Raised Eyebrow Blog

Slate has a great article up on “The 10 cunning ways public radio stations convince you to give them money” — as I was reading it (and listening to the fabulous audio clips that accompany the article), I reflected on how many of these same smart fundraising techniques apply to good causes everywhere.

Personally, I am a big fan (and longtime supporter) of KEXP, the Seattle-based radio station that also delivers their exceptional music programming online, and one of the things I have always admired about them is their sheer genius when it comes to fundraising. (They’re in the middle of pledge week right now, as a matter of fact, should you feel inclined to give to a great cause.) One year during pledge drive they accepted bids on seemingly random items scattered around the station, so that for, say, $500 (I can’t remember the actual amount), you could get your name on the front of the coffee machine, where staffers would grab a cup of joe. For $1000, you might get your name on a microphone that’s used every day for in-studio performances by some of the best musicians in the world. And so on. The intimacy and immediacy of the items one could sponsor made them incredibly appealing to listeners like me. (I still want my name on that coffee machine.)

I think of all the techniques described in the Slate article, the one that’s most effective at getting my credit card out is this one:

8. Niche marketing

The best of public radio’s weekend shows have distinct personalities: the discursive storytelling of This American Life, the self-deprecating bickering of Car Talk, and the cozy in-jokes of A Prairie Home Companion. All these shows produce special pledge editions, pitching in their signature styles. Ira Glass clearly missed his calling in sales; he is a master of the “ask.” He appeals to his people in their native tongue, sarcasm, calling on them to show their love for the show rather than the station it happens to be playing on: “There is one sure way that you can send a signal to this radio station that you like this program, and that you want them to continue running this program, and that is to call right now. …. Not later, not in an hour, during that other show that comes after us.”

I want to be made to feel special — to feel like I belong to a community of people with whom I share certain common interests and values. If you can make me feel understood and valued, then you will gain my loyalty, and with my loyalty comes a much greater willingness to part with my hard-earned cash.

And you know what didn’t make the list? Fearmongering. (Yes, they did include guilt-tripping, because where would fundraisers be without the ability to tug on heartstrings?) I, for one, would really love it if I never received another fundraising letter that implied the world was on the brink of destruction and that only my dollars could save us from apocalypse, whether the end of the world was coming in the shape of environmental, cultural, or social degradation. I am rarely motivated to action by doom-and-gloom scenarios; what does motivate me is a clearly articulated vision of a better world that I want to live in — even if it’s just a world where The Pixies still get played on the radio every day.

This entry was written by Lauren Bacon on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at 10:38 am, is filed under Content Management Systems, Nonprofit Tech, Online Fundraising, Online Strategy, Our Clients, and is tagged as . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.