How to Knock on Doors and Win Hearts: The Secrets of Public Media Canvassing

I'm just back from PMDMC where I sat in on the session entitled “Acquiring New Members — What Is Working Within Public Media?” There were three stations on that panel: WHYY, KPBS and Rocky Mountain PBS. What was most interesting was that WHYY and Rocky Mountain PBS are currently running a canvassing program and presented on the success of those programs. And it just so happens that KPBS is getting ready to launch theirs within the next couple of months. I was inspired to sit down and talk with our own Hunter Sears, Director of Partnership Development, who runs the canvassing program here at CDP.

Caroline Krantz

Hunter, as the person here within CDP who runs the canvassing program, I've got some questions to ask you about canvassing for public media. Why do you love canvassing so much?

Hunter Sears
I love canvassing because it was my entry point into public media back in 2010. I was living in Denver and working for a company that did door-to-door outreach, mostly for political campaigns and other grassroots outreach. In 2011, Rocky Mountain PBS contacted us to test a pilot program to go door to door for their membership program. I had never seen a public media station go door to door as a way to acquire new donors. It didn't take long for us to realize that public media was a really good fit for the door-to-door approach. And we saw immediate success.

Working for public media also brought back a lot of nostalgia and reminded me how much PBS meant to me growing up. It wasn't hard to make that kind of connection and to hold people accountable for something that they already value.

Caroline Krantz
So that was 2011. Almost 13 years have gone by. Talk to me about how that program has changed over the past 12 years and how it's benefited public media.

Hunter Sears
It has changed quite a bit! Probably the most obvious change is just the maturity of the program. In the beginning we were going out there with clipboards and sign-up sheets. We really didn't have much infrastructure in terms of gift processing. 12 years later, we like to say that it's an age-old practice brought into the 21st century from a technology standpoint, because now everything is done on tablets with maps and apps that have live processing at the door. And it’s all PCI compliant.

We’ve knocked on over 12 million doors and acquired over 470,000 donors and 155,000 new sustainers. Canvassing has made a huge impact on public media.

Caroline Krantz
I've heard you say before that canvassing is not just an acquisition strategy but a sustainer strategy, and I would think that technology has impacted some of those numbers.

Hunter Sears
When we talk about what's changed in the last 12 years, it was really the 3rd and 4th year that I realized this wasn't just an acquisition program.  When I joined CDP and was able to take a deep dive into the data, I saw it was really a sustainer acquisition program. We see a lot of one- time donors, and those help fund the program, but the long-term value is found in those high-retaining sustaining donors.  In the beginning, maybe 30% of revenue was coming from sustainers. Fast forward to the last 3 years, and over 70% of all 12-month revenue is tied to canvassing as sustaining dollars.

When we compare the retention rates of a canvas-acquired sustainers versus other acquisition methods like pledge or direct mail, they are routinely the strongest of all acquisition methods. That’s what helps drive the long-term value.

Caroline Krantz
So when you're talking with stations about canvassing, what surprises you in those conversations?

Hunter Sears
Not much surprises me anymore because I've heard it all. When talking with stations, you hear the same kind of concerns from every station. The first thing I hear is, “I would never open my door to a canvasser, and I don't think my neighbors would. How in the world does this work?”

Caroline Krantz
You're telling me that people actually open their doors to a canvasser?

Hunter Sears
Look, I don't have to tell you. I can show you the data that is remarkably consistent across all markets. No matter where in the country, a canvasser will go out five hours a day and knock on 80 to 100 doors. They're going to have 30 to 35 conversations. And out of those 30 to 35 conversations on average, 3 to 3.5 of those conversations convert to a donation.

That's an 8% to 10% conversion rate. I always tell stations to imagine if 8% or 10% of your direct mail acquisition pieces came back with a check or 8% or 10% of your pledge audience called in and made a gift. You'd be blown away!

Caroline Krantz
That brings up another question that I have for you, Hunter. Think about the difference between a canvas donor versus a donor that comes in through other channels. Can you talk about how they're different?

Hunter Sears
Absolutely. So canvassing is all about having a balanced acquisition program. Canvassing is not going to replace pledge. It's not going to replace direct mail. It is going to bring in donors that simply don't respond to your traditional acquisition methods. It's not cannibalizing your other efforts.

Canvass-acquired donors are on average 20 to 25 years younger. We see that in both radio and television, and the main reason for that is because canvassing is able to tap into people that value public media who might not be consuming your content in this particular stage in their life. They are not watching your pledge drives, and they're not on your direct mail acquisition lists.

What’s great about canvassing and why canvassing is so effective for public media is because everybody knows PBS and NPR. Everybody grew up on it. It does not require a lot of education at the door, and in the end it's not politically tinged. Everybody grew up with Sesame Street. When you're out there and having a one-on-one conversation with people, it taps into something they already value. We talk to them about why they value public media and why it's important to support it, to make sure that the next generation and the generations that follow have access to it as well. We hold them accountable. It’s a conversation that creates a meaningful relationship between the station and the donor. It’s a mission-driven conversation, and it’s not transactional. We have no premiums that we give at the door. These are true mission-oriented donors.

Caroline Krantz
I would think that canvassing in, say, the middle of Montana might not be as successful as canvassing in Boston. Can you talk about which stations might be a good fit for this program?

Hunter Sears

So that's a really good question. There are certain logistical considerations that are going to make canvassing a fit for some markets and not others. We need to be in a dense enough area to support a canvassing team with a minimum number of shifts. The reality is that for the vast majority of markets, 70% to 75%, canvassing is very much a viable program. When we look at canvassing, the biggest consideration for stations is going to be budget.

When we look at the performance and the success metrics, they're remarkably consistent whether you're in a deep red state in the South or a deep blue state in the Northeast. That goes back to the fact that everybody is aware of public media, and, to a great extent, everybody values it.

Caroline Krantz
Hunter, you mentioned budget. I know that this is a long-term strategy and that stations don't necessarily see a return on investment in that first year or sometimes even the second year. How do you advise stations to talk with their CFOs and talk with their boards to help to justify this investment?

Hunter Sears

That's the biggest barrier for most stations. To be honest, it is expensive, but acquisition is always going to be that: an investment. The reality is you're not going to break even and be in the black until the third or fourth year of your canvassing program. When you look at the value and the retention of the canvassing-acquired sustainers, that's what drives the long-term growth.

For people who are financially minded, I like to compare canvassing to having an annuity for your future. Pledge and direct mail are good and important cash infusions. Canvassing is going to be a year-round effort that's going to bring in consistent sustainers that set your station up for long-term success.

My mom's a big gardener, so please let me use a gardening analogy. Think of canvassing as your perennials: those beautiful flowers that come back and spread year over year. They are the anchor to your garden. Think of your one-time and your pledge donors as your annuals. They last a season and need to be replaced. They are a boost to those perennials that you’ve already planted that are healthy and thriving.

Caroline Krantz
Alright so, Hunter, knowing your history now around canvassing. You've walked the walk, and you've talked the talk. Please share your favorite canvassing story.

Hunter Sears

I’ve got so many. I just need to say one more thing about canvassing, and that it is a really hard job. You can ask any of the stations that do canvassing. Going out every day with a quota and a goal of knocking on 80 doors, getting rejected, asking complete strangers to hand over their credit card is hard work. It's not for everyone. I think if every fundraiser spent one week going door to door, it would benefit them tremendously. Canvassing has made me a better person. I am more empathetic and understanding of how I treat other people.

One specific story goes back to my second or third week on the job. I was in a nice suburban neighborhood and knocked on a normal non-descript house. They were a lapsed member and had not given in a few years. I had on my Rocky Mountain PBS jacket, and they opened the door and immediately they said “Oh, Rocky Mountain PBS…Come on in!” They asked me to sit, gave me coffee, and I thought to myself, “This is weird but nice.” I gave my spiel, and they asked me how much I wanted and said they had been waiting for somebody to get in contact with them. I told myself that I was going to go big and asked for $500. They looked at me quizzically and said “Yeah, ok.” I immediately realized that I should have asked for more, that these folks were real philanthropists and most likely should be major donors. This story is replicated all the time across the country with canvassers getting mid-level and major gift cusp gifts.

This highlights the opportunity that public media has in the mid-level and major gift space if we identify the right prospects, talk to them about our mission and steward them like the philanthropists that they are. A knock on the door that leads to a medium-sized gift can very quickly turn into a relationship with the potential for a future transformational gift. That's game changing for a station.

Caroline Krantz
Awesome. Thanks Hunter.

To learn more about canvassing and to receive a complimentary market analysis, please reach out to cdp@cdpcommunity.org