This year’s Sandra Schmirler Foundation Annual Telethon, serviced by net2phone Canada, was held completely virtually, across Canada. Volunteers and supporters came together to make 2021 another record year! The Sandra Schmirler Foundation, named after curling champion and Olympic gold medallist Sandra Schmirler, contributes to Canadian hospitals by donating life-saving NICU equipment to care for critically ill newborns. On February 21st, 2021, the telethon hit a major milestone, raising over $700,000.
As the phone service provider chosen to power the telethon for the eighth consecutive year; where the event was normally held each year in a different Canadian city, this past year's remote-based telethon meant we had to think differently to support this wonderful cause. net2phone Canada team was proud to send out our VoIP phones to volunteers in locations across the country. Along with equipment donated, net2phone Canada staff worked with the foundation and volunteers to ensure the phones kept ringing and could take donations for this excellent cause from 9:00 am to midnight. This was accomplished with 80 volunteers across various provinces.
Watch an interview with net2phone Canada’s President and COO, Jonathan Moody, as he discusses the telethon and upholding #Pledge1% values. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVQy7IvxI-g)
The Sandra Schmirler Foundation Telethon volunteers were flooded with a whopping 3,600 calls, which bested last year’s total by over 400 donor calls. We set up insight dashboards, which allowed us to visualize important metrics and call data in real time, such as number of calls handled, average talk time, call volume, and wait times. These statistics enable the Foundation to track caller’s behaviours in reference to the TSN coverage and prepare the appropriate resources for the following years’ telethons.
“Telethon day is always stressful for all of us at the Sandra Schmirler Foundation. It is our biggest fundraiser of the year. In past years, our phone system was a massive challenge. Since we partnered with net2Phone Canada all those challenges have disappeared! They deal with any issue that arises, so quickly and professionally. We are so grateful for their support over the last 8 years.”
- Brenda Gallagher, Director of Operations, Sandra Schmirler Foundation.
