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Historically we haven’t pitched in all shows, especially our evening DJ shows. We’re realizing that individual shows/hosts often have such distinct/unique listeners we want to make sure we have some sort of direct pitch from that host to their listeners to ensure we’re really grabbing as many new members as possible. Even if it’s a pre-recorded show we ask the host to insert a personal pitch before, midway, and in the credits of the show. I didn’t receive pushback exactly but I did have some longtime hosts/DJs who were unfamiliar with pitching but it’s great for opening up our pool of co-pitchers.
A lot of people love KCRW as a whole organization but for many their strongest relationship is with the host or DJ of their favorite show. That direct message is going to be the strongest.
We also used to use volunteers in the past but to take donations. With most of our donations moving to our website and with the support of ACD as our call center we haven’t had the same need. We do request listener/member testimonials that we turn into spots and those work well for us!
1. Who from your station needs to be on your team? What important role does each of them play? Pitchers, co-pitchers, producers, overall drive producer, spot/promo producer, ceo champion, marketing team (social, digital, etc), membership and development teams, and awareness and participation throughout the station.
2. Have you involved these team members in past drives? Yes!
3. Are there any new additions to your team that you’ve considered? We’ve brought in more pitchers and co-pitchers into the mix, it’s been great to hear new people on-air with different approaches to pitching.
We’re also working on the balance between membership and major donor fundraising during on-air drives and how to increase awareness of higher levels of giving without alienating those who feel it’s out of their price range and therefore exclusionary.
We’re also developing our drive vs non-drive fundraising strategies, especially for social media. It’s definitely been tricky!
I am always trying to find the best way to ensure all staff really feel comfortable with the drive messaging, looking forward to discussing!
How long has your station conducted on-air fundraising? I believe for a very long time, at least since the 80s!
Have you been involved in the planning process? Yes, for a couple years now.
What other elements of fundraising do you need to be aware of at your station as you plan your on-air campaign? I oversee the whole fundraising campaign so am well aware of the other elements (email, digital, social, direct mail, etc) but I think one of the bigger challenges is ensuring everyone else is comfortable with the messaging and understand the priorities.We’ve recently gone through a payment processor migration and an update to our donation website (right at the start of our drive too) so can definitely commiserate! Hope the transition goes smoothly.
We have been doing a lot of solo pitching throughout the last year and we just switched last drive and had co-pitching for most of it. I think we saw a significant bump in the energy of the pitchers and the donation response.
It has been so interesting to learn about all of the factors that impact pledge drive. Economy, news fatigue, COVID cycle, type of pitching (live vs spots and co-pitching vs individual) and incentives. Really looking forward to learning about all the things we can do to increase the numbers on the fly.
Hi, I’m Kim Ishikawa, Head of Membership at KCRW in Santa Monica, California. We’re a dual format music & news station. I’ve been fundraising for over a decade but only have a few years of member station experience. There was one person who was the pledge drive director for many years and since that person left it’s been a big learning experience.
Right before I started at KCRW we switched to an UnDrive format with no live pitching, only spots, which was successful for about a year but then waned especially in regards to growing new members and sustainers. So our biggest pain point has been making adjustments for our format and figuring out what works ever since.
I’m really only familiar with how we do on-air fundraising so looking forward to hearing what works for other stations.
