NEPR Development Report 2012

January 14, 2013

Submitted by:

Cathy Ives, Executive Director of Development and Major Gifts

Major Highlights of 2012

• Hired Brand Manager and Graphic Designer, Peter Chilton

• Hosted a community event at Berkshire Community College featuring NPR foreign

correspondent Corey Flintoff

• Partnered with the Connecticut River Watershed Council for “Root for Your Radio: Make

a Pledge, Plant a Tree” which raised over $261,000 and planted 2,677 trees throughout

New England

• Received a 2012 ADDY Award for the station’s brand refresh

• Honored The Young @ Heart Chorus, Josh Simpson and Gary Bernice with the 2012

Arts & Humanities Awards, hosted by Carl Kasell. The 4th annual award was the most

successful in history

Major Highlights of 2012

• Hosted numerous Capital Campaign house parties across the region in support of the

campaign. Special guests included Sunday Baroque's Suzanne Bona, NPR Foreign

Correspondents Corey Flintoff and Eric Westervelt, and Morning Edition commentator

Frank Deford

• Partnered with the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts and the Food Bank

of Western Massachusetts for the third Feed Your Radio, Feed a Family campaign raising

$309,360 and providing 119,600 meals for hungry families in need

• Presented NPR arts reporter Lynn Neary in conversation with local authors Tracy

Kidder, Elinor Lipman and Jane Yolen at the Museum of Springfield History for major

donors and station supporters

Major Highlights of 2012

• Launched the “Good Thinking” marketing campaign, including on-air, online, and local

media

• Continued the Jazz a la Mode Film Series partnership with the Amherst Cinema and the

UMass Fine Arts Center with six films in 2012 from March – November

• Pub nights continued, including a special collaboration with the Springfield Public Forum

around Will Shortz’s appearance at Symphony Hall in September

• Celebrated Kari Njiiri’s 30th Anniversary with supporters at the Firebox in downtown

Hartford, CT

• Created AudioFiles, an online resource that offers a variety of audio and video collected

by NEPR from across the region at nepr.net/audiofiles – to formally launch in 2013

AudioFileshttp://nepr.net/audiofiles

AudioFiles

Major Highlights of 2012

• NEPR.net recognized with the "Standard of Excellence" Award from The Web

Marketing Association

• Presented David Sedaris live at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, October 2012

• Participated in the first Valley Gives Day on 12.12.12, raising $22,000 towards a new back

up generator as part of the Capital Campaign’s technology fund. NEPR came in 3rd in

number of contributors with 270 and 4th in dollars raised qualifying it for an additional

$5k grant from the Community Foundation

Major Highlights of 2012

• Co-presented Bach at New Year’s with the Berkshire Bach Society on December 30, 2012 at

the Academy of Music in Northampton

• Acted as media sponsor for 23 area non-profit organizations

• Reframed the station’s annual giving program to focus on the sustaining partner model of

fundraising

Sustaining Partners: The New Model

• Everywhere you look these days, there’s a different message on the state of the economy:

the Dow is up, the Dow is down, hiring is up, the recovery is jobless. If anything is

certain, it’s that the outlook remains very uncertain.

• It’s a genuine blessing, therefore, that sustaining members can put a little more certainty

into your station’s life.

• Sustaining members take a step beyond those who commit to a year of monthly gifts on

their credit card or through their bank. They make an open-ended commitment, typically

$5 to $10 a month, that continues until they choose to stop. As a result, they donate more

consistently and without the expense and lapses of givers who commit for a single year.

• Over 10 years, a cohort of sustainers will make a net contribution four times the size of

ordinary monthly givers who require annual renewal.

• As a result, more members remain as contributors from year to year, regardless of the

changing winds of the economy. They provide the station with a steady revenue stream in

a very challenging economic climate.

• Published in Current, July 7, 2010, article by Valerie Arganbright.

Let’s do the numbers

Number of individual donors January – December

• 12,494 in 2010

• 12,434 in 2011

• 13,004 in 2012

•After declining numbers in donors for several years we topped 13,000. Though we are

getting more dollars per donor the number of donors decline has been a national trend

except for the stations that have adopted the sustaining partners model.

•New Donors:

Oct 2011 Drive: 596 $46,263 15.5%

Oct 2012 Drive: 644 $60,006 18.4% (most since Oct 2001, 2nd most ever)

Average Gift:

Oct 2011: $ 100

Oct 2012: $ 120

Let’s do the numbers

Contribution Revenue

•$ 1,697,251 in 2010

•$ 1,766,637 in 2011

•$ 1,650,323 in 2012

•There is a temporary decline in Contribution Revenue while the Sustaining Partners

Program catches up over the next 12 to 18 months.

•Sustainers: more efficiency and stability, shorter pledge drives

•Sustainers:

November 2010: $ 15,688 per month

November 2011: $ 21,679 per month

November 2012: $ 35,607 per month (increase of $20,000 per month in 2 years)

Let’s do the numbers

On air fundraising comparison

FY10 $ 760,822 in 33.5 days

FY11 $ 815,958 in 30 days

FY12 $ 778,350 in 29 days

FY 12 had the lowest number of fundraising days in history!

Let’s do the numbersUnderwriting:

• Jan-Dec 2009 = $ 1,123,286

• Jan-Dec 2010 = $ 1,225,988 (increase of $102,702)

• Jan-Dec 2011 = $ 1,281,993 (increase of $ 56,005)

• Jan-Dec 2012 = $ 1,347,519 (increase of $ 65,526)

Number of new underwriters in 2012 – 79

Number of underwriters in: 2012 – 289

Special underwriting initiatives:

•Design a contract form for closing & traffic

•Streamline copy clearance process

•Decrease lead time for on-air from 5 days to 3 days (with approved copy)

•Write a formal internal document for UW guidelines and regulations

•Expand Board lead program

Development/Outreach & Marketing Goals

2013

• Grow the Sustaining Partner initiative for the individual giving program

• Continue emphasis on Major and Planned giving

• Increase number of individual donors

• Launch AudioFiles, providing additional online content to users at NEPR.net

• Present Bill Cosby Live for New England Public Radio, March 2nd at Symphony Hall.

Development/Outreach & Marketing Goals

2013

Development/Outreach & Marketing Goals

2013

• Expand communication through social media

• Provide exception listener/donor service at all levels

• Continue to improve station marketing and communications using the “Good Thinking”

campaign strategy with a focus on the Berkshires, Connecticut, and improving visibility

for all-news WNNZ.

Development/Outreach & Marketing Goals

2013

Development/Outreach & Marketing Goals

2013

And finally…

Bring Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me! to Tanglewood in August!