June 24, 2012 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Eckerd College gave up most of its telemarketing efforts and now holds a single weeklong phonathon every year. Direct mail has also been trimmed to the bone, with only one annual-fund appeal every December.
Channeling the money Eckerd once spent on phone calls and mailings into salaries for three entry-level fundraisers has made all the difference, says Matthew Bisset, vice president for advancement. He says that after one year on the job, the new hires have achieved a 22-percent increase in annual gifts, to $1.7-million.
The junior fundraisers—who must make a specific number of visits but are not held to a strict dollar goal in their first year—all still work at Eckerd. Mr. Bisset is looking to hire three more fundraisers like them this year.
Despite the modest pay—junior fundraisers earn $30,000 to $40,000, plus benefits—Mr. Bisset says he’s had no shortage of candidates for the position, receiving about 60 applications for each opening.
Some of the applicants have worked in development before, but “fundraising experience is not that important,” Mr. Bisset says. “We want people who can visit folks, just pick up the phone and go all over the country.”
Still, snagging one of Eckerd’s junior fundraising spots requires a lot more than being a people pleaser who likes to travel, says Mr. Bisset. “Our interview process is pretty grueling,” often taking up to three months.
The first hurdle is the application.
“The résumé has to be impeccable because writing is so key, and the single most important thing before we see the person is the cover letter,” says Mr. Bisset. “It tells me why you specifically want to work at Eckerd and why you want to do this job.”
The next step is the telephone interview, even if the candidate lives nearby, “because we’re looking for phone skills,” Mr. Bisset says. Each candidate, he adds, has two phone interviews, each with a different Eckerd official.
People who do well in the phone interviews get follow-up in-person interviews with several members of the advancement team, a process that lasts about three hours.
Even if they ace all of those requirements, candidates have one final task to complete before they may be offered the job: a writing test in which they must craft a solicitation or thank-you note to a fictitious donor.
“It is really intense,” Mr. Bisset admits, “but we’re trying to avoid hiring the wrong people.”
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