Leaders Partnership
Major Gifts and Public Radio
In early 1996 the Station Resource Group invited a half dozen members with outstanding fund raising records to pool their resources with support from CPB's Future Fund for a joint venture to pioneer areas outside the usual public radio fund raising repertoire. The stations chose to focus on major gifts-annual gifts of $1,000+ for general support of the station's mission.
In calendar year 1997, these five organizations met-and exceeded-their goals for the year. In a single year, major gifts income grew from $594,668 to $965,835, a 62% increase.
Project Overview
Who
Five top-performing members of the Station Resource Group: WBEZ, Chicago, WBUR, Boston, WRKF, Baton Rouge, WUWM, Milwaukee and Vermont Public Radio working with SRG consultant, Results Group International for Non-Profits.
What
Collaborative project to raise annual, renewable, and unrestricted gifts of $1,000 or more by adding major gift activity to station fund raising repertoire. Funded primarily by CPB's Future Fund with supplementary station fees.
When
Launched Spring 1996. Wrap-up Summer 1998.
Why
Soliciting major gifts is relatively new for most public radio stations. But it can create a significant supplement to basic level listener support. It can also be the basis for more ambitious, large gift campaigns to build new facilities, to obtain new distribution channels or to establish endowment funds.
Major gift fund raising involves new, energizing roles for station management and governing advisory board members. These efforts can produce new net revenue as well as increased involvement by community leaders in the life and future of the station.
How
Very few people actually like to ask for big gifts and usually must be trained to do so. It is also a matter of making the time to meet potential donors face to face—not simply talking to them from behind the microphone or in writing. The General Manager is the linch-pin. He or she must articulate the need for major gifts, set the pace for matching station needs with the interests of potential donors, and be ready to work in tandem with board members and development staff in meeting annual major gift goals.
Teams of board and staff at all Leaders Partnership stations are learning how to do this. All of them say that at the beginning of the project they didn't realize how demanding this process would be in terms of their own time and the station's infrastructure. GM's and Development Directors now seem genuinely enthusiastic about the prospect for solid net revenue gains and their role in making that happen. They understand that major gift work requires discipline in working through annual goals, adhering to a timetable, managing board members' time wisely and evolving their own, pivotal role.
Making the case for gifts of $1,000 and up has also helped Leaders Partnership stations clarify the station's role in their respective communities. The project has provoked analysis of station staffing and, in some cases, adding of a full-time major gift staff position and/or use of local consultants.
Making Changes
Leaders Partnership stations have all remarked on the impact of the major gifts program on their external relations with their communities, as well as within their institutions.
Stations are changing their image. Where once stations asked almost exclusively for low-dollar support, stations are making the case for, and receiving, higher support from the same prospect pool that has sent $100 in the past. Stations are changing the perception of their organization from bit player to contender for higher gifts.
The role of the board is evolving. There is a new comfort level with board recruitment that assumes board members will both give themselves and ask others in the community to give as well. Major gift programs need strong board solicitors as part of the team.
On-air and other station staff are, often to their own surprise, enjoying the cultivation visits to the station by donors and prospects. Staff are becoming familiar with articulating the station’s mission, its technology, and its importance to its listeners.
Development staff say they have just scratched the surface of a potential gold mine. Major gift "asks"are having dramatic results short term and appear to have the prospect of even more valuable impact in the longer term. Gifts of stock that appear unsolicited, donors who are considering bequests, prospects who double and triple their past gifts—these were tantalizing fairy tales to all of them a year ago. Today, these events are actually happening.
Activities
Once the Leaders Partnership stations decided to focus on major gifts, SRG launched a national search and the stations interviewed major gift experts from several firms. The decision was to hire Results Group and its principals Claudia Chouinard and Carol Eddy.
The Leaders Partnership’s major gifts program began with a multi-year plan for laying the foundation that would sustain and institutionalize major giving on an ongoing basis. Consultations were targeted to build a capacity for major gifts solicitation at Leaders Partnership stations and integrating this work into the core of each station’s long-term organizational plan and budget.
During these planning sessions a central element of a successful major gift effort emerged-the substantial commitment of time and organizational focus that a major gifts effort requires. Five partners decided to take the plunge for a full tilt effort: WBEZ, WBUR, WRKF, WUWM and Vermont Public Radio.
Project activities included the following high points:
Most stations completed their first-ever board solicitation for annual gifts. This marked an important step for the stations in developing the role of their board members in fundraising-both in making annual personal gifts themselves as well as in cultivating and soliciting others on the station's behalf
General managers learned new professional skills that enabled them to ask individuals face-to-face for gifts of $1,000 or more. Some found this transforming in terms of their role at the station, their level of personal confidence, and the way they understand the productivity of their station’s overall fundraising efforts.
Development staff, again largely for the first time, defined specific annual line item income goals for board gifts, large gifts from top prospects, and major gifts from donors segmented as a group from the membership pool. To enable this goal setting, each development department established new processes for projecting expected gifts and for establishing solicitation strategies on a donor-by-donor basis. These are powerful first steps in diversifying income sources and establishing accountability for more aggressive income goals.
The station solicitation teams identified and trained last January hit their stride in most cases and began to make face-to-face cultivation and solicitation visits with targeted donors and prospects in varying staff/board combinations. Pairs of team members handled most visits, though staff members occasionally handled preliminary visits on a solo basis.
Small gatherings to cultivate major donors and prospects, the first most stations had ever attempted, were held at the station and/or in the homes of board members. These got a very positive reaction in all markets, and the stations and project teams seemed quite buoyed by the positive feedback. These events helped stations experience the powerful nature of face-to-face contact with prospects and donors, something most stations appear to have resisted in the past.
Each station planned a schedule of cultivation and solicitation mailings to major donors for the fall months, with follow-up phone calls and notes by staff and board members, to obtain increased year-end gifts from all prospective major donors.
Development staff made concerted efforts during the last quarter of the calendar year to make personalized solicitations with individual "ask" amounts to their prospects. Most stations did well with their year-end appeals, though providing adequate follow-up remains a challenge for most overworked stations. Improved follow-up would very likely improve results in future years.
Analysis of successful and less-than-successful visits helped stations identify where they most need to improve skills to make their solicitations more successful. Stations are now comfortable enough to share experiences with their peers in the Leaders Partnership and to elicit suggestions from the group as well as from Results Group counsel.
Several stations began to explore the power of electronic database research by Target America on the wealth and assets of prospects. This hard data can be a powerful lever to help general managers and board members overcome lingering reluctance to begin visiting and asking for gifts.
By midway through the project, it became clear that a number of SRG members were interested in pursuing a major gifts development program along the same lines of the Leaders Partnership—a strong testimonial to the early results and enthusiasm of the participating stations. SRG's board of directors, and subsequently its membership, approved proceeding with the design and development of such an initiative. Today, a number of stations are ready to launch these activities through SRG's Major Gifts Initiative
Station Impact
Financial Results
"We now have specific proof and realization that a major donor program can be a real benefit. We have measurable results. We see a targeted audience."
"We have seen an increase in $1,000 and above members. We have also seen a substantial increase in the number of gifts to the station in the $500 to $999 range. And our donors’ perception of what an annual subscription to the station is worth has increased."
"The project has made us examine the importance of major gifts to our future and realize the potential income that is just waiting for us to ask for it… My only reservation was whether people would give as much to an annual campaign as to a capital campaign. I found that yes, they will."
"The advisory board has become a 100% active contributing board. Our board has also begun to actively participate in the prospecting and solicitation process of other donors."
Community Impact
"As we have talked more about major gifts on the air, donors seem to be accepting the station as an organization that deserves larger gifts. The more face-to-face meetings we have with donors, the more they see the station as a friend that deserves their generous support."
"This project has gotten people in our community to start thinking 'big'! Instead of always viewing public radio as the grassroots organization worthy of only a $25 to $100 gift, we now have people thinking that $500 to $1,000 is a more appropriate annual gift."
"I’ve been surprised at how strong the correlation between personal contact and increased gifts has been... Donors are more aware of the immense costs involved in bringing them their favorite programs. They view the station as living, breathing individuals instead of just voices coming over the radio. Donors are more confident that their requests, questions, and comments are being addressed."
"Donors now believe their gifts are going to a worthwhile, well-run organization with a stated mission and goals. They feel part of our staff 'family'-well connected or at least 'more connected.' They actually enjoy hearing from us-rather than us asking for money all the time."
"Some of these people have been waiting a long time for the station to ask them for larger gifts, to show that we care."
"Donors seem more informed about how our station is using their money and less confused about our relationship with NPR. They are also starting to view the station more as an important community institution than they had in the past."
Institutional Impact
"A significant effect for us was the board's realization that we have major donor prospects at a higher level than they realized or perceived. And that solicitation of major donors would be something they can easily and willingly assist staff with."
"This project has become an all-station team effort-even the receptionist is on top of who the major donors are, what letters and materials are available for them and most important-how to answer their calls, visits and questions. On-air staff and reporters have had opportunity to meet donors, find out their interests, favorite programs-get one-on-one as well."
"The on-air staff members are now more comfortable asking for large gifts during membership drives. All staff are starting to gain a clearer understanding about the importance of cultivation of donors and the fact that donors really value the opportunity to meet programming staff."
"There has been a move away from 'compartmentalized' goals toward long-range, big-picture thinking. We've developed a more donor-driven mentality."
"Our news team is more in tune with the importance of having the major donors meet them and see exactly what they do. Our program director and chief engineer enjoy showing off the newest in broadcast technology and have become quite good at explaining complicated technology in layman’s terms."
"The project has forced us to rethink how we ask donors for money and how we show our appreciation. As general manager, I also think it is beginning to force us to rethink how we expend our development energies. I have found myself more directly involved in this effort than I had previously been in fundraising. I also believe that our development team has to rethink the way they spend their time."
Challenges
Several elements of the work over the past year, or characteristics of the stations' culture, pose ongoing challenges:
Board members are just now being solicited for personal gifts, in most cases for the first time, as the stations begin their new fiscal years. Getting this process in place is a critical step, both as a precedent for future board giving and to enable board members to approach prospects as giving peers.
General managers continue to find themselves pulled in many directions, with major gifts competing for their time with many other priorities. It is an ongoing challenge to make time available for the in-person and telephone contact so important to donors.
Development staff are pressed to juggle the time-intensive demands of major donor cultivation with the more urgent deadlines of events and on-air drives. The larger and longer-term payoff of major gifts work cannot compete with the smaller but immediate returns of events or drives.
Many donors make their major gifts decisions toward the end of the calendar year, requiring stations to plan aggressive phone follow-up to year-end appeals to maximize results.
Writing is still a challenge at most stations. There is a recurring temptation to rely on short letters with little substantive content because stations feel they lack the time or resources to make their case adequately in writing.
Next Steps
As Leaders Partnership stations look ahead, they will work to address the following priorities:
Continue the evolution of the board's responsibility for raising money and generating annual personal gifts, including an active development subcommittee that regularly reviews prospects and strategies.
Further develop the role of the general manager as a key spokesperson for the station in the community and to foster the position of the station as a valued institution that contributes to the cultural life of the region.
More adequate staffing in the major gifts area. Since the "high touch" and personalized aspect of major gifts work brings the best results, a major gifts program requires a higher staff to donor ratio than other types of fundraising. The three LP stations with the most success in major gifts allocated at least 50% of the time of one professional development staff person to this work.
Integrate the cultivation of major donors into all aspects of the station's activities and communications
Use donor research and electronic database screening to identify high-potential prospects on the membership list. Stations typically obtained major gifts by upgrading current donors. The next step is to identify and qualify new prospective major donors among their other members.
Improving written materials of all kinds to be more informative about the mission and work of the station and more responsive to the listener/donor perspective.
The Stations
For more information about the Leaders Partnership and major gifts programs for public radio, talk with the stations themselves:
WBEZ, Chicago
Torey Malatia
Betsy Harman
WBUR, Boston
Jane Christo
Jay Clayton
Liz Gianakos
WRKF, Baton Rouge
Eric DeWeese
WUWM, Milwaukee
Dave Edwards
Ron Kotecki
Vermont Public Radio
Mark Vogelzang
Robin Turneau
Partial support for the Leaders Partnership was provided by the Radio Future Fund of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.