Question 1

Read more about the sustainer welcome email series

Accepted Answer

Email #2: Send one week after email #1.
Again, begin with thanks and appreciation to your sustaining donors. Encourage them to sign up for a station newsletter or follow your station on social media. The more your sustaining donors are interacting with your content the more benefit they will feel in supporting it as a sustainer. Pick a program to highlight, maybe you’ve launched a new show or developed a new podcast, or perhaps there’s an old favorite they might not have discovered yet. Use this email to explore why this program is important in your community and how it is possible because of sustainer support.

Email #3: Send two weeks after email #2.
Nearly everyone loves to share their opinion, so you can use that deep desire in all of us to ask your sustainers to tell you what they love about your station. Keep your survey to just a few questions, no more than 15. Donors should be able to complete the survey quickly but feel like they’ve provided helpful information. Ask questions about what programs they enjoy, when and how they listen, and make sure to ask them why they decided to become a sustainer. Those answers, while not scientific, can help your station to build out messages to attract more sustainers.

Email #4: Send three weeks after email #3.
Once again, share your thanks for their gift, toward which they’ve now made a second payment, and remind them how to get in touch via email and phone if they have any questions. Take this opportunity to share some station events in which they might like to participate. These could be upcoming events or include a link to a video recap of past events. The goal in this email is to expand your sustaining donors’ perspective of what your station provides; not only do sustainers support important news, information, and music on the radio but also events like community forums, candidate debates, listening parties, concerts, kids’ events, or food drives.

Email #5: Send three weeks after email #4.
Hopefully by this time, nine weeks after they’ve made their sustaining gift, these sustaining donors are feeling great about their participation. They understand how their monthly payment will work from here on out, and are ready to spread the word about being a sustaining donor to friends. Using this time to connect with new sustaining donors can help avoid confusion and hopefully will increase the retention rate of sustainers overall. Use this last email in the series as an opportunity to focus on the local impact of your station. What programs or reporting is happening on local issues that is only possible because of donor support? What impact in the community can you share with sustaining donors that will make them feel proud of their gift? How do the local programs complement the national programs like Morning Edition or Fresh Air?

Question 2

Read more about the sustainer welcome email series

Accepted Answer

Email #2: Send one week after email #1.
Again, begin with thanks and appreciation to your sustaining donors. Encourage them to sign up for a station newsletter or follow your station on social media. The more your sustaining donors are interacting with your content the more benefit they will feel in supporting it as a sustainer. Pick a program to highlight, maybe you’ve launched a new show or developed a new podcast, or perhaps there’s an old favorite they might not have discovered yet. Use this email to explore why this program is important in your community and how it is possible because of sustainer support.

Email #3: Send two weeks after email #2.
Nearly everyone loves to share their opinion, so you can use that deep desire in all of us to ask your sustainers to tell you what they love about your station. Keep your survey to just a few questions, no more than 15. Donors should be able to complete the survey quickly but feel like they’ve provided helpful information. Ask questions about what programs they enjoy, when and how they listen, and make sure to ask them why they decided to become a sustainer. Those answers, while not scientific, can help your station to build out messages to attract more sustainers.

Email #4: Send three weeks after email #3.
Once again, share your thanks for their gift, toward which they’ve now made a second payment, and remind them how to get in touch via email and phone if they have any questions. Take this opportunity to share some station events in which they might like to participate. These could be upcoming events or include a link to a video recap of past events. The goal in this email is to expand your sustaining donors’ perspective of what your station provides; not only do sustainers support important news, information, and music on the radio but also events like community forums, candidate debates, listening parties, concerts, kids’ events, or food drives.

Email #5: Send three weeks after email #4.
Hopefully by this time, nine weeks after they’ve made their sustaining gift, these sustaining donors are feeling great about their participation. They understand how their monthly payment will work from here on out, and are ready to spread the word about being a sustaining donor to friends. Using this time to connect with new sustaining donors can help avoid confusion and hopefully will increase the retention rate of sustainers overall. Use this last email in the series as an opportunity to focus on the local impact of your station. What programs or reporting is happening on local issues that is only possible because of donor support? What impact in the community can you share with sustaining donors that will make them feel proud of their gift? How do the local programs complement the national programs like Morning Edition or Fresh Air?

Thanking Sustainers

Melanie Coulson

Sign In to Greater Public