Is your station worthy?

Applying Audience Research to Your Fund Drive

I used to do it all the time. 

I was always looking for ways to connect my on-air appeals to my listeners. Since there was a listener focus to the research, I shared it with the talent at the station and the development staff in the hope they would do the same. Did they always share that information on the air. No, not always.

I still listen to fund drives locally. Some of the talent  makes the effort to connect, but some do not. I still hear a lot of "we need," "our budget." "our reporters." The focus is on the station, not the audience. Ask yourself, how is what you're doing benefiting your audience? Then try to answer that in your communications with your audience.

Coming up with pitches that focus on listener need can be difficult, but with some work, not impossible. It just takes some work ahead of the drive.

I was reading David Giovannoni's artcle in Current from March of this year, "For their listeners, NPR News stations are the last thing worth listening to on the radio." Right there, the title pops out and screams relevancy for the listener. The gist of the article is, Public Media Listeners are back and they are more loyal than ever. More nugget come from David's commentary at the end of the article. 

The headline isn’t that listeners to NPR News stations are back. It’s that listeners are finding the programming on NPR News stations more important in their lives than ever, and by extension, more worthy of support.

They're listening less in the car and at work, but now they have returned to at home listening.

Listeners use of competitors has dropped 30% from the same period a year ago.

If loyalty to terrestrial broadcast sources can thrive in this most competitive environment, would it not be equally sturdy on other platforms? Wouldn’t the last thing worth listening to on the radio be the first thing worth finding on any new platform?

The intensifying loyalty of listeners — their desertion of competing stations and ever-increasing dependence on, even devotion to NPR News stations — cannot be denied.

Your loyal listeners, the ones that listen to you more than any other station, are the listeners that are most likely to give. Understanding what makes them loyal should inform what you say during your fund raisers. 

Feeling motivated? Give it a try. 

• Hit your key points consistently. 
• Make your point and move on. 
• Don't ramble.
• No hand wringing

when did i become a fundraiser?

I was recently asked how a non-profit could wean itself off state funding and become independently funded by corporations, foundations and donors. The person asking assumed I knew how to do this. After all  the public radio station I used to work for in this market would be self-sustaining if not attached to the public television station.  Memberships and underwriting support make up about 92% of the funding for the station. Grants have taken on a much greater role since WNPR changed formats in 2006 but, member support continues to be the most reliable source of income. A combination of compelling content and effective fundraising makes the job so much easier than when I first got into non-profit fundraising three decades ago in Wisconsin. 


When did I become a fundraiser? I think it started about a month after volunteering at a public radio station in Milwaukee. I went on the air asking for donations. We did everything wrong. We threatened, We cajoled. We browbeat and lectured. We even got angry when nobody wanted our mugs and totebags. We sounded desperate. We sounded awful. It got worse as the campaign became longer. The downward spiral desperation was fueled by the lack of calls.


Our fundraising skills aside, there were other reasons nobody called. A bigger reason was that nobody really cared. Nobody cared because the programs and programming wasn't very appealing. It might be safe to say, nobody was listening. At least, when we started fundraising. We (I) did not understand the direct correlation between our content and our ability to raise funds. It was later when I finally understood that programs and programming create an audience. If the audience finds value in the programs offered, if the programs resonate with the values and lifestyle of the audience and, the listeners understand the importance and need for their support, then they will contribute. Everything we did mattered. Our content generated listening and loyalty. The better the content at attracting our core audience, the more likely it was that we could raise contributions around that content.

My short answer to the non-profit was, if they can increase individual support and corporate support (foundations/grants) they could untether themselves from federal and state money. Seems easy enough. Nothing is easy when it comes to fundraising. 

I was told in a job interview last week that fundraising on public radio is a breeze. Just go on the air and thousands of listeners flock to their phones and make a pledge. In fact, most listeners hate fundraisers. They barely tolerate membership campaigns.  As soon as we open our mikes to ask for money, half our audience goes away. As the drives wear on, more listeners escape. Fundraising on public radio (and public TV) was described by David Giovannoni as being like trimming toenails with a shotgun.  Some of those I worked with aggravate the problem. They believe the longer they talk, the more money they will raise. The believe their powers of persuasion wears down the listener. In a way it does. They tune away. They did capture listeners (and viewers) as they tuned in. 

The point the questioner was making was valid. They do not have the reach of 200,000 listeners or 500,000 viewers to draw from. Awareness of what many non-profits are trying to accomplish does not come anywhere close to those numbers. The advantage is the constant awareness of public media's core audience for its broadcast services. If the quality of content consistently meets audience expectations,.  the more likely it is the audience will respond to requests for voluntary donations. 

For non-profits the answer is, a broad base of support from all types of givers. To gain a broad base of support non-profits need to increase awareness of the vital importance of their services. A combination of effective communications and development messages based on the core values of the non-profit and potential donors need to intersect. So many non-profits are looking for a couple of big givers to make fundraising easy. It's also the mindset of some in public broadcasting. It was for one of the CEO's I worked for. Despite having 70,000 donors from all over the state, he valued that one big gift more than the many he had. I have to admit the home run of $100,000 or $1,000,000 all at once is a rush but, as we found out, when a major donor stops giving we were left scrambling to make up the difference.  A broad base of support is important.

A concept we're working on for the FOCUS Center for Autism is "Outcomes." Demonstrating positive outcomes are essential when making the case for support. (Not what you're doing...what you've accomplished from your constituents' perspective.) Not sure what outcomes are all about? This video helps explain.

Demonstrable outcomes help in many ways including with grantors, donors, foundations and major givers.

For public radio...sheer numbers are important. The size and loyalty of the core audience drives membership. I watched for certain benchmarks from among the core. We used Audigraphics. I looked for about 90,000 core listeners who tuned in at least nine times a week for about nine hours each.

The base for other non-profits is much smaller. But loyalty to the unique values they have to offer is much higher. I'm involved in stewardship for a church. There are about 300 regular givers. Instead of an annual median gift of $125...the annual median gift approaches $2,000. The core values of the givers closely match the core values of that church resulting in a much higher annual gift.

Can non-profits offering social services generate this type of giving? Outcomes might be a good place to start.

• Don't underestimate the value of developing relationships with potential big givers.
• Develop relationships with your donors. They know people.
• Non-profit board members must help out. They should be contributors and be willing to network with others to garner support.
• Testimonials help...a lot.
• Keep listening.
• Keep learning.

Boston's WTKK Ending Talk Format

The Boston Globe and other sources are reporting that WTKK-FM is changing formats. The all talk format will give way to a music format. Media analysts cited in the article say the station never developed a niche in a crowded market and, the rating reflected that.

Scott Fybush, editor of the trade journal NorthEast Radio Watch, told the Globe that the WTKK never developed a stationality. In other words, there did not seem to be a unified approach to the content that would promote listening to the station over the course of the day. When listeners tune in they should know what they are getting. A consistent format with programs that have a high affinity with each other promotes more time spent listening and a stronger share of the market.

These concepts are not unfamiliar to public radio. They were expanded on in the Audience 88 and 98 reports. The reports were published by David Giovannoni with the help of many others. They are available through ARANet.com

One of the stations mentioned in the Globe article, WBUR, embraced these concepts early-on. WGBH embraced them within the past few years.

AUDIENCE 88

Issues and Implications

AUDIENCE 98 Publications