The Nonprofit FAQ

What are the key advantages and disadvantages of hiring a telemarketing firm versus using volunteers?

Someone wrote: I want to hire a telemarketing firm. My Board members are concerned about how much money the firm will take. What do I do? Ina Frank comments: Don't hire one -- for exactly that reason. Your hard-earned dollars should not be unnecessarily diminished. Volunteers are just fine, if properly trained. And, there's virtually no cost except advance mailing and a nice gift for the hosting business. OK, maybe some bagels or doughnuts & coffee. A small price to pay for marvelous good will and, most important, the opportunity to connect current devoted volunteers with future ones plus maybe unearth a potential major ($10,000) supporter or two. Most potential givers at that level really respect an organization that uses volunteers wisely. Some organizations hire telemarketing firms and love it because they hardly have to lift a finger. How much more might they have made with just a little effort? Instead of a small fraction of the total pledges, they could have had almost the whole amount. I would not advise an organization to pay a telemarketer, when those within the organization are so very credible. Even though most of us work, almost every household -- even in the inner cities -- can provide one body for 2 hours on a weekend morning or weekday evening to help secure the longterm benefits of this sort of connection. An employee of a telemarketing firm (Paul Giuliana of Lester Telemarketing) countered: Your suggestion is to use volunteers and not a telemarketing firm because the firm would take too much money. I suggest that this is narrow thinking. I have been an Account Executive in the Fund Raising Division with a Telemarketing Firm for nearly ten years. I have found that all too often people view this as an "either/or" question. Most of my clients use volunteers. They use our services too because the number of volunteer calling hours available is far too few to reach a significant portion of their constituency. Our calling is far more effective when viewed in terms of net dollars than a "sorry we missed you" mailing. We do not charge a percentage. We charge by the hour. We charge for the work we do. We are proud to provide great people who are interested to learn about the organizations they represent. Finally, James M. Greenfield weighs in on this very subject in Chapter 6 of his book Fundraising Fundamentals. Order http://www.amazon.com/dp/0471209872/?tag=internetnonprofi">Fundraising Fundamentals from Amazon.Com — a royalty will be paid which helps support this site. Revised 07/09/09 -- YBL