The health of public media is facing another crisis.
Over the last couple months, the new administration has challenged the integrity of—and threatened to defund—a valuable national infrastructure, which supplies countless communities with public safety, educational resources, and reliable, trustworthy information. As NPR notes, “undermining public media would weaken the entire information ecosystem, which would ultimately lead to a less informed American public.”
So, how do you adapt?
To navigate this current landscape, it’s crucial that your organization diversify its funding sources and emphasize the importance of developing mid and major gift programs, as well as new donor acquisition. In fact, I wrote about this just recently. While many non-profit stations are hesitating to invest due to uncertainty, this stressful period can also be an opportunity for you to enact creative problem-solving, bold leadership, and self-sustainable strategies.
In other words, now is the time to furnish your donor pipeline, build and cultivate relationships with your donors, understand their interests and passions, and inspire them with compelling offers to take their giving to another level. In essence, this period of adversity calls for decisive action and innovation, to move away from reliance on government funding towards more independent, community-driven solutions.
Here is a handy guide for success:
1. Know what percentage of the station's funding comes from government funding. Either directly or indirectly. The current annual federal appropriation to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is $535 million (about .01 percent of the federal budget), but understanding how much of that allotment goes into your own budget is crucial for how you share the story and needs of your organization. Be careful of the word “only.” You don’t want to minimize the potential effect of lost funding.
2. Be transparent with your audience and donors. There is uncertainty. Acknowledge that. Let them know how this funding freeze might affect the budget of each station, and what certain cuts might tangibly look like. With your mid and major donors, this gives you a chance to tailor your messaging, based on what you know about their passions and interests. If some of them love “Morning Edition,” express how their support will maintain the show’s daily programming and support the larger NPR system, or relay to music lovers the uncertainty around the impact of music licensing, which would affect the station’s music selection (or lack thereof).
Equivalencies are also a helpful way to explain need. More importantly, they’re effective ways to reach viewer and listener's ears and hearts. “If your station loses the X% of funding from CPB, that's the same as X.” You might even get more granular: “Your special gift can make an impact because it's like Y hours of your favorite show X.” This isn’t meant to sound threatening, so much as provide the graspable, meaningful stakes at play.
3. Promise to update your audience and donors on an ongoing basis. Give them an “insider” view of what is happening on the ground. The strategy here is to help donors and your audience feel part of a community that cares about public media and that you’re all in this together. Because, that’s the truth—public media helps and affects everyone. It adheres to strict sponsorship policies and review processes to comply with all FCC regulations. It also upholds the highest possible standards of journalism to ensure local coverage remains fact-based and fair. In today’s polarized climate, it’s harder and harder to find accurate and unbiased news. Reiterate that public media is carrying the torch for those rare values, and needs everyone’s support to keep the flame going. These updates will be different based on the type of audience and donors with whom you’re communicating.
4. Start having conversations with the board and key major donors. It’s important to provide clarity about what this means for the budget and get commitments from those folks to “make up” the difference. One way to do this is to tap your board’s network and build out crisis communication kits for those eager and able to raise awareness so that everyone’s messaging is consistent. This is important prep work for large-scale community outreach, and your board members need to be clear and confident in their next actions. Also, don’t be afraid to ask key donors if they can provide matching funds to help boost overall revenue at this point. How else can you be creative with high net-worth individuals who might be passionate about a specific aspect of your station and programming?
5. Now is the time to invest in donors at the mid, major and planned giving level. What would it mean to be totally independent from government funding? What revenue will be needed to continue to provide the quality of programming? The answers start with building relationships with donors who want to engage with you and understand the value of the work. Begin, continue, or improve your processes of identifying these donors and moving them through a qualification process.
6. Don't stop trying to get new members and donors. Many non-profit media stations don’t have a strong enough donor acquisition program that feeds the pipeline with sufficient donors who are committed to the organization’s cause. But this pipeline is necessary for your mid/major program—and this is a time that can inspire people to step up and support what's important to them. Donor quality is important, though. You need to get the right donors in the door—those people who are passionate and committed to what you do and where you want to go.
The bottom line is this: You’re in a good organization. Your cause is worthy of support, especially in these challenging times. And there are good, solid donors who will support you. You just have to have a good plan.
Jeff
White Paper: Creating Strategic Goals and Plans for Every Major Donor
Blog: Why Developing a Major Gifts Program Takes So Long