Cornelia,

As a guy that used to make my living on the phone (B2B technology sales) I'll tell you that there is an art and science to being able to make those phone calls and be successful at it. Also being involved with OCF on many levels as a dedicated volunteer, I'll tell you that getting volunteers to do mission specific work can be a lot like herding cats.

I'm not agreeing with the use of using a telemarketing company and paying them, but here's the business advantages to doing that and something that the article failed to properly cover. Once a person donates to a certain organization, like ACS for example, they are more likely to donate again and do so without the use of that service. The telemarketing company may be making the calls...but ACS is getting that information and it's now a relationship that can be nurtured by ACS through other means that no longer cost them very much, like email, snail mail, or even inside volunteers for ACS willing to make follow up calls instead of Cold Calling.

For the record, I've done telemarketing for OCF, in 2011 I turned my restaurant into a call center and trained my wife, friends, and employees how to make cold calls into dental offices to push the April Oral Cancer Awareness month. We did that from January through April 1st and I burned through a lot of people that didn't enjoy the duty. Cold calling and dealing with rejection isn't easy, especially when you're volunteer, salaries are incentives.

Anyways those are my thoughts for what they are worth. I still think there are easier ways to make those connections, and more cost effective.