Phonathon is an on campus occupation at Cabrini University that utilizes student workers rather than faculty members. At Phonathon, student callers will call undergraduate alumni, parents of alumni, parents of current students, graduate students or members of other constituencies.
Phonathon’s purpose is to update alumni information, re-engage alumni with their experience as a Cabrini student and having meaningful conversations with a current student and gain financial support from alumni for the Cabrini Fund or other financial avenues.
John Verdi, interim director of annual giving, supervises the Phonathon program and its student callers.
“Student callers is very crucial to the Phonathon program,” Verdi said. “Alumni appreciate speaking to students rather than staff members or gift officer’s, so very meaningful conversation is being had during the Phonathon nights.”
Verdi’s goal is for Phonathon this year is to gain new donors to the university and re-engage alumni to a place they may not have had any connection with in a long time.
“Through Phonathon, we hope to support the 1,957 donor campaign, which would provide an additional $29,000 to the Cabrini Fund by the Board of Trustees if we achieve 1,957 donors this year,” Verdi said. “In addition, we hope to increase our Alumni Participation rate to 10 percent.”
Lili Ayllon, sophomore education major, is a student caller for Phonathon. Ayllon feels as though she has not only scored a job through Phonathon, but also gained a family.
“I love seeing all my friends every night and getting to know the people that I call,” Ayllon said. “I love all the crazy stories people tell me about their Cabrini experience over the phone.”
Ayllon noted that no specific group of people are more likely to donate than another, but rather the connections you make with said person as a student caller are what determines if that person will donate or not.
“Anyone can donate, but it takes some convincing to do,” Ayllon said. “It’s really about how they feel during the phone call and how much you show that you care.
Similarly, Camilia Katkocin, freshman political science major, has benefitted greatly from her job at Phonathon. However, she noted that calling alumni sometimes comes with hardships.
“Every once in awhile, people I call will hang up as soon as I introduce myself or just simply say they don’t have time,” Katkocin said. “However, most of the alumni are always nice when engaging in conversations with me.”
Verdi himself hopes that Phonathon can become more expansive in the future by using various forms of technology.
“We could achieve this is by sending virtual thank you letters and appeals,” Verdi said. “We may also want to start utilizing ‘celebrity’ faculty and staff to make calls, which could engage our alumni more and help us achieve our goals.”
