Ep 162| Unlocking the power of nonprofit phone engagement - Bart Lillie

Are your nonprofit emails and social posts falling flat? It’s time to pick up the phone!

Jena chats with Bart Lillie from Synergy Direct Marketing Solutions about how texting and strategic phone outreach can overcome donor fatigue. Learn why personalized text messaging can significantly enhance your nonprofit’s engagement, acquisition, retention, and drive fundraising results.

Quick Wins You'll Gain:

• Why digital-only tactics lead to donor burnout.
• Proven strategies for impactful text message outreach.
• Simple ways to integrate texts and calls into your existing strategy.
• Use case examples of nonprofits doubling responses through strategic texting.

Boost donor connections today…send that text! 💬
👉 Click to connect with Bart and Synergy Direct Marketing Solutions: 

Chapters
00:00The State of Nonprofit Fundraising
03:01Reviving Phone Engagement
06:12Understanding Donor Fatigue
09:02Effective Communication Strategies
11:56Integrating Phone and Text Outreach
15:09Success Stories and Practical Tips


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Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00.686)
you

Speaker 2 (00:04.45)
The Nonprofit Podcast powered by Donorbox. Have you ever sent out a fundraising email, posted on social media, or mailed an appeal letter only to hear nothing? But in the silence, you are not alone. Nonprofits everywhere are feeling it. Donor engagement is dropping and retention rates are dipping.

Here's the thing, while our inboxes are overflowing and our social feeds are endlessly running through noise, there's one tool we've all been ignoring, and that's the phone. Yes, picking up the phone or sending a simple text can cut through the clutter and create real personal connections with donors feeling overwhelmed by the very draining daily doom scroll.

Welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast. I'm Jenna, Education and Community Engagement Manager here at DonorBox. And we're here each week with practical actions you can use today to increase donations and take your nonprofit to the next level tomorrow. And today we are diving into why phone engagement is making a comeback and how nonprofits can use it the right way. Joining me is Bart Lily from Synergy Direct Marketing Solutions.

Bart is an expert in helping nonprofits connect with donors in a way that's meaningful and effective. Welcome, Bart.

Hey, thanks. I'm really glad to be here.

Speaker 2 (01:27.95)
Before we dive into today's topic, I would love for you to tell us a little bit about Synergy Direct Marketing Services and how you help nonprofits connect better with their donors and what led you to focusing on this area.

Great question. So Synergy is simply using the innovation of the telephone to help nonprofits talk to donors. So the phone that I grew up with was in the kitchen wall, had a black cord, had knots in it. Many people might relate to remember that. It was rotary dial. And when the phone rang, you didn't know who it was. Like it's a novel thought, but like there's a quote unquote stranger on the other end.

And so that was really an exciting thing. Well, that's obviously changed. I mean, we can go through the iterations of the cordless phone, the car phone, the flip phone, the smartphone. And here we are today with this powerful technology in our pocket. And so just my own personal journey, my very first fundraising job in college was a telephone fundraiser at the University of Michigan. was where I kind of got my roots and then I joined a nonprofit for 10 years.

and did fundraising and many other things, many other hats, and got into the tech space. And then over the past maybe almost a decade, I've been in the tech for good. And I've just kind of took all of the things that I've experienced in my life and brought them together. And it's landed me here with Synergy. And I'm thrilled to help nonprofits engage more donors, help them talk to more donors using a phone.

Yeah, I'm in that kind of generation where there's like that big shift, right? When I was younger, we were so excited to answer the phone. Where's my little brother? He's 20 years younger than I am. And this is the only type of phone he knows. So what an interesting shift, right? So tell me little bit about synergy and what you are focusing on.

Speaker 1 (03:26.35)
So my role at Synergy, help lead partner engagement. That engages client partners, other partners in the tech space. I'm on the road at conferences to meet people and to make introductions. But I'm an extrovert. If people know me, they know community and people matter to me. And so it's fun to be in a role at Synergy where I get to really kind of live in that strength.

You're doing amazing work to really bring that personal touch to all things donor communication. I want to talk a little bit more about the current fundraising landscape. We have all been relying so heavily, I think, on email and social media for outreach. But the response rates just aren't what they used to be. What do you think is going on here? Why do you think traditional fundraising channels are falling short these days?

Well, donor decline, it's a hot topic that we're all kind of aware of. think these are not novel ideas either, okay? But donor fatigue and over saturation, I think go hand in hand. And whether you're parenting or you're fundraising or whatever, simply raising your voice and saying it again, saying it louder and trying to communicate more, more, more, more doesn't always get our point across. And so,

I think that there's a kindness to limit our interactions or change how we're interacting. again, with parenting or fundraising, we're people and humans need space to breathe. As I walk my dog in the mornings, I'm trying to intentionally walk out of the neighborhoods because I find that space helps me relax and say, yes, there's some openness out here. And I think in fundraising, there can be some space if we try to...

give a break and not try to overwhelm with just more messaging. So while humans need space, we also need interaction. And that is a two-way conversation, typically. What we're doing right now on this podcast is two-way. You ask a question, I see your face, I engage, I see your smile. And that is interaction that humans, think, are designed for. It's hardwired in us. Donor fatigue.

Speaker 1 (05:44.726)
I think comes when we're simply, you mentioned earlier, the doom scroll of social and whatever. We have a doom scroll in a sense of just our email or our direct mail or whatever is on our screens at a time. So I find that to be one-sided communication and two-sided communication is where we interact is necessary to being human.

That's a good point. I think you've really hit the nail on the head there. It's so tough to like stand out. And I always say, and I apply this principle to even when I'm making slide decks, more white space means more room to think. There are so many times where I want to put all the information on the page, but it's overwhelming, right? Donor fatigue is so real. It sounds like nonprofits really need to rethink their engagement strategies. So let's get into, I don't want to call it a comeback.

of the phone, but phone engagement, right? I guess it kind of is a comeback. think there's been this kind of ebb and flow of how fundraisers are wanting to use the phone. So I think for some folks it might sound a little old-scale school, but I've seen the power that these channels still have and picking up the phone or sending a text can feel so much more personal, right? We are starved for that interaction. So why do you think fundraisers should pay more attention to these methods in today's world

does feel like it's

So, okay, so you said throwback. I'm gonna test your pop culture knowledge here, okay? And if you don't get it, somebody else will probably get it. So, company made this phrase popular decades ago? don't leave home without it. That was the marketing slogan for a very popular company. Don't leave home without it. Do you got it?

Speaker 2 (07:37.678)
I don't know that one Bart, I don't.

American Express. It was the American Express card. Don't leave home without it. It was probably the 80s or the 90s, trying to get their space in the credit card industry. clearly the don't leave home without it, there's one thing and it's this right here. I drive away and I realize my phone's plugged into my desk. I turn around, I come back and I get it. Now, if I'm driving away and I'm like, I left my mailbox key. I don't care. I don't turn around.

And, or do I think, did I check my email one more time before I left? And so the phone is the most relevant, reachable, and real-time piece of technology that we have. And like you said, it's in our pocket. And so it becomes the way that we can really reach our donors and talk to them. And you said that...

phone is making a comeback. One of the things that as the phone has changed in its technology, mean, apps are a huge piece of a phone. And back when apps first came out, I that's stupid. I don't want to have an app on my phone. I'll just go to their website. And now it's like, yeah, it's all about the apps. And so yes, old school have a phone-a-thon, you know, raising money by making phone calls. It works for some, it doesn't work for everybody. And I think there are some industries that can do really well with that. And others that don't.

and it's kind of knowing your audience and knowing your industry and giving that a try. But the text messaging piece, that's a really easy way of engaging people or sending a ringless voicemail. If you have a spokesperson who's a celebrity or you've got a leader in your organization who just kind of likes the spotlight and likes the microphone, recording a 30, 45 second voicemail.

Speaker 1 (09:29.238)
and dropping that into the inbox of your major donors, your sustainers, or even everybody, or as a welcome message, thank you for being a part, thank you for that first gift. We have companies and organizations that that's a regular part of their welcome package when they have a new donor that joins 13. So.

I love ringless voicemail. You said you're an extrovert. I am an introvert. When I discovered this as a volunteer manager turned accidental fundraiser, I'm like, what do you mean? I have to call folks, right? And then I discovered this and it made a big difference for me. It made a big difference for my volunteers. And a lot of folks don't use ringless voicemail or even know how it works or no.

where to find it. So I'm assuming that Synergy offers this as a part of their solutions, which is

And again, the innovation side of the technology, what does our phone do today? If I get a voicemail, my phone reads it to me and it prints it out. I can just look at it. It's a 30, 45 second cost of time if I want to actually listen to it. Or I can scan that and read it in five seconds. And so I get to choose. gives your donors a choice. You get also two for one, a text and a voicemail.

If they realize, my gosh, this is from, you know, Taylor Swift or, you you name your celebrity, then I might want to listen to that, actually hear it.

Speaker 2 (11:03.712)
It's one thing to make a call or send a text, right? But how do you actually do that the right way in real time? I think a lot of fundraisers hesitate because they don't want to come off as pushy or salesy or they're not prepared for any possible questions. So what's the secret for making a successful fundraising ask over the phone that feels comfortable and natural?

Yeah, it's a great question. This is where I would love to say, let me bring in my team here because they are the experts when it comes to doing that. Synergy has been in place for 23 years now, helping nonprofits engage their donors through the phone. We're not a call center, but we do support the process and we manage that whole inbound, outbound piece. So we can provide that kind of management when it comes to the scripting, when it comes to the technology, when it comes to...

and even really helping some fundraisers listening right now. They're like, my gosh, we're not gonna do a call center. We don't have that ability, but we want to learn how to make better phone calls. I'm giving myself another to-do list right now because I'm realizing it would be awesome for Synergy to have some best practice tips dropped on LinkedIn. Follow us, I'll create something. I do wanna say though, when it comes to,

texting, if you're gonna send text messages, don't be afraid to test it. Everybody is unique. know, you mentioned it said, you're more on the introvert side, I'm the extrovert side. Great, we all have different preferred ways of engaging and talking to each other. And that you could say, yes, it's generational. But when it comes to a text message, for example, if we send a message out to a thousand laps donors, hey, thanks for your gift 18 months ago. You know, we appreciate that. We can be very

Customize with that we can send thank you Jenna for your gift of $50 last Christmas Spend a while we'd love to have you back if we send that to a thousand of your donors Who haven't given and they're not even expecting a text from you for sure our numbers say about eight to ten percent depends it could be a little bit lower if you've got some great people who are excited about you they're gonna say stop opt out, but you're getting engagement in that moment and

Speaker 1 (13:24.258)
you've learned something about them. That's their preferred method of talking with you, of being with you as a supporter. And maybe they're done, that's why they haven't given. But the 90, 92, 95 % who read it, because clearly when a message lands, we read those, you have reached them and you have given them an opportunity to say, yeah, I'm gonna come back. And so the...

We mentioned in the beginning, the donor fatigue, the inundation of mail and email and other messaging. It doesn't even get read sometimes. don't fear the stop or the opt out. It's not that high of a percentage and then let them self-select and let them say, yeah, not for me. And that's great.

that's really helpful advice. Timing, right, tone, personalization, those are all really key factors in getting engagement right. Plus texting is just such an easy real-time way to like connect with folks. And like you said, if they opt out, well, you know, that's not their channel and that's active listening. Now, how do we fit phone and text outreach into the bigger picture? We don't want to ditch all of our other channels, right? Email, social media, direct mail, they still have their place.

But how does phone engagement fit into a well-rounded fundraising strategy?

Well, I think clearly it does go back to what we just said about preference. you're giving people more choice and more options. And it's really not like, you're not overwhelming them, honestly. This is the way that we are regularly communicating. It sits on our desk, it's in our pocket. if-

Speaker 1 (15:09.794)
becomes a way that we allow them to choose to be there. One of the things that I do want to mention around texting, there's two kinds. If you get it under the covers of text messaging, there's P2P and A2P. So person to person or peer to peer is the first, and then A2P is automation to peer, automation to person. And the difference specifically when you have a person that sends it, there's

there's not the same regulations that you get against the automation that comes in, but kind of the mass texting. So if you're in the A2P, the mass texting, it's super easy because you can set up a campaign and it will automatically pow. A million, a hundred million, 10,000, whatever. These messages all get sent automatically. You have to have consent to do that.

You have to have that opt-in, can I send you a text? Yes, you know, and we respond and that has become pretty common for all of us. You know, we agree to opt-in, yes, send me a text, yes, and we can always opt out later. It's always on the table, like we can leave if we want, but that opt-in is not hard anymore. However, if we don't have that opt-in, then the P2P solution,

is a great option too because that allows us to still send a text message. It's one of the unique offerings that Synergy has because we can do both, but that peer-to-peer is maybe the first step in reaching those LAPS donors. If you don't have a phone number, we can append that. If you don't have that contact information, it's not a permanent barrier to potentially giving them a chance to come back.

And that's not something I would have ever thought about, right? Is that peer-to-peer in this context. And I imagine that's a very popular service as well for a lot of folks.

Speaker 1 (17:11.584)
It is, and I'll, you touched on peer to peer in this context. It is a curiosity, I would say, that we use sort of the same phrase, peer to peer. Yeah. And it has two different meanings. Peer to peer in the phone is a little bit different. And it just means you're having a person or an agent actually press a button to send the text as opposed to it being automated.

That makes a lot of sense. Now, you mentioned Synergy works very closely with the organizations that are using your services. What a dream, right? To go into a new channel and be able to have the guidance that goes along with that. I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit. Are there any success stories you have in the top of your head of a nonprofit that's really nailed phone and text outreach while working with you guys?

Yeah, and there are some case studies on our website and then we're to be releasing a number of new case studies every week for the summer. we have one organization that tested us in acquisition and they are mid-sized to large mailer and they did a lot of direct mail. And as we know, direct mail is expensive. Postage continues to be a real factor. And so they tested

I'm gonna send a text message to a portion of these recipients of my acquisition mailing. So these aren't even donors. And they tested and it increased the response rate and they said, we're going all in. After one year, they doubled their response rate. And we all know the direct mail response rates can be low, 0.2, 0.4, whatever it was, it doubled in the amount of donors they got. Now, that's great to get more donors, that...

honestly is why we do acquisition. We want more people to come in. The next question people may ask is, well, what is the cost on that? Like, what was the return on that? And the return on that investment, the net cost per donor went down. So yes, there's a cost to add that extra touch point, but the net cost per donor went down 20 % for that nonprofit that said, all right, I'm gonna try layering this.

Speaker 1 (19:30.272)
extra channel in for my acquisition. And so we've seen other organizations where they tested with the laps piece and they were able to bring thousands of donors back. And then those donors went on to give significant gifts over the course of the next few years. So the long-term recoup has been really high on that. So again, it just goes back to are we using the same methods and the same channels and hitting that fatigue or hitting that.

I can't hear you anymore because if I showed you my inbox going every day, then I just don't have time. So you could send me email all day and I'm not going to see it. Sending a text, it goes to your pocket instead of a pile or an inbox. It's a great way to get to people.

It makes me itch.

Speaker 2 (20:15.482)
example, right? It's great to see how that type of outreach phone and text can really move the needle when done intentionally, done right. Acquiring donors is expensive, but to get that cost down and then to be able to retain them with this awesome channel as well is what we all really want. So I'm looking forward to those case studies.

All right, I want to give our listeners a few quick wins. What would you say are two or three practical things nonprofits can do right now to start using phone engagement more effectively in their fundraising efforts?

Well, think learning a little bit more about it is maybe the first step. So if you're a nonprofit that doesn't really do any kind of phone engagement, this is kind of a new conversation for you, then you've got some learning to do. And that's a great first step and that's super easy. The second thing is to say, where do we use the phone currently? What is already happening? And just kind of getting that level set. is that as an organization, where do we use the phone?

And is there one group that's already doing it? Can I learn or can we work together on that? And then the third thing is, again, take a baby step in what that means. Depending on the size of your organization, you may be five people, 10 people, 20 people. And the fundraising all lands on your shoulders, where you've got a team of three five or 10. And how do we effectively use the phone? Well, we test.

And maybe the easiest way to do that is to have a thank you conversation. If you want to say thanks for this, it could be an actual pick up the phone and dial it. It could be, do we need to hire someone to kind of own this space? And of course, that depends on the organization. Some have the resources to do that and others don't. Or do we need to partner with a company that can spearhead this for us?

Speaker 2 (22:13.038)
I think it all starts with learning. And if folks get to the point where they're ready to partner with someone, what does that partnership look like, this synergy?

Well, we want to have that conversation with you to know what you're already doing and what you want to see happen. From our side, it's learning about you and learning about your organization. What are your goals? How do you communicate with your donors now? And then we'll come up with a plan of how we would layer some of our solutions into your current strategy. Again, crawl, walk, run, and as we see success play out, then we'll do that together.

We'll go ahead and link Synergy in the show notes for folks to check out. I think we've got a lot to think about when it comes to phone engagement and texting. I like the mindset shift here. It's a great reminder that in a very busy, noisy, digital first world sometimes the simplest tools are the ones that make the biggest impact. So Bart, thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us today. know our learners are.

walking away with some great strategies for making phone and text outreach hopefully a key part of their fundraising efforts.

Awesome. It's been great to be here. Happy to have the conversation with you, Jenna, and with anyone else.

Speaker 2 (23:29.294)
Thank you so much. And thank you for joining us on the nonprofit podcast. I hope you've left with the confidence to take a small step today that will make a big difference tomorrow. Be sure to click the download button on your podcast player and then leave the nonprofit podcast to review or give it a thumbs up if you're listening to the nonprofit podcast on YouTube. Your review is a great way to help others find us. You're here to help others. We're here to help you.

Until next time, stay inspired.