Republished from Current.org
A new National Federation of Community Broadcasters initiative aims to help small radio stations increase their revenues through a coordinated year-end giving program.
The organization, which represents more than 200 community radio stations, is partnering with the social fundraising platform Click & Pledge for a campaign they’re calling “GiveBig to MyStation,” a two-day fundraiser Dec. 29 and 30.
By signing up to participate, community stations will get an individually branded fundraising website and access to a fundraising toolkit with resources like on-air scripts, email templates and graphics — “all the things it takes to do a fundraiser,” said Beverly Hacker, a fundraising consultant who is working with NFCB on the initiative. She was previously executive director of KDHX, a community radio station in St. Louis.
The campaign responds to a new emphasis on fundraising performance in CPB’s Community Service Grant program and aims to help stations improve their development practices. Community radio stations have small staffs and limited resources, and many serve economically disadvantaged communities. NFCB saw an opportunity to help them improve their end-of-year fundraising.
“An awful lot of stations will do one or two days, but they’re not always super-planned or strategic,” Hacker said.
The platform is also equipped for stations to utilize peer-to-peer tactics, allowing their supporters to act as fundraisers on behalf of the stations. The approach is similar to a local Race for the Cure event benefiting breast cancer research.
