Telethon

Are you the one responsible for the huge phone bill each month? Use your talking-skills to call people and ask them to donate to the cause of your choice!

Recruit your talkative friends!

Find people who have great interpersonal skills and can handle themselves well on the phone with strangers. Ask them if they are free one night to call people and ask for donations. If you offer to pick up a pizza for them for dinner, they may be more willing to join the effort!

Find phones. Lots of them.

See if your school will let you make local calls on their lines. Or, ask parents to use house lines. OR, use cell phones! However, people will caller ID may be more willing to pick up if it says it’s a call coming from the local high school.

Set your goals

What are you raising money for? Have a certain amount that you are trying to raise, so you can tell people your goal when you call them. Also be sure to let them know what organization you are donating to, and why.

Get your dialing-finger ready.

Call, call, call! If your school has a directory, try calling parents of students first. They may know you and will know that you’re a reliable person, and not just some random kid trying to scam people of their money. Be very courteous and polite, and if people decline, still thank them for their time, and give them some mailing address, e-mail, or phone number so that if they change their mind later, they can still donate.

As people agree to donate, write down their name, phone number, and any other contact info they are willing to give (like an e-mail or mailing address). Ask them to mail the donations in, or offer to pick them up (if you are calling people within your town). Another option is to send the donations into school with their sons and daughters. If asking people to mail in their donations, see if your school, health department, or other small institution in your town would be willing to hold the mail for you, so people feel safer sending it to their address.

Say “thank you!”

Send thank you notes to people who donated, or even call them again! Tell them how much you appreciated their generosity, and say how much money you were able to raise.