One way to connect with the mentor community to increase fundraising is to do phone banking. There's more information about the procedure for successful phone banking in the article about Building a Crowdrise Campaign.

This script is a baseline example that iMentor NYC has used in the past. It should be reviewed and edited to suit your agency's needs and capacity. The green highlighted portions are where you would want to insert BBBS agency- and location-specific information before providing the script to your staff.

Phone Banking Script

Hi, my name is [BBBS staff] from Big Brothers Big Sisters. I wanted to thank you for helping to make our work at [BBBS Agency] such a great success and to talk to you about a special initiative we are running. Do you have a few minutes to talk?

As you may know, BBBS is a non-profit and we depend on private philanthropy to support everything from training our mentors, to our technology platform, to our full-time staff, like your Program Manager.

As our biggest champions, we are asking our mentors to share their mentoring story with their friends, families and colleagues via the BBBS Challenge so that we can raise awareness and the critical funds we need to grow the program to scale in the [city, state]. Would you be interested in joining our efforts and sharing your mentoring story with your network? 

Wait for response.

If YES – Thank you so much! You will receive a follow-up email from my colleague [colleague name, either a development staff person or the Program Manager] with the link to make your page. We hope you will make your page when you get the email -- it’s super easy and will only take five minutes.  We look forward to having you on our team and if you have any follow-up questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

If MAYBE – I totally understand that you want to learn more before you commit.  You will receive a follow-up email from my colleague [development staff] with more information. Take a look at some of your fellow mentors' fundraising pages, and I hope you will be inspired to join us!

If NO – No worries, we understand that crowdfunding isn’t for everyone. We do have a few other ways for you to get involved. Would you be interested in helping us throw events or helping us recruit mentors?

If NO – No problem. You will continue to hear about these opportunities through your Program Manager throughout the year in case you change your mind. Thank you for your time and your commitment to your mentee. Have a great evening!

If YES EVENTS – That’s great! We are planning an event for the fall and would love your help. My colleague [mentor enrollment staff or Program Manager] will get in touch with you to let you know the ways you can get involved with planning and making the event a success. Thank you so much for your interest!

If YES RECRUITMENT – Thank you! That’s great. We would love your help recruiting mentors. My colleagues [recruitment team staff person or Program Manager] will send you a follow-up email with a link to nominate mentors and some other information on how you can help us to recruit new mentors this year. I hope you have a wonderful evening and thank you again for being a champion!

Voicemail Script

Hi, my name is [BBBS staff] from Big Brothers Big Sisters. I am reaching out to thank you for helping to make our work at [BBBS Agency] such a great success. We have launched the [mentor2.0 Challenge] crowdfunding campaign and hope that you will join us by creating a page and sharing your mentoring story with your network to help grow the program for next year. Look out for an email from my colleague [development staff person or Program Manager] with all the details. Thank you for being such a great champion for your student and BBBS!

FAQs

If there are any questions you don’t feel comfortable answering/don’t know the answer, let them know that you will have a colleague follow-up with the answer and make a note on the excel sheet (see example in Building a Crowdrise Campaign).

Where do I sign up?

• URL: [TBD, you'll have to set up the campaign before you have a CrowdRise URL]
• Signup will take 5 minutes.
• You do NOT need to populate the story field during sign up – you can leave it blank and it will prepopulate with text you can edit later on.
• You do NOT need to add a picture right away, you can upload one later on.

When does the [mentor2.0 Challenge] run?

• [Dates of the challenge]

How do I share my page with my network?

• You can share directly from the Crowdrise page via email and social media.
• We recommend sending out a targeted email to friends, family and colleagues telling your mentoring story and directing people to your page to donate.
  • We have some email templates that you can use to get started I

How much money are you trying to raise?

• We are hoping to raise [$XX], but raising awareness about BBBS is just as important as the dollars we raise.

I am interested in getting more involved with BBBS, are there ways to do that?

• Yes! We have many ways to connect you to our teams to help plan events or to recruit volunteers.

I do not want to fundraise, but would like to make a contribution myself, can I do that?

• Yes! You can make a contribution by visiting the Crowdrise site [TBD] and clicking on the [donate button -- make sure you know what this looks like after you start the campaign]. My colleague [development staff person or Program Manager] will send a follow-up email with the link!