...

        The home that didnt get bricked for 6 months has alot of rotting wood...

        My point?

        You have to MOVE to succeed and get the best result, and that requires "motivation" so Its good to be in love with your ideas.

        Momentum is an invisible factor, so its important to be driven by your ideas because they will all need that momentum to get off the ground.

        A Good idea is half the battle, the other half is YOU being driven more than the average man/woman.... You see, you have to be that way if you are going to be more than average, and it helps if you have an idea that fuels you.

        Anyway, lots of good stuff. Thanks Tom that was awesome, will reread several times.
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        • Profile picture of the author sandalwood
          "Money Loves Speed" - A phrase verified by the Uniform Commercial Code = check it out.
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          • Profile picture of the author SteveSki
            Good business model... I just sent a proposal to the Australian Cancer Research Foundation to sanction me to raise funds for them by giving out Fantasy Portrait Sitting Certificates with a donation of $25 or more.

            100% of the donation goes to the cause... the donors get a free fantasy / glamour photography session and one free 8x10 portrait from their session and I profit because most people will order extra prints from my studio.

            The ACRF contacted me as soon as they received my proposal and gave me the sanction letter I need to legally raise funds for them.

            I then took the letter and approached several large shopping centers and requested a display table to place a portrait display and fundraising sign.

            The shopping malls each gave me space for free and even provided the tables, table cloth and chairs. I'm working the first shopping centre table this weekend. Myself dressed in a conservative business suit and a pretty female model wearing one of the studio's fantasy fairy dresses with wings.

            I still get a lot of business letting LivingSocial sell my portrait certificates but they keep 100% of the voucher sale. But by doing it as a fundraiser I get to spread good karma doing what I would be doing anyway!

            Cheers,
            Steve

            PS... Here's an image of the front of the fundraising certificate.

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            • Profile picture of the author Eddie Spangler
              Originally Posted by SteveSki View Post

              Good business model... I just sent a proposal to the Australian Cancer Research Foundation to sanction me to raise funds for them by giving out Fantasy Portrait Sitting Certificates with a donation of $25 or more.

              100% of the donation goes to the cause... the donors get a free fantasy / glamour photography session and one free 8x10 portrait from their session and I profit because most people will order extra prints from my studio.

              The ACRF contacted me as soon as they received my proposal and gave me the sanction letter I need to legally raise funds for them.

              I then took the letter and approached several large shopping centers and requested a display table to place a portrait display and fundraising sign.

              The shopping malls each gave me space for free and even provided the tables, table cloth and chairs. I'm working the first shopping centre table this weekend. Myself dressed in a conservative business suit and a pretty female model wearing one of the studio's fantasy fairy dresses with wings.

              I still get a lot of business letting LivingSocial sell my portrait certificates but they keep 100% of the voucher sale. But by doing it as a fundraiser I get to spread good karma doing what I would be doing anyway!

              Cheers,
              Steve

              PS... Here's an image of the front of the fundraising certificate.
              This is pretty cool. What percentage of people will buy more prints and how much will they spend on average.
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              • Profile picture of the author SteveSki
                Originally Posted by Eddie Spangler View Post

                This is pretty cool. What percentage of people will buy more prints and how much will they spend on average.
                Thanks Eddie,

                Better than 90% will order extra prints. My sales average which is calculated by adding up all of the sales and dividing by the number of people who purchased my LivingSocial vouchers averages well over $500 on each certificate.

                I expect the average as a fundraiser to be about the same. And instead of 100% of the voucher sales going to a billion dollar corporation.... the money will go to a good cause!

                I've been suffering from depression after I let my marriage fall apart a year ago and it really kicked in over the death of my Grandchildren's mom three months after the seperation. So this project is really helping me to focus on creating more good... being part of the solution instead of adding to the world's problems.

                For the last year I've only photographed on 3 weekends which still produced over 6 figures in sales but due to my bout of depression I've been living off the profits and it's time to shake myself up and become really active again.

                I'm going to launch a separate fundraiser to help purchase a motorhome so I can stay on the road doing this all over Australia and eventually New Zealand.

                As John Durham points out... "Money Loves Speed" so I'll be setting up a page at: Raise Money for YOU! Crowdfunding & Online Fundraising Websites! for this purpose... will take pen and paper with me this weekend and write out my appeal letter and get the new page up by this coming Tuesday.

                Cheers,
                Steve
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                • Profile picture of the author SteveSki
                  OK I just returned home from my first day of selling my Fantasy Portrait Fundraising Certificates in a shopping mall. The results were pretty bad… only 2 vouchers sold. Almost had a third but I did not have the correct change and the prospect said she would break her $100 bill at the food court and drop the money off on her way back. But as usual Be-Backs seldom ever return.

                  Back in the early 90’s I use to average 15 certificates a day working just inside of the entrance of Target stores. I was able to greet people as soon as they entered the store, wave a voucher and ask…. Did you get your portrait certificate?

                  I was then able to point to our samples and lead them into a sale.

                  But the shopping centre management office made it very clear that I’m not permitted to call out to passersby’s… I must not leave my table and have to wait for them to approach me before speaking to them.

                  Most people steered clear of the table and of the few who did approach… most asked “will you be here tomorrow?” and I had to say yes… so that gave them the chance to say… “I’ll be back”.

                  If my results don’t improve tomorrow I’m going back to booking portrait sessions over the phone because I can get 3 or 4 sales an hour on the phone. If I can’t sell at least 10 certificates per day in the middle of a large shopping center, I’m not going to be able to staff the tables with hired hands and expect them to do any better.

                  I know my phone approach works well so I’ll stick to what works.
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                  • Profile picture of the author Jon Martin
                    Originally Posted by SteveSki View Post

                    OK I just returned home from my first day of selling my Fantasy Portrait Fundraising Certificates in a shopping mall. The results were pretty bad... only 2 vouchers sold. Almost had a third but I did not have the correct change and the prospect said she would break her $100 bill at the food court and drop the money off on her way back. But as usual Be-Backs seldom ever return.

                    Back in the early 90's I use to average 15 certificates a day working just inside of the entrance of Target stores. I was able to greet people as soon as they entered the store, wave a voucher and ask.... Did you get your portrait certificate?

                    I was then able to point to our samples and lead them into a sale.

                    But the shopping centre management office made it very clear that I'm not permitted to call out to passersby's... I must not leave my table and have to wait for them to approach me before speaking to them.

                    Most people steered clear of the table and of the few who did approach... most asked "will you be here tomorrow?" and I had to say yes... so that gave them the chance to say... "I'll be back".

                    If my results don't improve tomorrow I'm going back to booking portrait sessions over the phone because I can get 3 or 4 sales an hour on the phone. If I can't sell at least 10 certificates per day in the middle of a large shopping center, I'm not going to be able to staff the tables with hired hands and expect them to do any better.

                    I know my phone approach works well so I'll stick to what works.
                    Why not get some "hired hands" to hit the phones?
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                    • Profile picture of the author SteveSki
                      Originally Posted by Jon Martin View Post

                      Why not get some "hired hands" to hit the phones?
                      Primarily because I'm not exactly doing cold calls. I'm calling warm prospects who have already requested more information and who have already seen samples of our portraits. If the volume of leads were 10 times what I generate now I would... but right now I'm not willing to lose several bookings each day to get one person trained. However, I will train people to show and sell images via a private online webinar between the sales rep and the family members who want to view their portraits. You can't sell what you don't take and you can't take any portraits if you can't get them to come in for a sitting. Once the images are ready for sale it's pretty much comes down to making them a great deal and working out a payment plan if they don't have the money to pay up front.

                      I like LivingSocial and Groupon leads the best because I know that each voucher buyer has a computer and a credit card. I won't put images up on a website for them to look at on their own... that is a sure way to kill your sales average.

                      But if I know they have a computer with internet access and a credit card then I can do the proof pass via webinar and then they can't say I'll think about it and call you back because I make it clear that the offer is good only until the end of the call. Any unsold images are deleted as soon as the call ends.

                      Now if I were a real master of cold calling straight out of the white pages then I would try training others to do cold calls but it works much better if the prospects have already seen samples of our work.
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                      • Profile picture of the author upmatthews
                        Just wondering, are you selling the voucher or giving a voucher away for any donation above $25? I think there is i big difference, I would ask for donations and oh by the way here's a voucher...

                        I learned along time ago that how you present the offer makes a BIG difference. Years ago I bought 44 pairs of ski boots at an auction (for $20), went to flea market and tried to sell them for $30 each, sold nothing, tried $25 each, sold nothing, tried $20 each, sold nothing. This went on for 3 weekends.

                        I had some paperback books I was selling for .50 each that wasn't selling, so I got an idea. I made a sign: "Free Ski Boots, If You Buy a Book for $25", I sold all 44 pairs of ski boots in 2 days!

                        Just a thought - good luck!

                        Oh by the way, I worked as a delivery person for certificates like you have that sold for $19.95 each. Tm's would sell them, I would deliver (before the aneastesia wore off) I delivered between 10 and 20 a day. (this was in 1977 ...lol)
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                        • Profile picture of the author SteveSki
                          Originally Posted by upmatthews View Post

                          Just wondering, are you selling the voucher or giving a voucher away for any donation above $25? I think there is i big difference, I would ask for donations and oh by the way here's a voucher...

                          I learned along time ago that how you present the offer makes a BIG difference. Years ago I bought 44 pairs of ski boots at an auction (for $20), went to flea market and tried to sell them for $30 each, sold nothing, tried $25 each, sold nothing, tried $20 each, sold nothing. This went on for 3 weekends.

                          I had some paperback books I was selling for .50 each that wasn't selling, so I got an idea. I made a sign: "Free Ski Boots, If You Buy a Book for $25", I sold all 44 pairs of ski boots in 2 days!

                          Just a thought - good luck!

                          Oh by the way, I worked as a delivery person for certificates like you have that sold for $19.95 each. Tm's would sell them, I would deliver (before the aneastesia wore off) I delivered between 10 and 20 a day. (this was in 1977 ...lol)
                          Thanks, I do have a sign that explains they get a free session and a free 8X10 with a donation of $25 or more... but being there in person they want to know package prices.... no one wants to spend $1,000 on portraits until after they see them and if they know prices before hand they won't come in to the studio. I have an easy way to solve the problem on the phone but its much harder when you are at a table in a shopping mall.

                          I also delivered certificates back in the early 80's... the photo certificate was inside of a buy one get one free discount book that sold for $24.95

                          I was delivering from 30 to 50 books a day.

                          The owner of the boiler room had a bad gambling addiction. Went to Las Vegas for a holiday weekend and lost every cent to his name. I had the keys to open his office which was two adjoining motel rooms.

                          He called me and told me about the books for another town waiting at the printers that needed to be paid for and offered to sell me the operation for $5000.00 and I accepted his offer.

                          I closed the motel rooms out and rented a house zoned for business use.

                          The phone company wanted a $15,000 deposit when they found out I wanted to set up a TM operation. So I waited a week, called them again and told them I needed 15 lines installed because I was opening a collection agency. The deposit dropped to $4,000 and I was able to hired back most of the TM's by offering them the back pay that the former owner stuffed them on.

                          Sold all 5000 books in 6 weeks time. But just broke even with no profits to show for the effort. Then people started calling the office asking how they can redeem the photography voucher. The voucher used a generic name. I talked to others in the business and found out that the sold cards we kept on each book buyer could be sold as leads to photo studios.

                          A travelling photo company purchase all 5,000 leads for $4 each and rented my store front attached to the house to photograph the clients in. When I saw what they were getting for their packages I dusted off the camera's that one of the TM's had pawned off to me and I've been shooting portraits ever since.
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                          • Profile picture of the author SteveSki
                            Ok .... today was not much better than yesterday... I did a little experiment today. Took my helper and we walked away from the table and sat on a bench.

                            When the table was unattended, people would stop and look at at the sample portraits and were taking certificates off the table with them as they left.

                            Then I asked my assistant to go sit at the table while I watched from a distance.

                            Again people would not stop to look.

                            I'm thinking they are afraid that we will try to sell them something they can't afford so they run from us... but when I called her to walk back over to where I was sitting several more people started buzzing around the table admiring the samples.

                            Unfortunately the mall requires the table to be staffed at all times and we have to wait for people to approach us before we can talk to them.

                            So I got an idea... the next time we do this... I'm going to stand at the table and twist balloon animals and Vera is going to do Face painting for the kids.

                            I figure this may attract a crowd, build excitement and put the parents at ease and with a crowd of kids wanting a free balloon and their face painted I'll appear way to busy to take questions on prices and packages.

                            On the front of the certificate there is a space for a code number to validate the certificate. If someone takes one from our table without us first validating it .... it can not be used... so on the back side of it I'm going to print an entry form to win a free $1000 portrait package... just fill in your name and number and drop it into a mail box and we will pay the postage by already having a first class postage stamp on it.

                            I'll give away just one $1,000 package each month... I'll call everyone to announce the winner and make everyone else a second place winner... they can come in for a free session and a free 8x10... and I'll donate $25 to the charity for each person who comes in and give them the tax credit because I know that once they see their fantasy portraits... they will want them!

                            Cheers,
                            Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author michaelplies
    I think that's a great idea. Helping others while making some profit is a great way of business.
    Myself, I have access to few call centers.
    We also have done some charity fundraising in the past by selling chocolate. The business was very simple. We buy loads of chocolate, leave a small box with a coin collecting container at any local restaurant and office buildings. After paying ourselves a salary, we would give the rest to children's hospital in our town.

    Would love to hear more about the call centers. Where you get the leads for the donations?
    How about maybe sending an insignificant gift like a bracelet or a pen to everyone who donates a certain amount.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    Generally the call center I worked for that did charity, ran about 5 charity programs at once, and was constantly piloting new ones to see what worked the best...We would send people bumper stickers and things of that nature for donating.

    A Fundraiser and a charity are separate.

    A fund raiser works for a charity raising money and assumes all the risk , cost and work for a percentage of the funds raised.

    For instance the charity my fundraising center raised funds for only received about 20% of the proceeds from our fundraising efforts, but they got a free 2 million dollar per year or there about, so you can see how that benefits them, and also you can see that the call center owner does assume all of the risk so his portion is well deserved.

    I would like to create a fundraising center that can operate on 50% or less.

    Now some will scoff at that idea...but let me ask, which does better for a charity

    A: Volunteers who give 100% to charity and raise 10k per year.

    Or

    B: Pro fundraisers who raise a 5 million per year but require half the proceeds?

    I have said it before, I feel my old boss was greedy, however I DO understand the concept of paying pro's to raise funds and why its important. We sent a million kids to an anti drug seminar every year, and it would have taken ten years for volunteers to even send a single group.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tsnyder
    I like your idea but I've been down the road of qualifying
    for a 501(c)(3)... it's a very long and daunting process.

    Your best course of action is to assemble a team of professionals
    (lawyer, cpa, compliance specialist) and turn them loose on the
    project. Obviously, that will require substantial front end capital
    but with your knowledge and skill you should be able to recover
    those costs fairly quickly.
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  • Profile picture of the author bob ross
    My telemarketing manager for my small remodeling company used to be a call center manager for a PBA (police benevolent association) fundraising call center and they sell a ton of donations each day.

    I wanna say he told me each telemarketer was required to sell three per hour at an average donation of $30 or something. The incentive to donating was that you would get a sticker to put on your car and likely get out of tickets if you donated more than $20 or something.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Durham
      Originally Posted by bob ross View Post

      My telemarketing manager for my small remodeling company used to be a call center manager for a PBA (police benevolent association) fundraising call center and they sell a ton of donations each day.

      I wanna say he told me each telemarketer was required to sell three per hour at an average donation of $30 or something. The incentive to donating was that you would get a sticker to put on your car and likely get out of tickets if you donated more than $20 or something.
      My TMS Quotas were a minimum of $60 per hour, which was usually about 3 sales or "donations" they each pulled around $600 per day. I personally wrote about 100 per hour or more if i was real motivated...because my pledge average was about 40 bucks or higher when I was on... but after doing bigger sales, fundraising was easy for me.

      I just never asked anyone for ten or twenty...seemed like a waste of a good pitch.

      Fundraising is a pretty easy gig, comparatively.

      Ps. $60 per hour was the "cold" crew, the "tap" crew had to do $200 per hour. (Repeat Customers).
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  • Profile picture of the author michaelplies
    Sounds like a huge money making opportunity with a cold crew with $60 per hour.

    I'm still trying to figure out where the leads will come from.
    Just anyone from the local phone book? a random list or the call center would get targeted leads somehow?
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  • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
    I formed an Association and we are heading the non-profit route. I never thought of TM for raising donations!

    I'm going to give this more thought. Thanks for bringing this up.
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  • Profile picture of the author Daniel LaRusso
    Ah, the good old days. My first job in sales was in 1987, I was 15 and got a work permit to have a job under 16. I did cold calling in a boiler room, the training was horrible. There was a guy who was a terrible coach, and he brought in this equally bad "hotshot" named Matt from the big city to show us how it was done. Looking back, that's probably where my negative feelings about cold calling came from.

    I can still remember the pitch:
    Hi, Ms Jones, are you doing all right today? (Doesn't matter what they say). Well that's good to hear (said with no feeling). I'm calling for VOCAL, the victims of crime and leniency, and we're calling on good folks in Silverhill like you today to see if you'll take a stand against crime. Which one of our donation packaged works best for you - the gold, silver, or bronze package?"

    ugggghhh
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    • Profile picture of the author John Durham
      Originally Posted by Daniel LaRusso View Post


      I can still remember the pitch:
      Hi, Ms Jones, are you doing all right today? (Doesn't matter what they say). Well that's good to hear (said with no feeling).

      ugggghhh
      Daniel, no offense but you probably totally did not get what Matt was doing if thats how you perceived it.

      There was a reason he was good, and it aint because he did that.
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      • Profile picture of the author Daniel LaRusso
        Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

        Daniel, no offense but you probably totally did not get what Matt was doing if thats how you perceived it.

        There was a reason he was good, and it aint because he did that.
        Matt wasn't really that good. It's like if you play tennis, and you think you're good because you are better than all your friends, who suck. Then, of you Olay someone legitimately good, you see that comparatively, you weren't so good. Matt, comparatively, wasn't really good at all.

        I later saw cold calling pros who put Matt to shame
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        • Profile picture of the author John Durham
          Originally Posted by Daniel LaRusso View Post

          Matt wasn't really that good. It's like if you play tennis, and you think you're good because you are better than all your friends, who suck. Then, of you Olay someone legitimately good, you see that comparatively, you weren't so good. Matt, comparatively, wasn't really good at all.

          I later saw cold calling pros who put Matt to shame
          Cool.

          It's easy to be a big fish in a little pond. I get it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brian Alaway
    Religion and business combine for 113,000+ Likes with 117,000+ talking about a Facebook page so clearly business and religion can mix IF they're your passion. Can't fake it though.
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    • Profile picture of the author upmatthews
      I am starting a non-profit in a month or so and want to look into telemarketing for donations, have a few questions...

      Does anyone know where one could find a TM company that does calling for donations?

      Also, is the 20% negotiable? 80-20 split seems a little "out of whack"

      How does one keep track or verify whether the TM company is being honest?


      Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author Eddie Spangler
    You may have struck gold with your latest observations.

    I would expand this "constest, sweepstakes' idea and see if I could set up mini displays at various high traffic locations around town that I could get into. Then you dont have to man the locations and just pick up leads once a week or so.

    The timeshare industry has been doing this for years with people signing up to win a free cruise, vacation, etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author SteveSki
      Originally Posted by Eddie Spangler View Post

      You may have struck gold with your latest observations.

      I would expand this "constest, sweepstakes' idea and see if I could set up mini displays at various high traffic locations around town that I could get into. Then you don't have to man the locations and just pick up leads once a week or so.

      The timeshare industry has been doing this for years with people signing up to win a free cruise, vacation, etc.
      Hi Eddie, I already do the Magic Box type promos for lead generation and it does work very well. But here's the problem with running a free contest... often the bookings you get fail to show up for their session because they feel they haven't lost anything...this especially happens on rainy days.

      And of the ones who do show up... some don't have a pot to pee in and they plan on acing you no matter how good their portraits turn out.

      With the bookings I get from LivingSocial.... They all invested $49 or more to get their appointment booked and because they now have something to lose if they don't show... they all keep their appointments. Plus I know that they all have credit cards and computers... This results in a much better, more qualified prospect for selling extra prints to.

      So I thought that I could attract better clients by weeding out the low quality prospects by asking for a $25 donation... Plus I get to feel good about the voucher sales going to a worthwhile cause!

      I sold vouchers in department stores back in the early 90's in the USA and it worked well because I had no restrictions on approaching shoppers as they walked by. But the shopping malls here in Australia make it clear in the agreement they have you sign that you cannot be aggressive... so to make this work here... I have to find a way to attract people in a very non threatening way... So that's why I thought entertaining the children as a way to warm the parents up.

      Here's a video clip of one of my displays in a shopping mall that used two large contest boxes to generate leads...and a small clear contest box on the table that helped provide social proof that many others were dropping their names and numbers.

      It cost $1500 to set up there for a week plus they also required the stand always be attended by a worker so that cost at least another $500 to hire someone for the week. And even then... a lot of people would shy away from entering the contest when someone was there asking them to do it. But walk away for 30 seconds and passerby's would start filling out the entry forms on their own.

      Doing it as a fundraiser... I don't have to pay for the space... so I thought doing it as a fundraiser would be a better way.

      Cheers,
      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author upmatthews
        Has anyone used a telemarketing company to call for a non-profit or charity? What was your experience like?

        Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author Eddie Spangler
    Thats a nice display Steve, but I not talking about anything that elaborate.

    Just a single box with a picture of some example to be placed at no cost in
    various high traffic retail places like restaurants, nail saloon and such.

    An observation from that display is that I would think "hey this is cool but it must cost a fortune."

    Have you considered approaching other organizations that have people that will
    actually SELL the vouchers for you vs just lending you the name. They would do it
    as a fundraiser and keep the $25 for themselves.

    Seems like this would be a natural for things like PTAs, little league baseball teams
    and anything else with heavy female participation.
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    • Profile picture of the author SteveSki
      Originally Posted by Eddie Spangler View Post

      Thats a nice display Steve, but I not talking about anything that elaborate.

      Just a single box with a picture of some example to be placed at no cost in
      various high traffic retail places like restaurants, nail saloon and such.

      An observation from that display is that I would think "hey this is cool but it must cost a fortune."

      Have you considered approaching other organizations that have people that will
      actually SELL the vouchers for you vs just lending you the name. They would do it
      as a fundraiser and keep the $25 for themselves.

      Seems like this would be a natural for things like PTAs, little league baseball teams
      and anything else with heavy female participation.
      Thanks Eddie, Yes I'm doing all of the above and more. Still, nothing works as well as LivingSocial so I'm thinking of just running my deal with them in multiple cities. This past weekend I was showing and selling images that I took on a Saturday 3 weeks ago and did a little over $7500 in sales and am in the process of setting up several more shoot days for next month.

      I need to do more of what has been proven to produce the best results. Raising money for charities is nice but my little experiment didn't turn out as well as I hoped.

      And I want my display to give the impression that my work is very expensive. The contest boxes alone attract a lot of freebie seekers so they are good to shoot lots of high volume sessions and sell at near Walmart prices.

      But I'm selling a high end luxury item and I rather send all of the cheap price shoppers to my competition. My goal is to be the most expensive photographer in each town I work.

      Livingsocial shoppers unlike a lot of those who enter the free contest have money to spend. They all have computers and credit cards. A lot of the contest people don't even have a car. They take public transportation.

      I don't want them because they can't afford me.

      I'm going to design a Google AdWords campaign but I doubt if it will work as well for me cost wise as Groupon or LivingSocial. I let SocialLiving keep 100% of the the voucher money they sell. Frees my time up so I can shoot and sell more often and to a higher quality prospect.

      But if I can get the same quality of prospect from AdWords at a cost of $50 per sitting then I'll have something that could be scaled up and well worth the $50 per session... even at a cost of $100 per session would be great if it meant I could then keep selling and shooting rather than prospecting and marketing.

      I have a great product that almost sells itself. Just need to tweak the system a little more. If there are any offline marketing wizards reading this who can offer some tips I'm all ears!

      Cheers,
      Steve
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