End the Spring Fund Drive Before It Even Begins
WBHM’s Spring Fund Drive is scheduled to begin April 6, 2016 and last for ten days. Starting today, however, we are asking you to help end the fund drive before it even begins by donating to the station now. And if we meet our goal of $250,000 by April 5, we won’t preempt any programming for the ten-day drive. That’s right, we’ll eliminate the on-air Spring Fund Drive.
YES! I want to help ELIMINATE the Spring Fund Drive.
“Our listeners have challenged us to try fundraising with fewer program interruptions,” says William Dahlberg, WBHM’s membership manager. “So we’re challenging our listeners to help us redefine fundraising at WBHM so that we can continue bringing them the award-winning news and programming they rely on uninterrupted by a fund drive.”
Have you been collecting our public radio-inspired pint glasses? Birmingham artist Kim Graham has designed the seventh in our series, and we’d love to send you one as a thank you for your gift of $90 or more. Kim’s love for Birmingham, and especially WBHM, is the theme of the design. “Hearts are a universal symbol of love and something you keep close,” she says. “I love WBHM 90.3 FM. Listening to the station can sometimes be like school – you learn something new when this wonderful public radio station is on.”
We are also offering 2 other thank you gifts designed by local artists: a tote bag featuring a design by digital artist Beth Conklin and a bottle opener keychain created by metal artist Dave Matson, as well as stickers, coffee mugs, umbrellas and more. Take your pick!
You can make your donation any time online or by calling 800-444-9246 during business hours. Help us ELIMINATE the Spring Fund Drive. And when you do, thanks!
FAQ
If you’re still asking for donations on the air, how is it not a fund drive?
First, a bit of background: We still need to raise a certain amount of money each year to stay on the air and keep the programming coming — there’s no getting around that. And a direct appeal over the radio is the most cost-effective way for us to reach listeners, including new listeners and supporters who may not know how the public radio funding model works.
However, in recent years, listeners have been asking us to find another way that is less disruptive. We decided to try a campaign to eliminate the drive before it begins after hearing about the success of several stations around the country over the last year.
So…how exactly does it differ from a traditional drive?
In this new model, our fundraising “pitches” are preempting absolutely no programming. All the on-air mentions are scheduled during regular breaks in the programming where you normally hear what’s coming up later on Fresh Air, or about a new project at WBHM — that sort of thing. Compare that with a traditional on-air membership drive, when we preempt up to 20 minutes of programming per hour during some parts of the day. We think that’s a pretty good trade off!
What happens if you don’t meet your goal by April 5?
We will go on the air the morning of April 6 and begin our traditional on-air pledge drive — but only for as long as it takes to meet our overall goal of $250,000.
Is this the new norm?
We certainly want to continue this trend of fundraising that’s less disruptive to our listeners! At the same time, traditional drives continue to be the best way to reach out to first-time contributors to wBHM and educate them about how public radio works. We believe the future of fundraising for public radio is somewhere in the middle, resulting in fewer days of preempted programming.
