Raking in a record

By Nicole LaPrade

Last Cinco de Mayo, students from the Santa Clara student call center had more than one reason to celebrate.

The students had surpassed their goal of raising a million dollars in pledges and gifts for the year, making the Santa Clara call center one of the nation's most successful.

Callers raised $1,060,163 in pledges and gifts during the 2004-05 school year, a 16-percent increase from the previous year, and the highest amount ever raised by the call center, according to Ceronica Murphy, assistant director of the student call center.

According to Carolina Lopez, this year's program coordinator, the staff began the year with enthusiasm and determination. As they got closer to their goal, their feelings grew stronger.

"As soon as we hit a million dollars, everyone got off their chairs and started popping the little confetti bottles," she said.

This year they have set their goal even higher at $1.2 million and believe it's more than doable.

Murphy says the rapport that students make with prospective donors plays a major role in helping students find what their interests are and where they would be likely to make a contribution.

"That's really key, to build that relationship. They're only on the phone, seven, 10, 12 minutes, and you've really gotta be able to build that rapport and have the conversation flowing back and forth. The more that our callers know and can share, it really makes that connection," she said.

"A lot of older alumni really like to get into it and that's really good because we want to show them that we care about what they're thinking and what they loved about the school," senior caller Didi Melone said.

According to Murphy, the average gift last year was $170 per call.

"That's pretty high in comparison to other schools across the country," she said.

Murphy said they focused on increasing the average gift because current phone technology and telemarketing laws make contacting prospects a challenge.

"So many people have caller ID and they're screening their calls. We had a real struggle with people not picking up their phones. We have fewer people that are giving, but their gifts are bigger."

"What we've done to try to work with that is we've really tried to maximize every single call," she said.

Melone, who has been working at the call center since her freshman year, calls her job "the best job on campus."

On top of their hourly wage, students have the opportunity to earn bonuses for reaching certain incentives.

"The money has definitely kept me there as well. Bonuses are ridiculous. I know last year one of our highest paid callers averaged about $16 an hour," Lopez said.

"We start to become one big family and I think that's the best thing about it," Lopez said about working at the call center.

Money raised by the call center primarily goes toward the Santa Clara Fund which is part of the Campaign for Santa Clara University, the current capital campaign which is raising funds for new buildings and facilities as well as $100 million for scholarships.

The Santa Clara Fund is an unrestricted fund and money can be designated to areas where they are most needed.

"As great as our school is, we really do need these improvements," Melone said. "Not just the buildings, but the $100 million for scholarships make such a huge difference, especially with tuition being as high as it is. So if I can call and raise money for kids to go to a school that I had the opportunity to go to, it makes everything worth it."

Contact Nicole LaPrade at (408) 554-4546 or at nlaprade@scu.edu.