Double Take: Overlap Giving in Public Media

Last year, CDP’s Daren Winckel wrote about overlap giving in public media and suggested that donors contributing to two or more stations may represent as much as a jaw-dropping $100 million in revenue for the public media sector.

We’ve taken a closer look at the data in the National Reference File and have more findings to share with you about the size and impact of this group of donors.

How many people are we talking about, anyway?

A lot. Like, A LOT, a lot. In fact, it now turns out that 17% of the average station’s file gives to more than one station. And, if you look closer, the numbers get even more interesting.

For starters, stations who are affiliated with at least one other station (that is, stations within the same corporate organization who market separately) unsurprisingly share a large percentage of their donors. These stations average a full 25% of their files giving to at least two stations (usually within the organization, but not exclusively).

For solitary stations (or joint stations who don’t separate their TV and Radio marketing) who are located in “overlap” markets with at least one other public media station, we still see an average of 15-18% of their donors giving to at least one other station.

Even in markets with only one station, we still see an average of 5-8% of these stations’ donors giving to another station farther away. These donors may be continuing to support a station in their hometown, near where they went to school or where they lived before they retired; they may also be donors with vacation homes or other part-time residences. (Or there could be another reason entirely! We’d love to do a survey.)

How valuable are these donors?

Unsurprisingly, since by definition these are folks giving multiple gifts in a year, these donors are very valuable. And not just more valuable overall – they’re more valuable to each station they give to.

Donors who give to more than one station give an average of $231 per year to each station. Donors who only give to one station give an average of $166 per year.

These donors are more likely to have been on file longer and are much more likely to be multi-year consecutive donors than donors who only give to one station. They’re much more likely to be direct mail-responsive donors and much less likely to be pledge, digital or Passport donors. (Which makes sense; if you’re giving specifically to get access to Passport, you don’t need to get access twice.)

These donors also, unsurprisingly, are much more likely to be giving major gifts—consider the propensity for high-wealth individuals to give many different philanthropic gifts, as well as their increased likelihood to have ties to multiple geographic areas.

So what do I do with this information?

The takeaway here is that these are passionate donors with a desire to support the local community, demonstrating a more traditional philanthropic giving pattern that isn’t necessarily driven by on-air pledge and/or Passport.

This data further supports what we already knew: There are a finite number of donors in any market and no one organization has exclusivity with them. Donors, particularly at the higher levels, are on every organization’s radar; this serves as a reminder to hone your shop’s stewardship, major gifts and planned giving skills.

The multi-station support numbers for joint licensee or affiliate stations have particular relevance for stations that maintain separate memberships with the mindset that donors want to support one station or the other and not both. The data lends itself to implementing a single, institutional membership that is stewarding your donor’s passion for all of your services. In addition to maximizing their giving to you, recognizing the total impact of their giving to your organization may improve your planned giving prospects.

Finally, the overlap market figures are an important reminder to public television and radio stations that may be exploring mergers and strategic partnerships with one another to look closely at the file overlap to gain a full view into the potential fundraising risks and rewards while developing a donor strategy that educates these committed donors and helps them grasp the increased services, effectiveness and efficiencies that the coming together of two stations may provide.

If you’re interested in digging into the data to find the specific multi-station giving tendencies of your station’s donors, CDP can help—please get in touch!