How can a community radio station find funds for new equipment?

Summary:

Extensive discussion of ideas for soliciting donations to fund new equipment for a radio station. Many ideas would be applicable to campaigns for capital equipment or other similar fundraising situations.

In November 1994, Brad DeLange (jdelange@students.wisc.edu) wrote(...snipped...):
The projected cost? $40,000! As you might have guessed, WORT is casting
about for some creative, innovative fundraising schemes. Our listener
sponsors are not in the position to underwrite the costs and our cash
reserves are low.

Sylvie McGee (sylvie@eskimo.com) replied:
My question is about this...Do you in fact *know* this? Or are you
assuming it?

$40,000 is not a particularly large amount of money to raise - although
I am sure that it probably seems overwhelming right now - especially
with the pressure of time that may be created with a failing system.

I think that as non-profit fundraisers we (and I do include myself in
this!) often have a knee-jerk reaction that those who benefit from our
services cannot pay to support them - that in fact *someone else* should
pay. And I think that we short-change ourselves in the process.

Do your listeners, who so enjoy your musical programming, *not* buy CDs
or tapes? Each one likely sets them back about $13-15. Ask them to
sacrifice *one* and send you the money.

Does your radio play in the local coffeehouse while students are sipping
lattes to warm themselves? At $1.50 (minimum) a shot, if they give up
one a week for the next month, they're at a $6/donation - for the next
quarter, at nearly $20....

Pizza in on a Friday night? Cook up a pot of soup, throw some french
bread in the oven, tune on your show and have a cheap night in - send
the $15 you save in to help save *your* radio show!

Other sources - alternative businesses. They advertise *someplace* and
people give them money for their wares - if you will trade
acknowledgment of their donation, or feature that they are supporting
you with a matching grant if listeners come up with the match - they get
publicity, exposure to a customer base, and you get a potential draw for
donations...

These are just some ideas. I give yearly to a pledge drive by our local
public radio affiliate. I both hate and love the campaign - hate it
because every 15 minutes they are on the air plugging for call ins -
love it because they *do* make heavy use of matching grants - so I time
my call-in to re-pledge for a time when it will help them garner a large
corporate matching gift.

I think that unless you have done a lot of work and research on your
customer base, that asserting that they are not in a position to
underwrite this cost is just too facile. *Not* dismissing the real need
and poverty that exists in many American communities, the reality is
that for many, many, more we have poverty relative to our *wants* not
our *needs*. As developers, I think we need to be working on helping our
donors and users of our services count us within their *wants*. If those
who *use* our services won't support us - why should anyone else?

Best of luck with your project. It sounds like you have fantastic, and
interesting, programming.

Neil Berkowitz (neilmber@ix.netcom.com) added:
I second Sylvie McGee's advice that you don't sell your listeners short.
Let them know your need, and ASK for their support. Being asked is the
most common reason people give.

If people know a specific reason, and can contribute for that specified
purpose, results will be even better. So consider setting up a special
fund (with an appropriate and catchy name) solely for the transmitter
project.

This also gives you an understandable reason to approach current
subscribers. You're no longer asking for more of the same thing that
they've already given. Guess what? They will understand it, and they
will respond. Frequency of asking is another factor is renewal success.

Urgency and deadlines, if real and reasonable, also enhance results.
Consider your timeline and include deadline information in your appeal
IF it isn't arbitrary. Right after they fulfill a pledge, mail every
donor an invitation to your unveiling party, with a generalized party
date based on your timeline. Six months (or whenever) later mail them an
update bulletin, letting them know the status of the fund/project.
Include a invitation to another event: an open house, benefit dinner,
benefit house party concert, etc. Shortly after that date, its time for
another ask: a solicitation letter.

So, who should ask, and how should they ask? Use your on-air strategies,
even if your audience doesn't like them: it is the fact that they are
interruptions that creates a necessary sense of need. But don't rely
solely on on-air solicitations. Consider having local musicians for whom
you provide airtime do some of the asking. Provide them with food,
phones, and prospects, for an evening or two (I can provide you with
some materials on successful telephone solicitation strategies privately
if you wish). Other volunteers can be used. Try to have them call their
peers.

Besides your lapsed and current supporters, who should you ask for
support? If you're not already doing so, capture data on those who call
in to your talk show. Perhaps local record stores or record companies
that target your audience would be willing to share their mailing lists,
which you can use for telephone or direct mail solicitations.

Two last points. One, make sure your donor recognition levels don't top
out too low. Have levels going up to at least five thousand dollars. No,
you're not likely to get a gift that high, but you're significantly more
likely to if you make it part of your plan and ask. Second, do your grant
research. Perhaps use your airtime or other volunteer recruitment
strategies to find a professional to volunteer this service if you can.
But do it yourself if you have to.

In October 2002, James posed a similar question in CharityTalk (a service of CharityChannel.com):
I am a volunteer on the Board of TV Station WYOU in Madison, WI. We are a
public access tv station and we need to do some fund raising in our community.

I would appreciate it very much if you would share any information
concerning this with me. What are possible sources? What fund raising
programs have been successful? Are there programs other than on air fund
raisers? What is the case for support?

Hildy Gottleib (Hildy@Help4NonProfits.com)responded:
Fundraising for public access TV isn't that different from fundraising for
anything else. The groups and individuals you target will be specific to
your organization, but the methods are the same.

What strikes me is that it sounds like your organization doesn't have a
fund development plan, and with any organization, that is the very first
step in raising money. (Ok, the very first step is to have a strategic
plan, so you know what you are raising the money for!) Your fund
development plan will lay out likely approaches, so you can weigh those
ideas against each other and determine which are the best. The plan will
also detail targeted prospects and groups of prospects for each of the
strategies you choose, ending with an implementation plan (calendared and
assigned to appropriate staff and/or volunteers) that can be (and should
be) monitored.

This approach likely sounds like a lot more work than just "figuring out
who to ask and asking them," but the goal of your plan should be stability
and sustainability, and not the thought that next year you will have to
work just as hard to figure out who to turn to. Do the homework and
planning first, and then look for the money. It will pay off in the end.

Lastly, as you are forming your plan, use the national networks of public
access stations (I'm sure your organization belongs to a national
organization of public access stations) to see what approaches have worked
for them. That information will help as you are building the strategies in
your plan. And if you aren't currently a member of such an organization,
strongly consider joining. Although this is not the sort of recommendation
I would necessarily make to every type of NonProfit organization, public
access is one of those services that is always on the line for being cut
(and always maligned politically, etc.). The combination of camaraderie /
having a knowing shoulder to cry on, and the sharing of wisdom / expertise
makes networks such as these invaluable to a public access station.

(Hildy Gottlieb is the author of
Author of "Work with What You've Got:
A Model for Financial Sustainability" http://www.help4nonprofits.com/NP_Fnd_Mission_Based_FundPt1.htm)