Submit your examples of tactics used to increase $1k+ donors for your chance to win.
The problem:
Membership donors form the foundation of public media giving, and as donor rolls and broadcast audiences decline, our fundraising strategies must keep pace in order to keep our public service strong.
The opportunity:
Building an individual giving program that has more donors giving at higher gift amounts, including $1k+, presents a significant opportunity to ensure the long-term sustainability and impact of our mission. It’s common among other nonprofits for about 5% of donors to be giving $1k+ each year. In public media, that percentage is much less. Even a small increase in $1k+ donors can have a big impact. If this is a strategy you’re pursuing, we want to share your work with other stations!
That’s why we’re holding the Rise and Thrive: Multiply $1K+ Donors Contest. Our goal is to help our industry unlock more major giving opportunities.
The contest:
We’re seeking compelling narratives from individual giving officers (especially those focused on on-air fundraising and low-level gifts) who have successfully increased their percentage of $1K+ donors within the past two years. We want you to share your organization’s examples of tactics used to increase the number of your donors giving at the $1k+ level.
Your entry should include:
- A compelling story: Describe your campaign, including challenges, strategies, and key learnings. You may submit your description as text or as a video.
- Measurable results: Demonstrate the impact of your campaign on your $1K+ donor base.
- Data-driven insights: Share key performance indicators (KPIs) such as:
- Starting percentage of $1K+ donors
- Ending percentage of $1K+ donors
- Revenue generated from $1K+ donors before and after the campaign
Each submission may contain multiple files.
Prizes
- Amplify your success!
- We’ll publish interviews with winners to our website
- We’ll share winning stations’ campaigns at PMDMC25
- Cookie party for your team!
- We’ll deliver two dozen Crumbl cookies and coffee for your team to celebrate your success.
Criteria
Submissions will be accepted from Greater Public member stations only. Each will be evaluated based on strength of:
- Campaign Overview: Overview must be submitted that explains your campaign and gives context to the submission. Your overview should include your results and how you determined success for this effort. This can be written or a video.
- What Was Discovered: Your campaign should produce meaningful results but that does not have to mean an extraordinary financial result. It should however have helped your station discover something important about this type of fundraising.
- Sustainability: Your campaign must be repeatable, we are looking to award campaigns that want to revise and re-implement to achieve greater success.
Local Connection: Your campaign should be centered in the community you serve and reflect the priorities and needs in that place and time. - Language/Terminology: All language used should be donor-facing. Use language that makes sense to a common public media consumer, not a professional fundraiser. No public media inside baseball!
- Graphic Design: If your campaign used graphic elements please submit them including graphics, photos, video, and/or formatting. These elements should grab attention and increase motivation to give.
- Value Proposition: Describe the value your ask(s) provide to the prospective donor.
Extra credit:
- Include testimonial(s) from donors giving $1,000+
File Requirements
- Materials submitted must be less than 5GB.
- Materials may be submitted as files or as links to materials.
- If submitting multiple large files, please upload a zipped file or provide a link to a cloud drive folder.
Deadline
Submissions will be accepted until February 21, 2025
Winners will be announced by March 14, 2025
Entries received after February 21, 2025 will not be considered.
Questions? Contact Gwen Colwell.
