WBAA to begin fall pledge drive
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - WBAA public radio at Purdue University on Friday (Oct. 14) will begin its fall pledge drive from 7-8 a.m. with a Friday Power Hour when listeners can call in or give online.
Anyone who gives before the end of the day or has already donated for the campaign will be entered in a drawing for an iPad 2. The on-air pledge drive will continue Oct. 17-20.
WBAA is making a budget-conscious change with this fall's pledge drive. For the first time, the station will not offer a selection of thank-you gifts for contributions. Instead, the emphasis will be on the benefits of membership. This includes the WBAA MemberCard at the $120 contribution level, which offers dining, entertainment, travel and other discounts; on-air day sponsorship announcements at $240 and up; invitations to special events; and priority invitations for larger events. In addition, a donor's full gift amount will be tax deductible.
Only about 20 percent of donors to a recent pledge drive asked for a thank-you gift. When the cost of the item, shipping and handling, and staff time to process the gift are taken into consideration, a thank-you gift can reduce a donor's net contribution by 10 percent to 20 percent. Member contributions are critical for helping fund the costs of programs, and as listening habits shift toward streaming from PCs and mobile devices, technology costs are increasing as well, said WBAA development director Sally Lutes.
WBAA also is continuing to promote its sustaining membership this fall. Members support the station through ongoing monthly donations with credit card or bank deductions, or through Purdue payroll deductions. Sustaining memberships are another effort the station has made to decrease fundraising costs. Donations continue until the donor requests a change, saving the station the cost of renewal mailings. Lutes said the station has 483 active sustaining members and hopes to increase that number by 20 percent this fiscal year. Sustaining members are automatically entered in pledge drive drawings.
The WBAA fall pledge drive goal is $150,000.
"We've already raised nearly half of that goal, and a significant part of that is from sustaining members," Lutes said.
WBAA-AM, licensed in 1922, is Indiana's longest continuously operating radio station, and 920-AM provides news, jazz and other eclectic music. FM 101.3 airs classical music, NPR News plus "Car Talk" and "A Prairie Home Companion." The station also began airing a second FM stream, 101.3-2, which features an alternative mix of music available on HD radio receivers and online at WBAA.org.
Source: Sally Lutes, 765-496-7794, lutess@purdue.edu