# Phone Room’s cold donor acquisition achieves pay back in a year

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/12/02/phone-rooms-cold-donor-acquisition-achieves-pay-back-year/
- Published: 2013-12-02T10:23:45+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Telephone fundraising agency The Phone Room has developed a ‘cold’ donor acquisition
programme which they say “is delivering a pay back in under a year”.

The first campaign to recruit large numbers of new donors using the new model is
being run with Bible Society.

> The campaign with Bible Society has been particularly successful with payback 
> of their investment in around eight months.
> 
> ## Advertisement
> 
>  [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/)

David Kent, Managing Director of The Phone Room, explained that the ‘TPR Momentum’
model involves using existing donors to recruit new cash donors “in a way that means
that there is greater initial affinity to the charity and far less likelihood of
attrition”. Although the new donors are ‘cold’ by any definition, they are warm 
in that they have an immediate connection with the charity, and have been, in effect‘
screened’ by the existing donor.

The Phone Room has found that the first cash gift is much higher than is normal 
in cold acquisition. This makes the subsequent conversion of those new donors to
long term committed donors, part of the TPR Momentum programme, more successful.

Cold acquisition campaigns do of course vary considerably, but some can take up 
to two years to achieve a return on investment. Kent says that:

> “TPR Momentum is better than a year. The campaign with Bible Society has been 
> particularly successful with payback of their investment in around eight months.”

Naomi Buckler, Bible Society’s Fundraising Officer, confirmed:

> “We are certainly very pleased with the results to date and excited to be working
> with The Phone Room on this innovative project”.

The Phone Room is engaged in a second test campaign with a non faith-based charity
and reports similar results to those achieved with Bible Society.

Kent added:

> “The Phone Room is so confident in getting results that we will be shouldering
> much of the financial risk on future campaigns”.

 * **[The Phone Room to present at Perfect Pitch on 3 October](https://fundraising.co.uk/2006/09/07/phone-room-present-perfect-pitch-3-october/)**(
   7 September 2006)
 * **[Arts Fundraising special interest group to be launched](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/05/06/arts-fundraising-special-interest-group-be-launched/)**(
   6 May 2007)
 * **[Two new appointments at The Phone Room](https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/02/10/two-new-appointments-phone-room/)**(
   10 February 2010)