How to Approach Fund Drives at Music Stations During Natural Disasters
An earlier version of this post was first published in 2017.
In difficult times, the power of music is vital to our listeners, as a respite from difficult news, and as an inspiring and energizing force. It is also a connection to a community of other music lovers that is part of our mission as public media organizations.
However, when it feels like the outside world is turning upside down, and the impacts of climate change are causing more major natural disasters impacting millions of Americans, fundraising for music can be decidedly tough, especially for a distracted audience.
Conducting fund drives while natural disasters unfold requires a great deal of sensitivity. Settling on the right strategy and finding the right messaging mix is essential. We know that some donors will reallocate money they might have donated to their local station to disaster relief. That’s understandable. But it’s important to continue to educate your listeners – thoughtfully – about the importance of supporting the music programming they value. Our set of scripts for music stations can help you give context and balance to your messaging efforts.
Strategic Recommendations
As a music station, it’s important to understand the current fundraising landscape.
If your fundraising campaign is scheduled within the next couple weeks of the disaster occurring, and you’re in the impacted region, you need to consider moving these efforts back by a week or two, to gain some space from relief appeals overwhelming the fundraising landscape.
If you are planning on forging ahead within days of a major disaster, you’ll need to take special care to make sure your pitching is focused on the core value of your programming service and the personal importance your station has to listeners as a refuge during times of disaster and strife. You’ll want to make sure your pitch teams have internalized the ideas, messaging priorities, and bullets below.
If you are in the middle of a campaign when a disaster occurs, we often recommend pausing your campaign, and focusing on your core mission, providing music programming to your community. You can explain to listeners why you have decided to pause, and when you do restart the campaign, you can explain that choice as well. Your audience will appreciate it and come back to support you when you resume or reschedule your efforts and in some cases more than before.
Here are three ideas that can strengthen your fundraising in a difficult time:
- Focus on earnestly educating listeners about your vital role in enhancing and improving the lives of so many people through the arts; a vital part of what it means to be human. Even if your listeners may not give as much in this period as they have in the past, making a strong case for when they do return or join for the first time is important.
- Focus on recruiting sustainers. The more sustainers you have in your program, the less you will need to worry about fluctuations in revenue when challenging national and world events occur.
- Bring in community voices. Make sure listeners can truly hear the impact of your station from the people who listen and love it the most. Let people connect, share, and become more involved; recorded testimonials are a great way to do this.
Top Messaging Priorities
- Do not apologize for fundraising right now. Your station provides an important service to listeners that they depend on.
- Keep your main message on your station’s mission and unique, quality service, which is worthy of support.
- If there are stories with a bigger impact in your region, like wildfires or floods, keep them top-of-mind and do not fail to address them in some way so that your listeners won’t think you’re tone-deaf to the challenges your community faces.
Proven Messages to Contextualize the Importance of Your Service During Difficult Times.
- The power of community support is top-of-mind for many in the country right now as we see neighbors helping neighbors through disasters. When we work together in our communities, this station and the music we all love thrive.
- We know deeply the power music has to heal and to soothe. Right now there are so many in our country who are experiencing heartache because of natural disasters. The music you hear on public radio is a valuable part of how we connect and how we support ourselves in trying times.
- After national tragedies strike, many people turn to their local public radio stations for news, of course, but also for music. They know that local stations will be there for the community to help inform and comfort. Listening to music programming isn’t ignoring what is happening in the world, but rather giving it context and support through music.
- Music brings so much into our lives. Think back to a time when a song on this station helped you get through a tough day or celebrate a great moment. You know how much the music you hear on public radio means in your life.
- The implications of a natural disaster will trickle out in many different ways. With careful thought and sensitivity, one important role public radio can play is to give our community a space to connect, to grieve, to heal. That’s the power of the music you hear on [STATION].
Direct Mail and Online Responses:
As we outlined in the news programming version of this post, your strategy for off-air fundraising will need to be reviewed as well.
Direct Mail Strategy
If you are sending direct mail as part of your campaign, it’s important to review whom and where you are mailing to. If your station’s coverage area, and/or if your mail to your online listenership includes the highly impacted areas, exclude the zip codes of those areas from your mailings, whether you mail internally or with a mail house. You may need to do this for an extended period of time as recovery continues.
Online Fundraising Strategy
We asked our colleague Rachael Wolber, Vice President at M+R about effective approaches they have seen and used by organizations online.
If operations at your station have been affected, share impact reports. Include a softer “donate” ask like a donate button at the close of an email or linked text: “If you’d like to support our recovery efforts and community updates after [EVENT], you can do so here.”
Including passive donate options in web news articles about the crisis: “If you’d like to support our continued coverage, you can do so here…”
Once the immediate danger has passed, don’t be afraid to ask! People want to help in times of crisis. You can also share an ask with other causes (“If you want to help, you can donate to the FL Red Cross here, or support our continued coverage here”) to soften it a bit.
In times of crisis, music serves as a beacon of hope, a source of comfort, and a bridge to community. As public media organizations, our mission is to provide this essential service to our listeners. While fundraising can be challenging during natural disasters, it’s crucial to continue educating our audience about the value of supporting the music they love. By focusing on our station’s vital role in enhancing lives, providing information, supporting recovery, and amplifying community voices, we can strengthen our fundraising efforts and ensure that our music continues to uplift and inspire.
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