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.