Real campaigns. Measurable outcomes.

The challenge

The charity needed to grow sustainable, predictable income through regular giving — the lifeblood of long-term fundraising. Mental health is a sensitive cause: donor conversations demand genuine empathy and emotional intelligence, not a hard sell. A typical high-turnover, script-reading call centre wasn't the right fit. They needed callers who could hold a real conversation about a difficult subject and convert that connection into committed, ongoing support.

The approach

• Two-step, multi-channel acquisition — prospective supporters were first engaged as leads through social media, telephone, surveys and other channels, then converted into committed regular donors by Unity4's agents. Critically, every lead-generation and conversion cost across all channels is included in the $393.54 cost per donor — a fully-loaded figure, not a calling-only number.
• Mature, experienced, home-based agents — typically aged 35–60, bringing the life experience and empathy a mental health cause requires, and building authentic rapport with prospective donors.
• Regular-giving conversion programme run end-to-end on the RapportCMS platform.
• Data segmentation and live A/B optimisation — over 33,000 records strategically worked, with real-time performance comparison across calling cells.
• Closed-loop quality and AI coaching — every call scored, with coaching driving continuous improvement across the 809-hour, three-month campaign.
• Full client visibility — live dashboards on cost-per-donor, conversion and income throughout.

The results

• 215 new regular donors at an average gift of $23.08/month — $59,546 in new annualised recurring income.
• 101 additional one-off gifts worth $5,100, lifting total Year-1 income to $64,646.
• Total cost per regular donor of $393.54, with full break-even — including data — at 16.0 months, after which the income stream is pure return.
• Break-even in 8.4 months on calling investment alone — fast payback for a long-term income stream.
• $124,000 projected over three years after conservative benchmark attrition — against an upfront investment of $84,612.
• A 48.6% contact rate across 5,250 conversations, with quality maintained throughout via call scoring and coaching.

Three-year projection applies conservative industry-benchmark attrition for telephone-acquired regular giving (approximately 30% in year one, then around 20% per year thereafter). Actual donor retention is tracked live in RapportCMS and reported to the client throughout the campaign. Figures reflect a three-month campaign snapshot. This was a two-step acquisition: leads were generated across social media, telephone, surveys and other channels, with all lead-generation and conversion costs included in the stated cost per donor. All figures are in Australian dollars (AUD).