Division: Charity

Insights Charity

Are you aware the Direct Debit Indemnity Claim process is changing from 31st May?

20 May, 2024

As of 4th March, Direct Debit Service Users can now simplify the way they challenge Direct Debit Indemnity Claims (DDIC), with the old process no longer available after 31st May 2024.

Bacs, part of pay.uk, have implemented a new change to streamline what was often an individual and difficult bank process that relied on emails for any Service User wanting to counter-claim an indemnity.

Direct Debit Management – a step forward

The new DDIC process enables Service Users to follow the same easy process, regardless of their sponsoring bank. By logging into the Payment Services website, they will now be able to challenge incorrect indemnity claims quickly and efficiently.

What does it mean for charities?

Direct Debit Indemnity claims are rare in the charity sector, but they do occur. Supporters have the rights and protection under the Direct Debit Guarantee to request an Indemnity claim if the Direct Debit was taken in error. For most charities, counter-claiming a donation does not often occur, however, for Direct Debits where a membership or lottery play has been taken correctly but a claim made, this process will be a welcome step in challenging the refund request.

For more information on DDIC, please refer to the Direct Debit Service User Guide & Rules or discuss with your sponsoring bank. If you are utilising our Bacs Bureau for the management and collection of your Direct Debits, please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

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Insights CharityeCommerce

A spotlight on ELOVATE’s Contact Centre

16 May, 2024

At ELOVATE, we pride ourselves on providing a wide range of quality services to charities and eCommerce clients operating within a variety of sectors.

Primary responsibilities and day-to-day activities of the Contact Centre.

Our main activities involve handling inbound calls and emails for a variety of charity and eCommerce clients.  We not only take calls from people that may want to give a donation or place an order, but we also deal with a wide range of customer service queries, returns and refunds, direct debits and subscriptions, product enquiries and general enquiries about the company or charity – these can be via calls or emails. 

Overall, the Contact Centre plays a crucial role in maintaining positive customer relationships, addressing inquiries and concerns, and contributing to the overall success of each charity or company by embodying their individual needs and values.  If someone phones a charity number, for example, it is our job to seamlessly portray that they are calling that charity directly and that goes for every single call, so our Contact Centre team has many hats to wear!

Contact Centre Size and Structure

The Contact Centre currently has 80+ seats and is growing. We have a mix of dedicated resources (i.e., a charity may have a dedicated ELOVATE team that works solely for that charity) and our general team that looks after multiple clients.

Alignment with ELOVATE’s Company Values

The Contact Centre team embeds our company values into everything we do.  There is a real desire to make every interaction the best it can be, and the team is vital in making this happen:

  • Team Player:  The Contact Centre aims for a culture of collaboration and teamwork among the team. Agents work together to address customer inquiries, issues, and feedback effectively. Cross-functional communication and cooperation are always encouraged, ensuring that information flows smoothly between different departments to provide comprehensive support to customers and supporters quickly and efficiently.
  • Transparency & Integrity: Transparency is maintained within the Contact Centre by ensuring that agents are honest and forthcoming in their interactions with customers.  Agents are trained to provide accurate information and to address customer concerns with integrity/empathy, ensuring that customers feel confident in the information they receive.
  • Love What We Do: The Contact Centre embodies each client’s passion for its products or services by ensuring that agents are enthusiastic and dedicated to helping customers. Agents are trained to approach each interaction with positivity and a genuine desire to assist, creating a positive customer experience that reflects each company or charity’s passion for what it offers. We’re always mindful of the fact that even though we interact with 100s of different people every day, each one of those calls, for the person on the other end of the phone, may be the only conversation they have that day, so every call needs 100% effort and care.
  • Deliver Excellence: The Contact Centre strives for excellence in every customer interaction by setting high standards for service quality and efficiency. Agents are equipped with the necessary tools, training, and support to consistently meet or exceed customer expectations, thereby upholding the company’s commitment to excellence in all aspects of its operations.  By embodying these values and goals, the Contact Centre becomes a central hub for customer engagement that not only resolves issues and inquiries but also reinforces the company’s brand identity and commitment to its customers.
Additional Contact Centre Services

In addition to handling customer enquiries, the Contact Centre provides a wide range of value-added services designed to enhance customer experience and deliver deeper insight for the business.

  • Social Media Management Services– We provide full omni-channel customer engagement, managing interactions across phone, email, webchat, chatbot and social media. Our social media management service allows all customer messages across social channels to be monitored, responded to and reported on in one place, ensuring a consistent and timely customer experience.
  • Webchat and AI-Driven Chatbot Service– Customer information is captured upfront and passed directly to agents, streamlining conversations and reducing handling times. Our Smart Chatbot service also supports automated sales and upsell opportunities, recommending relevant products and services based on customer behaviour and values. It can even apply targeted discounts to help complete purchases, significantly reducing cart abandonment without the need for agent involvement.
  • Call Capture and Call Insight Reporting– Agents tag the reason for each call immediately after it ends, giving clients clear visibility into why customers are getting in touch. This delivers powerful insight into customer needs, emerging issues and areas for improvement, helping organisations make informed decisions and enhance their overall service offering.

Together, these services allow the Contact Centre to not only manage customer interactions efficiently, but also support sales growth, improve customer journeys and provide actionable intelligence back to the organisation.

Measuring Contact Centre Success

There are a number of ways in which we measure the success of what we do:

  • Agent Utilisation and Occupancy: This measures the percentage of time agents spend handling customer interactions, compared to their available working time. Occupancy measures the percentage of time agents are actively engaged in handling calls or tasks. Higher utilisation and occupancy rates indicate higher efficiency/productivity.
  • Average Handling Time (AHT): We monitor the average time taken by agents to handle a customer interaction, including call duration, time spent on resolving issues, and any after-call work. Lower AHT often indicates higher efficiency, but this isn’t always the case, especially with charity clients, some of which don’t mind how long it takes as long as there is a positive outcome to the call.
  • First Call Resolution (FCR): This measures the percentage of customer inquiries or issues resolved during the initial contact with the Contact Centre, without requiring follow-up calls or escalations. This is something that we are working on just now as the new system allows us to analyse this more closely.
  • Service Level Agreement (SLA) Compliance: Our clients have various SLAs in place, and we actively monitor these daily across our dedicated and group teams.
Client Testimonial

“It has been great working with the Contact Centre and seeing their friendly and customer-focused approach to supporting our customers. Their willingness to go above and beyond to support a customer is much appreciated!”

Roseanne Hayter, Volunteer Experience Manager, RNLI

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Insights Charity

Understanding your Direct Debit reports

15 April, 2024

For the smooth running of any Direct Debit process, it is vital you understand and manage your Bacs reports so claims are made correctly and it accordance with the Service User guidelines and payer or bank requests.


We know that Bacs reports can be confusing, especially if Direct Debit management isn’t your day job, so we have written three helpful blogs to give you a bit more Insight into what they are and, more importantly, what to do with them!

ADDACS – information for all your payer bank amendments and cancellations

ARUDD – showing Direct Debit claims which have been returned unpaid

AUDDIS – identifying payers which did not get setup for new or amended Direct Debits, and why

As a Bacs Approved Bureau, we process all Bacs reports daily on behalf of our clients. If you have any questions or are looking for help, do drop us a line as we would love to hear from you.

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Cyber security
News & Events CharityeCommerce

Cyber Essentials completed

11 April, 2024

Elovate secures another accreditation to help safeguard against cyber attacks.

We are delighted to expand across our sites Cyber Essentials to continue to add protection to all our systems and processes. By auditing our controls and gaining this accreditation, it adds another layer following our continued ISO 27001 certification in the protection of data and cyber attacks.

We have always and will remain committed to safeguarding our systems and the data within them . It’s a team effort involving all colleagues and clients to ensure we have peace of mind we are doing everything we can in the constant and growing threats in this area. Alastair Fell, Commercial Director

If you would like to learn more about Cyber Essentials click on the following link: About Cyber Essentials – NCSC.GOV.UK

For access to our certificate, please click here

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News & Events Charity

Join us at CIOF Fundraising Convention 

3 April, 2024

The Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CIOF) Fundraising Convention is taking place from 3-4 July at London’s QEII Centre, and is the largest in-person event for fundraising professionals in the UK.

Elovate is thrilled to be an exhibitor at the event. This year’s convention boasts an impressive lineup of industry-leading speakers and emerging talents, offering a diverse array of workshops, case studies, and debates.

We’re excited to be returning and supporting the CIOF again this year. We will be back on Stand 22 and look forward to seeing as many faces as possible – both new and old – as we celebrate our inspiring fundraising community.

Explore the programme and secure your tickets here.

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Insights CharityeCommerce

Keeping Your Information Secure Through Elovate’s Vigilant Data Protection Practices

23 February, 2024

Having robust security measures and vigilant data protection practices in place is a vital measure for companies and charities to stop sensitive information falling into the hands of unauthorised individuals. Failures in stopping these breaches are never far from the news headlines, indeed, even as recently as this month, we’ve seen Southern Water warning up to 500,000 customers that Russia-linked hackers have stolen their details.

Data breaches can have significant consequences for individuals and organisations alike, these include:

  • Financial losses: Dealing with a breach requires significant financial resources. Costs include incident response, legal fees, customer notifications, and potential fines.
  • Operational disruption: Breaches disrupt normal business operations, affecting productivity and efficiency.
  • Reputation damage: Public awareness of a breach can harm a company’s reputation, eroding trust among customers, partners, and investors.
  • Legal and regulatory challenges: Companies may face lawsuits, regulatory investigations, and penalties.
  • Loss of customer confidence: Customers may abandon the company due to privacy concerns.

Clients of Elovate can be assured that we go above and beyond to ensure that your customer and supporter data is secure – whether that’s personal information, such as names and addresses, or financial data, such as credit card details.  

We have demonstrated our commitment by implementing various security controls and measures to safeguard our assets, internal data, and client data. Below, we outline the main accreditations that we’re proud to be awarded and explain what the main differences are.

Our accreditations: ISO/IEC 27001:2017

Elovate achieves ISO/IES 27001:17 security certification for the contact centre, web-based order fulfilment solution, and various services including response management, warehouse, and distribution of products including medical products for clients across the UK.

Our compliance with ISO certification is certified by the British Assessment Bureau. It offers United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) certification, and it is the only government-backed body for ISO certification in the United Kingdom. 

ISO/IEC 27001 is a security standard that formally specifies an Information Security Management System (ISMS) that is intended to bring information security under explicit management control. As a formal specification, it mandates requirements that define how to implement, monitor, maintain, and continually improve the ISMS. It also prescribes a set of best practices that include documentation requirements, divisions of responsibility, availability, access control, security, auditing, and corrective and preventive measures.

Our accreditations: ISO 9001:2015

ISO 9001 is a globally-recognised standard for quality management. It helps organisations of all sizes and sectors to improve their performance, meet customer expectations, and demonstrate their commitment to quality. Its requirements define how to establish, implement, maintain, and continually improve a quality management system (QMS). Implementing ISO 9001 means an organisation effective processes and trained staff in place to deliver flawless products or services time after time.

Elovate achieved our first ISO 9001 certification in 2011, and we continue to comply with all the requirements mentioned in the standard. Currently, ISO 9001 certification scope includes a contact centre, web-based order fulfilment solution, and various services including response management, warehouse, and distribution of products and medical products for clients across the UK.

As with the above ISO/IES 27001:17, our compliance is certified by the British Assessment Bureau with UKAS certification. 

Our accreditations: PCI: DSS v3.2.1

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of security standards designed to ensure that companies that accept, process, store, or transmit credit card or debit card information, maintain a secure environment. It helps to protect the cardholder data that your customers and donors share with us during payment and reduces the risk of payment card fraud by increasing security controls around cardholder data.

Cardholder security is a top priority for Elovate. External QSA (Qualified Security Assessors) from leading cyber security consultancy, Security Risk Management (SRM), have assessed our card processes and we are proud to be a PCI-compliant payment processor that invests in tools and technology to protect cardholder data.

Our commitment to safeguarding data

At Elovate, we take information security and data privacy extremely seriously. By complying with the PCI DSS standard, we demonstrate our commitment to safeguarding our customers’ credit card data. These measures protect against theft and fraudulent use on the internet. Furthermore, Elovate ensures the security of sensitive data and personal information, helping prevent credit card misuse and costly data breaches.

Additionally, by achieving ISO security standards, Elovate has established a structured approach to handling client data stored in our systems. This baseline increases trust between Elovate and our clients, assuring all of our stakeholders that their personal information is safe from malicious hackers.

If you have any questions about our commitment to data security, please contact us today.

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News & Events Charity

Elovate Charity’s Cake Bake Raises Funds for Freedom from Torture!

6 February, 2024

Torture is used to silence and destroy lives. We won’t let it.

Our recent cake bake fundraiser for Freedom from Torture (FFT) on Friday, 26th January 2024, was a sweet success! We’re thrilled to announce that our team and supporters helped raise over £112 — a record-breaking achievement in just over an hour. Despite our fastest sellout ever, we extend apologies to those who missed out. Your enthusiasm and quick response exceeded expectations.

FFT’s Gratitude

Freedom from Torture is deeply thankful for the fantastic amount raised. They recognise the collective effort and generosity that will directly impact their mission to support torture survivors.

Collective Impact

Thanks to everyone who contributed, this achievement represents compassion, unity, and the power of collective action. Together, we’re making a difference in the lives of torture survivors, standing up against injustice.

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Insights Charity

Why agency support can be a helping hand in delivering effective donations management

24 January, 2024

Donations management is more than just collecting money from donors. It can also provide valuable data that can help charities improve their fundraising strategies and operations. Below, we give an Elovate insight into how data can benefit charities as a result of their donations management process:

What are some of the main benefits?

Up and coming charities are not always aware of how they can benefit from what may seem a simple necessary process of collecting donated income, here are some of the key benefits.

  • Gift Aid collection: Gift Aid is a scheme that allows charities to claim an extra 25% on eligible donations from UK taxpayers. This can significantly increase the income of charities and help them achieve their goals. By correctly collecting and claiming Gift Aid, charities can also get insights into the tax status and preferences of their donors, which can inform their future communications and campaigns.
  • Consents for GDPR compliance and future contact: GDPR is a regulation that protects the personal data and privacy of individuals in the EU. It requires charities to obtain explicit consent from donors before contacting them via different channels, such as email, phone, or post. By collecting and managing consents, charities can ensure they comply with the law and respect the wishes of their donors. They can also use consents to segment their donors based on their interests and preferences, and tailor their messages accordingly.
  • Dealing with gone aways, managing churn, tracking data performance and cleaning data: By addressing these issues, charities can save money and resources by not mailing bad addresses, increase donor retention and loyalty by providing relevant and timely communications, and optimise their fundraising performance by identifying what works and what doesn’t.
  • Segment codes: Segment codes are labels that are assigned to donors based on various criteria, such as demographics, postcodes, donation amounts, donation frequencies, etc. By using segment codes, charities can analyse and compare the behavior and characteristics of different groups of donors, and identify patterns and trends. This can help them target their fundraising efforts more effectively and efficiently, and increase their response rates and return on investment.
Why outsourcing makes sense

If charities outsource their donations management process to a partner agency, such as Elovate, they can also benefit from the expertise and experience of the agency. Elovate’s top five benefits of working with a partner agency, are:

  • Accountability: An agency will have to meet certain timelines and deadlines for processing donations, claiming Gift Aid, sending acknowledgements, etc. This takes the pressure off the charity staff and allow them to focus on other tasks.
  • Data accuracy: An agency will have the tools and skills to clean and review the data, and ensure it is accurate and up-to-date. This will improve the quality and reliability of the data, and reduce errors and discrepancies.
  • Security and Compliance: An agency will have a secure area where donations are handled on site, with appropriate measures to prevent theft, loss, or damage, often overseen by CCTV. The agency will also comply with the data protection laws and regulations, and ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the data. These will be backed up by PCI compliance, cyber security and ISO accreditations.
  • Audit process: An agency will have a full auditing process from opening the post to handling donations. This will provide transparency and accountability for the charity, and help them monitor and verify the donations management process.
  • A guaranteed workforce: An agency will have sufficient and trained staff to handle the donations management process throughout the year, even in times of crisis, emergency or during seasonal campaign spikes, enabling a constant and reassuring speed on donation capture, banking and thanking. For example, during the COVID pandemic, some charities had to close their doors and shut down their services due to lockdowns or staff shortages. But, by using an agency that has a good contingency plan in place as backup for instances like this, they can be sure their collections will still take place, their processing will still happen, and their income will still be coming in to fund vital services.
What to measure, and how?

If you are a charity, you know how important it is to measure the impact of your work and the effectiveness of your campaigns. One way to ensure you are collecting and using the right data is to work with a professional agency that specialises in this field. They can help you to:

  • Track your data and segment your supporters based on various criteria, such as the type of campaign, the story, the resonance, the response rate, etc. This can help you to tailor your messages and strategies to different audiences and optimise your results.
  • Avoid errors and inaccuracies in your data, such as mailing to wrong or outdated addresses, thanking donors for donations they did not make, or misallocating donations to general or restricted funds. These mistakes can cause distress, anger, or distrust among your supporters and damage your reputation.
  • Identify segments that are not performing well or are not suitable for your campaign, such as demographic, regional, or age groups. This can help you to avoid wasting resources and focus on the segments that are most responsive and engaged.
  • Monitor your campaign performance in real time and make adjustments if needed. This can help you to improve your efficiency and cost-effectiveness and respond to changing circumstances or feedback.
Conclusion

Working with data – especially linked to donations – can be challenging, but it can also be rewarding if you do it right. At Elovate we use our expertise to give charities reassurance that they have a partner with the experience, systems and processes they can rely on. Donations management is not just a simple necessary process, it is a valuable source of data that can benefit charities in many ways from reporting back to the Board and Trustees, to helping determine their overall fundraising strategies and operations.

To find out more, or to visit us at any of our UK centres, please contact Elovate today.

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News & Events CharityeCommerce

Elovate PCI Audit 2023

10 January, 2024

Another Triumph in Compliance. 

As the curtains close on another year, it is great to kick start 2024 with positive news that deserves celebration. Today marks a significant milestone for our organisation as our external Qualified Security Assessor (QSA), SRM, officially signed off our PCI compliance version 3.2.1. After navigating through a rigorous couple of weeks of audit, we can proudly say that our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of cardholder data security has paid off. 

Alastair Fell, Commercial Director: “As we reflect on a year of significant investment in our technology platforms, it is vital we ensure that all areas of our business operate to the highest level of compliance. PCI compliance is critical to maintaining secure cardholder payment environments for our clients and their customers and I am delighted that we have evidenced our safe systems and processes for another year”  

Expanded Scope for Comprehensive Compliance 

This achievement comes on the heels of an expanded scope that now covers the physical locations in York, our contact centre, post rooms and data capture operations across the group. The scope of audit also certifies the new systems, network and infrastructure involved in processing cardholder data. This broadened scope demonstrates our dedication to not only meeting the compliance requirements for PCI DSS, but going above and beyond to safeguard sensitive information across various facets of our organisation. 

Acknowledging the Efforts of All 

Undertaking such a comprehensive audit is no small feat, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the collective efforts of our dedicated team. Our heartfelt thanks go out to everyone involved in the development and ongoing maintenance of our systems and infrastructure and the audit process. 

Looking Ahead: Version 4 and Beyond 

As we bid farewell to 2023 and welcome the new one, our focus shifts towards the future. The next step on our compliance journey involves gearing up for version 4 of the PCI DSS, which is scheduled for assessment next December.

Embracing Change and Growth 

Our continuous engagement with compliance is not just a checkbox exercise; it’s a dynamic process that requires adaptability, education and a commitment to evolving security standards. Elovate is dedicated to staying ahead of the curve, ensuring that our systems, processes, and people are aligned with the latest industry best practices. 

In Conclusion 

Amidst the completion of many significant projects of the past year, the successful PCI compliance stands as a testament to our continued investment and commitment to information security and the highest levels of compliance.

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Happy New Year from elovate 2024
News & Events CharityeCommerce

Hello 2024. Happy New Year

9 January, 2024

We extend our warmest wishes to all our clients, partners, staff, and suppliers for a year filled with happiness, prosperity, and good health. 

A century ago

This week, we thought it would be interesting to reflect on events from a century ago and draw parallels with the present in our conversations. 

  • One notable occurrence was the closure of Ellis Island as an immigration entry point to the US. Interestingly, in this election year, the topic of immigration remains a hot issue, especially as the UK government explores the possibility of opening immigration centres outside the UK. 
  • A century ago, the first Winter Olympics took place in Chamonix, France. While there are no Winter Olympics this year, we eagerly anticipate cheering on Team GB at the Summer Olympics in the same country. 
  • The strikes by London train crews a century ago resonate with the collective hope for a disruption-free year on our rail networks following the strikes of the past year. Fingers crossed for smoother journeys ahead! 
  • In historical geopolitics, Saint Petersburg, Russia, was renamed Leningrad, and the UK formally recognized the Soviet Union. Sadly, Russia and Ukraine remain in the news, with no apparent resolution to the ongoing conflicts in sight. 
  • Turning to cultural developments, the Sunday Express published its first British crossword puzzle a century ago, and this tradition continues to thrive both online and offline. 
  • The world has come a long way from the first photo facsimile sent across the Atlantic from London to New York. Today, platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and others allow us to share images and videos globally in a matter of seconds. 
  • Lastly, a glimpse into the past reveals the most popular baby names with Mary, Dorothy, Helen, Betty and Margaret for girls and Robert, John, William, James, and Charles for boys. Interestingly, Charles is the only name poised to endure this year, while Olivia, Emma, Liam, and Noah are predicted to maintain their popularity in 2024. 

As we step into the new year, let’s continue to embrace change, celebrate progress and work together for a brighter future.  

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