The NPR Fundraising Experience

By BARTON BUND

At one point, it is possible that Linda Yohn of WEMU 89.1 FM told me to put a dog leash on her. We were discussing the WEMU dog leash you could receive for your donation of $100, and somehow we stumbled into some territory. It didn't even occur to me at the time, but friends asked me about it later.

It's best to return to the message. We need your pledge of support. Support the station that gives you your news, jazz, blues, call right now at 888...

I often talk too fast. I have been told this for years, and it happens when I get excited. I speak way too fast for radio. Rhythm is a thing to listen to in conversation. If you are out of rhythm, it is a physical indicator that the conversation is not going well. I tend to cram too much information and speak in run-on sentences.

So be it. You have limited time. Life is short and public radio fundraisers only last a week or so.

People give. They are a mix of new and old donors, at new and old levels. They are passionate, considerate, and brave people. I know that I have listened to entire weeks of fund drives and still not given. I think people tend to arrange hierarchies of charity these days anyway. There are disaster relief programs to give to. There are hungry people out there. It is sometimes hard to even ask people for money.

You can't try and get into their heads. You can talk, you can talk, you can bicker, you can talk, but you can't tell anybody how to spend their money, not on something they don't fully understand. You can give them the pitch, you can browbeat them, you can appeal to their emotions, but you can't get their credit card information, not without a fight.

I know I got some people in my community to support the station. Many of them were new donors, and I gave them loving shout-outs on the air. But you can't stay put for long. Once you get one donation, it's a drug, and you need your next fix right away. While I was on, we reached the $100,000 mark. I got to make the announcement.

The phones go quiet, sometimes for an entire hour. You push, you try, you appeal to listeners, you try to use your tricks. But just because it works once doesn't mean it will work again. I made an appeal to parents of Greenhills School students. One parent of an alumnus called in and paid off our hourly goal. She issued a challenge to other parents to do the same. Whatever was left at the end of the hour, you can call in your pledge of support. It didn't work.

We had a matching challenge. It just barely worked. We have incentives. And that can work, when people perceive that they are getting a real deal. The dog leash that Linda Yohn spoke of can surely be purchased for less than $100. It's not about the leash. It's about feeling good about yourself.

And it DOES feel good! You feel like a saint when you give to Public Radio. You feel like a million bucks, and you brag about it, you rub it in people's faces, you make a really big deal out of it. The NPR fund drive uses any tactic imaginable.There is the Threat: If you don't give now, you may lose your station altogether. There is the Competitive Edge: No other station does what this one does. There is the Plea Bargain: If we make our goals, we'll stop talking to you.

They all work. I was on the air for three hours. It was really fun. I got carried away at one point and told young men that giving to public radio will make you more appealing to women. I told people that if they call, the phone volunteers will be really nice to them. I told people that if you give, you can stop worrying about whether or not you gave.

We make no mention of other charities. No need to give a commercial to the United Way, or to other NPR stations. No significant mentions of your own nonprofit business, unless you have a ticket giveaway tied in with it.

We used American Idol as an example of why you should give to 89.1. Because if you don't, you will lose this classic blues and jazz music and you will be stuck with Mylee Cyrus. If you don't give, you will be stuck with Fix News. You will be stuck listening to other NPR stations, who don't give you this kind of original programming.

We met our goals, more or less. The 89.1 Spring Fund Drive went $4000 past their goal. This is the station I have listened to for 20 years. This is where I first heard Les McCann and Eddie Harris play Compared to What?

When Katrina hit, I had to make choices as to where I was going to give. I gave to the Red Cross, and the Humane Society. I was asked to give money to the Actors Equity Fund for New Orleans actors out of work, but in the end, I decided that I would rather give to a dog than to an actor.

It's a hierarchy.