The Cerebral Palsy Society of New Zealand Incorporated is a registered charity. Their mission is to enhance the lives of people with cerebral palsy in New Zealand, by enabling them to make their own choices. The Society is reliant on the goodwill and generosity of corporate sponsors and individuals to make this possible.

Project Steptember

In 2015 The Cerebral Palsy Society joined a global fundraising campaign called Steptember. Designed to get people moving, the initiative challenges participants to walk 10,000 steps a day for 28 days in the month of September. As a team challenge, Steptember puts a strong focus on corporate engagement and participation.

As this was the first time New Zealand had participated, it was important to explore what advertising and marketing initiatives would prove the most successful locally. The Society had limited internal resources and a modest marketing budget. Their strategy needed to reach as many corporates as possible.

Enter Hot Leads

As part of their strategy, the Society decided to conduct a 40-hour test of targeted phone calls. Steptember was the Society’s first ever telemarketing fundraising campaign, so they took the time to interview a range of lead generation companies, before choosing to work with Hot Leads.

“I was drawn to Hot Leads for a number of reasons,” said Shelly Reilly, who is responsible for managing the Steptember partnership at the Cerebral Palsy Society.

“Lisa and her team stood out from the get-go; however, the main reason I chose them was because their team didn’t sound like scripted robots on the phone, they are warm and friendly. They took the time to learn about Steptember, offered the best value and services that I was looking for, and ultimately turned it into a successful fundraising campaign.”

Hot Leads conducted a trial of the telemarketing approach, and successfully signed up 35 corporations – raising over $10 of sponsorship for every $1 the Society invested.

Stepping up, year after year

Telemarketing proved to be the Society’s most successful tactic for gaining support from the corporate sector and generated the highest rate of return. Impressed with the outcome, the Society commissioned Hot Leads to continue their good work on a larger scale.

Due to the impressive return on investment (ROI), the Society has incrementally increased the size and reach of their campaigns with Hot Leads year upon year. “In 2017, we generated $508,154 of revenue through the corporations that Hot Leads prospected on our behalf,” said a delighted Reilly. “That works out to be 53% of total revenue.”

A big step in the right direction

“Engaging with Hot Leads resulted in outstanding corporate participant numbers and exceeded our fundraising goals,” said Reilly. “The ROI for us has been excellent.”