[NFB-Talk] Blind With You Concert, One Problem

[pmdonahue2 at gmail.com]

                Good afternoon and happy Easter to everyone,

 

                We caught much of the BlindWithU Concert yesterday afternoon
and evening. The performances were awesome! We were amazed with the wide
variety of musical styles shared by blind persons throughout the World
including at least one blind Ukrainian.

 

                There was only one issue with this event that we hope won't
be repeated in the future. We tried making a contribution via the online
form but had difficulty getting our credit card to process. Wanting to be
counted among the contributors we wanted to contribute by phone but were
quite disgusted that there were no live operators manning the phone lines to
assist with contribution processing. Those wishing to contribute by phone
were asked to leave a number and would receive a callback during the coming
week.

 

                Anyone who listens to or watches publicradio/television,
contributes to such campaigns like the Laborday Jerry Lewis Telethon, and
many other such fundraisers are never told to leave a callback number. KENS
5, our local CBS Affiliate in San Antonio often raises funds for area
agencies and organizations. They recruit volunteers to man their call center
during these campaigns instead of telling these contributors to expect a
callback next week. Why was the same thing not done to process phone
contributions during the BlindWithU Concert? The National Center has space
for a call center. Another option would have been to have volunteers take
phone contributions remotely. Given that we needed to adjust how we do
things during the pandemic and the increasing popularity of remote work it
should have been a no-brainer to have a call center up and running for this
event. Contributions would have been processed in real-time and the amount
raised could have been much higher. People! We're the National Federation of
the Blind! We can do better than that! It's our hope that should another
fundraiser of this kind be undertaken and contributors are invited to donate
by phone that "Operators will be standing by to process their
contributions." Let this be history that will not be repeated. We'll be
curious to hear what the final amount raised was. Happy easter everyone.

 

Peter Donahue

 

 

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