Anthony Alonso - President's Corner

Most non-profits today find themselves facing challenges they have not seen in quite sometime. With the downturn in the markets and the looming changes in the tax law, the situation only stands to get worse before improving. The Advantage team has been helping clients’ off-set the economic downturn by finding new and innovative ways to build relationships with new donors. Frankly, we consider ourselves fortunate to be in a position where we can have an impact on our clients’ development efforts.

The personalized telefundraising program Advantage has offered clients over the last 13 years is being further enhanced by the development and implementation of e-mail solicitation programs, web-development, pre-call e-mails, e-mail reminders and cultivation letters, and the development of client related widgets non-profits can use to advance their relationships with donors and the ability for their donors to make gifts. These new offerings are assisting our clients with developing new and cost-efficient ways to communicate with donors and create new revenue.

Advantage has developed these tools for clients to enhance their communication with constituencies, in their preferred manner. Younger alumni and other tech-savvy prospects, for example, are very receptive to e-mail communications. In a variety of tests, Advantage has found average gift sizes to increase approximately 20% when prospects are solicited with pre-call e-mails instead of letters. In addition, our service allows for transparency. The e-mails are personalized, have specific ask amounts, provide links to flash applications, and look and feel like they are originating from our client’s organization. As with our phone programs, Advantage feels personalization is always the key to success.

Through the years, Advantage has pioneered new services to keep pace with client needs. Unlike other firms, we have developed and created these new services in partnership with clients to help them better serve their non-profits.

Our clients are our partners in innovation!  We are grateful to all of our clients and very proud of our high retention rate. Below are some of our newest partners:

We are proud of our relationship with the non-profit community. We strive to provide our clients with the highest level of customer service, to ensure they are receiving the attention they require to facilitate the advancement of their organizations. As a member firm of Giving Institute we are bound by the highest ethical standards. We value your partnership and welcome you as partners in our success.

CLIENT SPOTLIGHT

The U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association & Foundation serves and supports the Naval Academy and its alumni.  As the fundraising arm of one of the most respected institutions in the country, the Naval Academy Foundation has been an Advantage client since 2006. Although our relationship originally focused on securing gifts for the Parents’ Fund, in 2008 our service expanded to fulfill the fundraising needs of the Alumni Association as well.  Advantage is proud to be contracted as the sole provider for telemarketing fundraising services by the Naval Academy Foundation.

“Advantage offered a fresh perspective and new ideas for increasing our participation rates as well as expanding our base,” explains Ginny Joy, Director of Annual Giving Programs. She continues to be impressed with the quality control and accuracy of Advantage’s work, which she cites as contributing factors to their growing relationship.

Ginny has been pleased with the relationship the Foundation has built with Advantage. She remarks,

The USNA Foundation's mission is to support, promote and advance the mission of the Naval Academy by working in conjunction with Academy leadership to identify strategic institutional priorities, and by raising, managing and disbursing private gift funds that provide a margin of excellence in support of the nation’s premier leadership institution.

Funding priorities of the Academy leadership include:

“The men and women who graduate from the Academy have been serving our country since 1845, and we are proud to be associated with this great institution,” remarks Anthony Alonso, president of Advantage.

Advantage has been pleased to help the Foundation achieve its fundraising goals. Both Advantage and the Foundation anticipate that through this partnership, the Naval Academy Foundation will continue to exceed its fundraising goals each year.

AFP International Conference

Each year, the AFP International Conference brings together thousands of the most accomplished leaders in philanthropy. This presents us all with a unique opportunity to really get to know each other.

Advantage will be exhibiting at the AFP international Conference from March 29th – April 1st, 2009. Please stop by our booth (1027) and visit us. Representing Advantage will be Anthony Alonso, President; Maria Baamonde-Healy, Vice President of Client Services; Victoria Wilt Stockman, Vice President;and Richard Rodney, Director of Sales and Marketing.

On March 30th at 7:00 pm, Advantage will be hosting a reception in conjunction with M3 Development, at Arnaud’s Restaurant, 813 Rue Bienville – 2nd Floor, New Orleans (Corner of Bourbon Street & Rue Bienville). We will have dinner, open bar and plenty of beads for all to throw from the second floor balcony facing Bourbon Street. This networking opportunity will allow clients and friends to share ideas, keep up with trends in the market, and have some fun – New Orleans style!

We are expecting a large group; in fact many of our valued friends and clients are already signed up. Please make your reservation to attend by clicking on the link below:
                            

Please RSVP here

We look forward to seeing many old friends at the reception, as well as, making new ones.

ADVANTAGE PLUS!

Advantage Consulting is pleased to introduce our new planned giving calling program. The new program, called Advantage Plus!, has been in the test phase for the last several months. As always, Advantage has developed this service with the assistance of its clients and numerous experts in the field of planned giving.

Advantage Plus! will allow clients to identify and solicit planned gifts in a personalized manner through the use of both mail and phone. The process begins with Advantage and leading experts in the planned giving field meeting with your team to audit current efforts and identify potential prospects. In partnership with you, we will develop material to be mailed ahead of telephone follow-up calls.

An effective planned giving call is highly-dependant on the knowledge of the caller. Your follow-up calls will be handled by mature, trained professionals who will become an extension of your development office. In fact, we will fly our callers to your institution for training.  Additionally, we encourage Advantage Plus! clients to spend a week with us at our calling facilities for additional training. Our two-pronged approach to training callers in this area utilizes leading professionals in the planned giving field to help callers understand the nuances involved in the solicitation of planned gifts. The telefundraising experts at Advantage then continue to educate callers on effective techniques and strategies for telephone communication with your prospects.

Over the last thirteen years Advantage has become a trusted name in telefundraising, by working with non-profits to enhance their calling programs, increase their annual fund results and capital campaign outreach efforts. Unlike other firms that have only been calling for a short period of time in the United States, we understand the market and are in the best position to provide you with quality results.

Now, the same trusted name you have come to know for annual fund and capital campaign wrap-up calling, is able to help you increase your organization’s bequests through the Advantage Plus! approach.

Advantage and AFP Partner to Raise over 1.3 Million!

The EMC Advantage Calling Program is made possible through a partnership with The AFP Foundation. Advantage has been working with the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy since 2002 to help build the annual fund through the addition of telephone solicitations. The partnership, which provides pro bono service to the Foundation, has successfully acquired new donors and re-engaged past donors to raise more than $1.3 million to date.

"Our partnership with Advantage Consulting is incredibly valuable," remarks Paul J. Strawhecker, MPA, ACFRE, 2008 chair of the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy and president of Paul J. Strawhecker, Inc., in Omaha, Neb.   "Thanks to their generous donation of services and expertise, the Foundation can leverage AFP member donations to make a truly lasting contribution to the profession. AFP is grateful for their continuing support in making the EMC Advantage Calling Program a success."

The EMC continues to grow to new levels as the program continues to achieve pledges from 55 to 65 percent of those called and average gift sizes of $60 to $70 on a yearly basis.

“We are proud to help bring together AFP members and the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy in the important mission of extending AFP’s services and advancing philanthropy,” said Anthony R. Alonso, president of Advantage Consulting. “We are impressed by the generosity of AFP members. Their support enriches the association experience for all of us.”

For more information about AFP or the EMC visit afpnet.org

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