Reinventing Pledge Drives

It's looks like a very successful fall fundraising season in public radio. Most of the stations we worked with matched or exceeded last Fall's results. A few stations had record-breaking drives for dollar raised and number of givers. Direct mail and other off-air fundraising appears to be strong as well.

A few more stations conducted one-day pledge drives including WRKF in Baton Rouge and WFDD in Greensboro/Winston-Salem.

Several stations -- WSHU in Fairfield CT, and KBSX in Boise, WBHM in Birmingham -- are trying to reinvent their fundraising by conducting nothing but 1-Day drives. They are following the lead of KBBI in Homer, Alaska and more recently, KUNC in Greeley. WSHU even published its plan to do nothing but 1-Day drives. You can see that here.

One big question we had about 1-Day drives is what happens when the station doesn't meet the goal? We now know the answer as a few stations have missed their goals.

First, the station typically makes at least two-thirds of the goal. For example, a station that usually raises $150,000 in seven days raises $100,000 in one day.

Not surprisingly, there is a let-down among station staff members. That's followed by a recognition that the station just raised $100,000 in one day, blowing away any previous level of fundraising performance without having to use any premiums, sweepstakes, or challenge grants.

A series of on-air spots and eblasts over the next week further reduces the balance of the remaining goal. Then the station comes on the air to mop up. Most stations hit goal with another day of fundraising. Instead of interrupting programming for seven days, the goal is met with just two days of preemptive pitching.

Audience response to this is quite good. Listeners appreciate the transparency of the process. In time we will learn if they appreciate it enough to make future 1-Day drives successful enough to abandon longer drives for good.

No matter what happens, it's great to see so many stations trying to address that old listener question, "Can't you do something about those long, annoying pledge drives?" These stations are trying and the lessons learned will benefit all of public radio.

Give Listeners the Right Reasons and They Will Give

Northwest Public Radio out of Pullman, Washington held a 1-Day Pledge Drive yesterday raising $262,500 from just over 2,400 pledges. That was about 9% over goal and better results than last year's 7-day drive.

The 1-Day drive was pioneered by WKSG in Binghamton, NY and refined by KBBI in Homer, Alaska. It has succeeded in other markets as well, most recently at WOUB in Athens, Ohio.

Stations achieve this success without using sweepstakes, challenge grants, or premiums.

Even in a down economy.

The point here isn't that every station should hold a 1-Day Pledge Drive, though more would benefit from doing so.

The point is that listeners will give money to a station without all the trappings of traditional pledge drives. They do because they want, and need, the programming. Properly motivated, they will give quickly and generously. Public radio, as an industry, needs to get better at motivating them.

1-Day Fund Drives

A few weeks ago, I posted that we'd put some resources on-line for stations thinking about trying a 1-Day fundraising drive. The 1-Day Drive was pioneered by Carol Young at WSKG in Binghamton, NY. It was replicated in places such as Scranton, Erie, and Homer, Alaska.

A free 1-Day Drive resource kit is now available at radiosutton.com. It's free. No registration is required. Parts of the kit, including sample audio promos, are on-line. Be sure to download the PDF as it includes sample direct mail, promos, scripts, and pledge break planning materials.

Sonja Lee, former Program Director at KBBI in Homer, Alaska helped produce several successful 1-Day drives and helped put this kit together. She is available to help stations who want to reduce their drives to just one day of traditional on-air fundraising. We think this will work best for stations with goals of up to $100,000 per drive.

Many thanks to Carol Young at WSKG and Jonathan Coke at KBBI for providing materials and advice on creating the 1-Day Drive kit.