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Pell & Bales and Cancer Research UK won the Best Use of Telephone for the Autumn 2005 Race for Life conversion campaign at the Professional Fundraising Awards ceremony held at the Institute of Fundraising Convention on Monday 10 July.
Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life is a major women-only fundraising event in the UK. Women of all ages and all levels of fitness take part to walk, jog or run the five kilometers to raise money to help fund Cancer Research UK activity. The events have an amazing atmosphere as women all take part to raise money for a cause that they have a close personal connection to.
The Race for Life conversion campaign came about because Cancer Research UK wanted to offer women a new and exciting way to support the charity. It was felt that a telephone call would be the most relevant way of rekindling their support, by talking to women about the impact their giving has had and motivating them to give again by engaging them in a conversation about the work the charity has done and plans to do in the future.
The creative approach focused on the supporter’s race experience; each call was tailored to the individual supporter through the use of data supplied by Cancer Research UK. The caller was able to talk to each person about the race they had taken part in and the year in which they had participated. This approach was enhanced by the use of questions devised to engage the supporter in a ‘real’ conversion about their experience.
By taking an approach which engaged the supporter and recognising their value, the campaign achieved amazing results. Cancer Research UK recruited almost 6,500 new committed givers through this campaign. These supporters are now donating £1.3 million to the charity’s life-saving research over a five-year period. The campaign achieved a fantastic overall response rate - 12.4% of the supporters called started a regular gift (against a target of 7.2%) 93% of which was by Paperless Direct Debit. It smashed the response targets it had been set, which were based upon the results of a previous pilot campaign.
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Christina Bates, Regular Giving Development Manager said “This campaign was only made possible by the expertise, dedication and flexibility of all involved – the Pell & Bales callers, account team and Cancer Research UK staff. Through our joint efforts to focus on and understand the motivations of this group of supporters we were able to increase their engagement and support of our cause.”
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