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Your station sounds incredible organized when it comes to preparing for drives, and everyone seems to have a lot of experience and knows their role well. I’d bet your station’s drives are very successful!
I am also fairly new at my station and just starting to help out with pledge and drives, so good luck to us both haha! It’s nice to know that others at our stations have a lot of experience though and can show us the ropes.
It sounds like fund drives function like a well oiled machine at your station. It’s great that so many employees are involved and have experience in their role.
1. For WEXT, our AAA radio station, we have always pledged in March, June, August, and December because these are the standard PBS pledge months and also the months when our station makes the most revenue.
2. Instead of pledging during these standard months, we could look closely at our listenership for WEXT and choose pledge months where the listenership is highest.
3. Some common pushback we might receive is that, if we were to make this change, we could potentially be pledging for multiple months in a row in different areas of our station. Additionally, it would create more work overall for our radio team if WEXT were to pledge at a different time than WMHT-FM, our classical station.
4. Fundraising potential is highest when listenership is highest, so it makes more sense to pledge based on WEXT’s audience rather than the standard PBS pledge months. Though it could create more work for the radio team, the revenue and benefits of pledging during high listenership months might be worth the effort. Additionally, even though our station could be pledging for multiple months in a row, many viewers do not overlap with WEXT and other areas of the station. This is also a negative that could be outweighed by the revenue potential of making this change.It sounds like your events could help you reach both goals with your personas. If Matthews had an enjoyable time at an event and found a lot of value in attending, she might post about it to her social media. Davis sounds like he would be interested in the educational forward opportunities you do because he loves to mentor the younger generation, so he might be interested in volunteering for one of these events.
1. Almost every department in our station needs to be involved in the planning for on-air drives. Production and radio needs to ensure that our sound quality matches our normal station quality. The tech team needs to ensure that our phones and websites are running smoothly and we have backup plans in case of technical problems. Our pitch teams need to be genuine and enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the drive’s incentives, pledge levels, and theme. The host and producer also must be in constant communication with each other and various departments so that everyone has the tools they need to be prepared.
2. Yes, WMHT has nearly 50 years of on-air drive experience, so we have plenty of historical procedures to follow and data to look at. Several employees at our station have been here for many years and played a role in past fundraising drives, so they can lead others with their experience and knowledge.
3. In the past, we used volunteers for live pitching, so of course they would need to be genuine, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable about the pledge levels, incentives, challenges, and theme. However, since the pandemic we have not been using volunteers, so the only new additions to the team would be new employees (including myself) that would have to be trained on our station’s processes for on-air drives.I think your strategies for bringing John up to the Major Donor level are spot on and make complete sense with his personality. Based on what you’ve written about Sarah, she might be interested in a premium, and pitching the Passport benefit to her might also get her to become a sustaining member at your station.
I think that what you’ve said absolutely makes sense with the personas you’ve created. To add on, I think explaining how the specific stations enrich the community would further hook these listeners. Maegen would respond well to learning how financial support allows for truthful news to reach a wider audience, and Andrew would respond well to knowing that his financial support would allow your classical music station, an outlet and relaxing escape, to keep running.
Here are the two personas I created:
John Purple – 86 years old, holds a Master’s degree in English Literature, and is Upper Middle Class. He values education, culture, community, and the arts. His interests and hobbies include classical music, documentaries, painting, gardening, and fine dining.
Lilly Blue – 32 years old, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication, and is Middle Class. She values diversity and inclusion, the LGBTQ+ community, truth, knowledge, and the environment. Her interests and hobbies include political activism, news and public affairs, television, pop and rock music, and animals.Both of these personas are passionate about their community, so a good talking point would be how my station provides service to and enriches our community through our programming. I would remind them of why they watch and listen to my station, what they value about the services my station provides, and explain how their financial support will allow my station to continue making a difference in our community. I think Lilly could respond well to incentives like premiums and matching challenges because of her interests and hobbies.
I do not think that incentives such as premiums would work well for John, as he is an older listener and probably not interested in T-shirts, bags, or CD’s. I also think that Lilly would be discouraged from making a donation if the on-air personalities sound like they are reading from a script, because she would want to hear more personal testimonials.After reading through this module’s material, I definitely understand the importance of being aware of all the surrounding “puzzle pieces” at your station such as programming, events, and other fundraising tactics. So it’s great that you always try to be aware of what’s going on at your station that will overlap with your on-air campaigns.
Having two years of planning experience is really great, and it sounds like you are able to work closely with other members of your station to ensure that your fundraising events have a clear theme, strong messaging, and compelling incentives to bring in new donors.
It is very cool that you have so much experience planning the fundraising drives for your station. You already seem incredibly knowledgeable about this subject, and I hope I’ll get to learn some things from you over the course of this workshop!
1. WMHT has conducted on-air fundraising for over 40 years.
2. Because I am a recently new hire, I have not been involved in the planning process. I am hoping that completing this course will give me the knowledge and experience needed to contribute to our next planning session.
3. Firstly, we need to be aware of the audience that we are targeting during on-air fundraising events. We also need compelling incentives to donate such as premiums and matching. We also need to keep in mind the overall amount of on-air fundraising we do each year and how long each drive is. Any expenses also need to be weighed against the revenue brought in from these events. Lastly, we need to keep in mind all of the other ways that we fundraise, such as direct mail and online giving.I’d like to add that WMHT is based on Upstate New York, and I started my role here just about six months ago, so I am still fairly new to fundraising.
Hi Kathleen! Covid is probably one of the biggest pain points for everyone because of all the changes it created like moving towards solo pitching and creating economic uncertainty. I am also looking forward to learning what elements make a successful drive.
Hi Nicole! This course came at the perfect time for you, so I hope you can implement plenty of what you learn here in your upcoming drive.
Hi Kim! Any type of transition is always hard and it’s a constant process to learn what works and what doesn’t when you switch to something new. I’m also looking forward to hearing how other stations conduct their fundraising.
Hello everyone! My name is Paroma, and I am the Fundraising Coordinator at WMHT, a multi-channel public communications organization. We broadcast television, classical radio, and AAA radio.
My biggest pain point around on-air fundraising is enticing people to make donations during times of economic uncertainty, as well as offering enticing thank you gifts.
From this course I hope to learn to how to identify listener motivations and values as well as write an effective on-air fundraising pitch.
I am looking forward to working with you all!
