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We just completed our Fall Fund Drive. It ran from 9/14-9/23, with pre-recorded pitch breaks on the weekends, also promoting the Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me pint glass as a weekend-only giveaway. That worked pretty well. We only live pitched Wed-Fri on both weeks. There was a glitch on the 19th & 20th, so only a few of my membership drive spots ran, in addition to some unforeseen situations during the drive (the producer had a death in the family during the drive, so I had to take over her duties for the very first time)!
Overall, for everything that occurred, we made over our “adjusted goal” (adjusted due to all the situations). I believe had we live-pitched on the 19th & 20th, we probably would have made the initial goal.
I also need to adjust the pitching personnel. Some pitchers need more work on messaging and urgency.
Who from your station needs to be on your team? What important role does each of them play?
– All of my development team (consists of me, Individual Giving Mgr and Member Services Coordinator), all of the news team, our General Mgr, Digital Mgr, Sponsorship team and Engineering. We have a Fund Drive Producer that works with us on every drive (thank goodness!).
– News team, GM, and I all live pitch
– The development team tallies the donations, sends out emails during the drive, answers calls, etc.
– Digital Manager receives all promotional images & logos and messaging to place on social media
– Sponsorship provides us with giveaways from sponsors to use during the drive
– Engineering makes sure the programs and recordings run smoothly on air
Have you involved these team members in past drives?
– They are always involved in our drives. We have pre-drive meetings to talk about messaging, theme, and overall goal of the drive, so we are all on the same page.
Are there any new additions to your team that you’ve considered?
– New Members Services Coordinator on my team, she’s still learning the overall processJohn is a 65 year-old retiree. He was a prominent oncologist for over 25 years in Windermere, an affluent section of Orlando. He has been happily married for 47 years, has 3 children and 5 grandchildren. He plays golf on the weekends and attends multiple fundraising galas for medical research. He likes to keep up with the latest reports in health & medicine, but he’s also highly interested in politics as he use to be a lobbyist. He appreciates that WMFE provides fair & balanced news, so he gives an annual donation. Our goal is to show John the benefits of becoming a Cornerstone Society member (major donor), which would help the station develop new programs and projects, turn new ideas into reality and find innovative ways of serving him better.
Carol is a 56 year-old African-American school teacher, recently widowed with no kids. She is an advocate for the Central Florida arts. She is a board member of several arts & culture organizations. She loves the WMFE program called Spotlight, which showcases the local art scene. She gives to the station sporadically, but doesn’t see the need for fund drives. The key is to show her that member support is the foundation of WMFE. The goal is have her become a sustainer, to make sure she is aware that her monthly donations fund her favorite program.
Yes, I agree, all of the fundraising aspects need to be solid and cohesive. Clear messaging about why public radio is important needs to come across to the listeners.
” potential for growth and analyze what has or hasn’t worked in the past to create a better drive each time.”
That is spot on.How long has your station conducted on-air fundraising?
We just started back doing on-air fundraising within the past couple of years. They had been promoting silent drives. We’re finding that on-air is more profitable.Have you been involved in the planning process?
I am involved in all aspects (messaging, on-air pitching, promotions/incentives, etc.).What other elements of fundraising do you need to be aware of at your station as you plan your on-air campaign?
That each staff member is informed of the messaging, theme and the goal of the drive (revenue goal, new member goal or sustainer goal).We also have a very small staff, so everyone helps out in on-air pitching (all of the news team, the General Manager, one of our engineers and myself).
Hello all, I’m Nicole Abbondandolo (you can just call me Nicole Abby 🙂 ) and I am the Director of Development at WMFE in Orlando. I have been here almost a year now, but I come from a special needs nonprofit, so public radio is a different world to me. I will also hop on the bandwagon by saying the biggest pain point around on-air fundraising is an increased goal in a time of economic uncertainty. I hope to gain some new ideas (powerful messaging, incentives, strategies, etc.) and some connections here! Our Fall drive is set for Sept 14th-23rd, so let’s do this! 🙂
