Relationships Are Important
It’s become customary to start an article by saying we’re living in a new and different world. While that sounds ominous, it’s also an opportunity. Public media managers who acknowledge that the status quo is neither acceptable nor workable in this new and different world have a chance to assess & strengthen local services, staffing, and, most important, donor relationships.
As you pore over budget items for the coming fiscal year, you’re going to have to make difficult decisions. There are some things you can control, and others that you cannot. In the latter case, I have suggestions to help mitigate challenging circumstances.
The Economy
Conservative estimates project that economic recovery will take 2-3 years; if there isn’t a vaccine for coronavirus by 2022, that timeline could lengthen. Not only will that change American work habits, the discretion with which we parse our ‘discretionary income’ to non-profits will change, as it did in the Great Recession. Given that timeline, we need to take into account the needs of our audience and develop ever-deeper relationships with them to assure they include your station in their discretionary giving.
Losses in Underwriting
When the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, stations that relied heavily on underwriting from startups recruiting new talent in places such as Boston and San Francisco lost millions of dollars. It took perhaps 3-5 years to diversify their sponsor portfolios to rebuild that revenue stream. Similar circumstances abound in the arts and culture sector, as social distancing has prevented those organizations from scheduling ticketed events, and therefore cancel underwriting contracts. Station managers have been toiling to expand sponsor portfolios and help current sponsors pivot to different messaging. In some cases, stations are asking major donors, sponsors, and foundations that also support local arts groups to invest in underwriting announcements that remind the audience of the importance of organizations that are also close to their own hearts. This, too, builds stronger community relationships on many fronts.
Pledge Drives
If your fiscal year is July-June, it is critical to go on the air in some form to ask the audience to support the service. As direct-to-consumer marketing goes, Pledge is a big relationship-builder, especially in the areas of Sustainer and Passport adoption.
For TV stations, June pledge should be able to go off without a hitch, although you may anticipate a larger drop in HUTs (houses using television) and PUTs (people using television) than usual due to coronavirus ‘cabin fever’ and longer periods of sunlight. You may need to add fundraising days in June and run aggressive fiscal year-end spots that ask the audience to help the station close a significant funding gap. This would be a good time to step up ‘tune-in’ emails for specific pledge shows and create a fiscal year-end e-solicitation countdown series to complement your additional gift and lapsed mailings usually sent in the month of June.
For Radio stations, things have gotten easier logistically now that hosts and reporters have had time to adjust to working remotely. Pledge drive producers can employ Zoom or another video conferencing service to direct fundraising breaks in real time. This is a time to shift to a more scripted approach, which provides pitchers with tools to tighten up breaks and keep calls-to- action clear and concise. We’ve seen stations have success with shortened drives (1-3 days) bolstered by matching money and a week-long multi-platform predrive campaign leading up to the pre-emptive pitching period, as well as a lengthy post-drive campaigns to catch those who missed the drive.
I would advise against using premiums at this time (except for station-branded merch, which is good for cementing relationships). You may offer them if people request when they call in, or put them on the web site, but presently we’re seeing fewer people asking for premiums and instead giving philanthropically. That will increase your net.
Here’s a radical idea: a Zoom pledge drive. For music stations, bring in artists, composers, and other special guests to talk with hosts about their music and the audience’s role in making their work and the station’s work possible. Show videos of performances. Make a branded ‘card’ to insert from time to time with the station’s phone number and web address. Say thank you in real time to donors and read comments. Ask people to comment or ask questions on social media.
For news stations, if you have an embedded NPR reporter at the station, or one who regularly files for NPR, bring them on to talk directly to the audience about how listener support is vital to the station’s continued service in the community and in the country.
I Like My Vendor
This is a tough one. Long-term relationships with vendors can be comforting. As I wrote at the beginning of this post, you will have to make difficult decisions about how your organization does business going forward. As you assess your program, with the focus on building relationships with donors, local sponsors & foundations, and local arts & cultural organizations, the laser should be trained on NET revenue. This is the time to analyze whether the vendors you work with---from vehicle donations to wealth engine to direct mail---are delivering the highest percentage of NET revenue for you to invest in staff and mission.
Questions include:
• Is my vehicle donation program percentage-based or a flat fee?
• Is my direct mail agency engaged in message testing? Do I pay a retention fee on top of mailings and postage? Do they have complementary e-solicitations built into the mail cycle?
• Will my university continue to subsidize my mail program, and how will my station be prioritized in the new and different world we live in?
• Does the university do wealth screenings of my file, and how much control do I have over that process?
CDP has answers:
• The CDP vehicle donation program has a flat-fee structure, which means a much larger percentage of the auction price goes back to the station
• CDP Direct obsessively tests letter and e-mail copy and refines messaging to increase conversions. All CDP Direct mailings are priced on a per-piece basis, with all costs built in (no additional agency fee) plus renewals, additional gift & lapsed mail have complementary (and complimentary) e-solicitations built into the campaigns, which has been seen to increase response rates by 50%. Speaking of percentages, stations that pay for direct mail save 20-30% on average when they switch to CDP Direct
• CDP works with DonorSearch to provide wealth screening & donor demographic appends at a deep discount; stations can use this cloud-based tool with an existing database to do searches according to your own timeline
CDP’s entire existence has always been predicated on helping stations create, strengthen and deepen relationships with donors. If that’s your number one priority in this new and different world, we can make it easy for you to make changes that will increase your station’s NET revenue, so that you can invest in people and programs that will help you serve the community better.