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Faculty Volunteeers Wanted for Phonathon

Bryan Tamburro

Every fall, Graduate Alumni Programs (GAP) contacts department heads to volunteer their time, staff and students to help their department raise money and reconnect with alumni. You may be wondering why GAP wants you to pick up the phone and ask your alumni for money. First of all, let's be clear: Calling alumni from your department to ask for gifts is no easy job. It takes some training, skill and knowledge - but it may be one of the most important things you can do for your department.

The MIT Alumni Fund and your department have two goals: to broaden our base of support and to secure the largest gifts possible. It may surprise you when we say that the first goal is by far the most important.

If you ask million-dollar donors when they gave their first gift, you'll find that many did it in response to a caller – and that first time they probably gave less than $100. While some alumni will give only small amounts their entire lives, if we get as many annual fund donors as possible, we can identify alumni who will make larger gifts each year. By making the people you call feel good about their gifts and the giving experience, you can start them on a lifetime commitment of financial support to MIT.

Does that mean we value donors of small gifts as much as those who make large gifts? Yes. There is strength in numbers of donors, regardless of gift size. Some alumni only choose to make a gift once they realize how many of their former classmates are already giving. More importantly, many alumni give money because they have a relationship with MIT and your department. Even though we do solicit constituents through the mail, a letter can't really build a relationship. A phone call is interactive. You can present specific compelling reasons for the contribution, and you can adapt these reasons for each call you make. In addition, your phone call may be the only direct, personal interaction the prospect will have with MIT the entire year. This gives us a chance to do other things as well, like update our information on them and update them on us.

We cannot emphasize enough that the phonathons are critical to the success of annual fund dollars accessible to each department. Last year, phonathons raised over $242,199 from 2,301 alumni.

We want to build on our past success and this year we have made changes to the phonathon program, including hands-on training and more reference materials to make the calls easier, which should make it much more effective than previous years. Our success depends on your involvement. We look forward to working with you this fall.

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