Gift Aid Auditing Case Study
Client Profile
A Top 30 national accountancy firm with over 50 partners, and offices at 8 locations throughout England, and founding members of a well known global network of accountancy practices.
The Service
Chartered Developments were instructed to undertake a telephone marketing campaign for the firm’s specialist charity team, a multi-disciplinary group providing audit, accounting, tax and VAT advice to over 300 charity clients throughout the United Kingdom, including a number of long established “household names”.
The Brief
The core theme of the campaign was “Gift Aid auditing”, which asked the prospect whether their gift aid records were HM Revenue & Customs proof, the risk being that, should HMRC carry out an unannounced Gift Aid audit, they could claw back a significant amount of the Gift Aid that has been claimed over the previous 6 years.
Target Data
The client had previously compiled a list of around 200 charities and trusts, all located within the M25 area. It was assumed that the key decision maker
would be either the Chief Executive or Finance Director (or equivalent). Given that the list had been compiled some 18 months beforehand, it was
felt that it was not accurate, given that decision maker names had not been identified.
The Campaign
Given the age of the target list, the client asked Chartered Developments to prepare for the telemarketing campaign by undertaking a data cleaning exercise to ensure that the mailing was properly targeted, and would reach the correct decision maker. It was agreed that mailings would be sent monthly to 50 prospects at a time, enabling the calling team to focus on a manageable number of prospects for the 20 hours of contracted calling time per month, over a fixed six month period.
The objectives of the follow-up calling campaign were to:
i. Confirm receipt of mailing and verify brand awareness with the named contact
ii. Establish open dialogue with the decision maker to gain information regarding
existing advisors, performance review process, and perceived level of need
iii. Emphasise the client’s sector experience, introducing service components to
the conversation as appropriate
iv. Arrange a qualified introductory meeting for the campaign’s lead partner
Using past experience of sector-based campaigns, and the client’s existing
standing with the charity sector, Chartered Developments estimated that securing
in the region of 20-25 appointments over the 6 month period would be feasible.
The Result
On conclusion of the trial campaign, a total of 25 appointments were secured, four of which resulted from initial contact with prospects who agreed to book a meeting at a later date. The client gained several pieces of work from the campaign, including Gift Aid audit work, and additional spin-off tax work. One of the new clients gained was a high profile children’s fund raising organisation.
