Thousands contacted each year to raise money for the university
By Michael Houston
Just wait until you've been out of UP for a year. The calls will start coming, even if you attended the university for only a semester, a summer or all four years.
The person on the other end of the line is looking for your money.
On the second floor of Walshmidt Hall, after 5:30 p.m., the room usually used for data entry turns into a chatty place with a scoreboard on the front chalkboard.
Students, sitting behind computers and phones with headsets, nearly fill the three rows of long tables. Their job: to call alumni and ask for donations to the university.
Student callers contact about 30,000 people each year, and last year the group brought in about $165,000, according to Adrienne Darrah, the development coordinator for the Telephone Outreach Program (TOP).
Each of the student callers underwent 12 to 14 hours of training under Darrah and an outside consultant.
Junior Annie Speight said the group learned how to start off these potentially awkward calls with terms such as "the bonding period," which is the time callers update information in the giant database, callPro_2.0.
Graduation year, college major, parents, children, home address, current employer, past employers and previous donation history (with room for additional notes on prior phone interactions) are all contained in the program.
It is, however, information that has been voluntarily given to the university before, and it is useful to the callers.
Student callers scan the information off the computer before making calls. It helps them get a feel for the situation they are about to enter.
"It's great when you get someone who is the same major as you," Speight said.
Speight, a communications major, was looking for an on-campus job and thought this job might look a little better on a résumé than others.
Callers use the database to search for topics to talk about, but also need to come up with some dialogue on the fly.
"I try to find some commonality with someone," senior Sarah Ott said.
Ott started the student caller job at the beginning of the semester. Calls go on during the school year from September to April.
And don't worry, they take credit cards; they will call Alaska; they call alumni from the class of 1999.
All the while, callers earn markers on the Bingo board up on the chalkboard in the room for calling people with these characteristic items.
The scoreboard lists each of the student callers alongside the number and amount of pledges they obtain during each three-hour session.
"It's fun to see who wins at the end of the night," Ott said.
Each caller has the potential to win small prizes, such as $5 gift certificates, for her efforts.
Darrah said the games help keep spirits up in the room.
So, how often will they call you and how much money do they want?
Speight and Ott said they have called people from the class of 2007, sometimes encountering people they knew.
They will also try calling anywhere from five to 10 times depending on your donating history. You may be taken off the list with a simple request.
For alumni who haven't donated before, they estimate asking for $25 per quarter, summing up to about $100 a year.
Donors in the past are asked for something a little more complex. Speight said they have a chart with a formula that determines the amount of money callers should request from each individual.
When the phone rings, you'll know what to do.
