Thank-a-Thons Complement University’s Annual Fund Phonathon

The UNT Contributor Relations Systems Development Team (CRSDT) has made it easier to say “Thank-you” to donors. CRSDT developed self-service data extracts for Advancement’s Annual Fund Phonathon to quickly identify people who have fulfilled monetary pledges in support of the University. By loading this information into a program named RuffaloCODY, the Annual Fund can now schedule “Thank-a-thons” to call donors and personally express gratitude for their monetary support.

RuffaloCODY is software with a truly unique name that has been serving an equally unique purpose for the University. It is a phonathon automation program. The UNT Advancement Office has a dedicated room of work stations from which student workers make calls to prospective donors using information presented to them in application screens. The program presents prospects in sequence to the callers’ workstations, auto-dialing and providing information allowing a relationship-building conversation rather than a “cold call.” For example, the caller knows if the prospect is an alumnus, what college they graduated from and when, if their spouse is also alumni, and a snapshot of the prospect’s “giving” history. During the call, notes can be captured and used for future contacts and records correction such as job and address changes.

Historically campaigns have included large amounts of paper-based informational resources, such as letters, flyers, brochures, and forms. Callers would hastily write down notes during calls and later transfer the information into electronic formats. RuffaloCODY is a more eco-friendly initiative and supports UNTS’ ideology of being truly green.

In preparation for phonathons, RuffaloCODY assists in segmenting prospects, allowing calling efforts to be focused on groups most likely to yield successful pledges. After the phonathon is completed, management reports can be produced for analysis. Typical data in the reports pertain to participation, average pledge, income per contact, and other related information that helps measure the success of the phonathon.