Bill Scott “Stories VS Hype In Fundraising”
Fundraising is a living breathing thing, which means it’s always changing. That can be driven by the economy, election year, wars, major news events, the list goes on.
I get asked all the time what works best during an on-air fundraiser. Just like anything else, there are exceptions to the rule. In general great stories with hard and short deadlines works the best. Again, you’ll find one or two stations that are the exception and I think that is wonderful.
I have done about 800 fundraisers in my career. I have done every style of fundraiser known to man. I’ve even done a fundraiser where I was not allowed to ask for money. True story, I promise. I have done the more music fundraisers, fundraisers where you hint for money, fundraisers where you never mentions goals or what the listeners is giving, all hype, or give prizes away every hour and the list continues, but you get the idea.
You must keep in mind, people are very busy. The fact that anyone calls during morning drive to make a gift blows me away. You have to cut through the clutter, the business of the day, the normal routine in order to get a donation.
In each break you are selling two things. 1.) Why give to this ministry and 2.) Why give now. My partner in crime Dave Kirby always says, “Give me a break with a strong deadline and no story and I’ll raise more money then a break with a great story and zero urgency.” Listen closely, Dave is not suggesting not doing stories, the two are married together for a great impactful break. Of course the reason your listener gives is because of a powerful story, the proof of ministry and impact on your community. In most cases if you leave it there, you get a bunch of people that agree with you that support is needed but without urgency they go about their day and rarely call. Why should your listener call now? Why should they interrupt their day? Urgency and a deadline is the answer. Every station has it’s own DNA and you need to be faithful to your brand but a “why” story and urgency need to exist in each break in order to see the most donations come in during your on-air fundraiser.
I personally try to keep every goal I have to around 20 minutes. Keep in mind that the average listener is tuned in for only 7-12 minutes, so why would I do an hour goal when they will only hear part of it. Brant Hansen once said, “If people give at the last minute, let’s give them as many last minutes as we can.” I think that is pretty close to what was said and yes I will have to pay Brant for using his comment. Just because you have great urgency doesn’t mean you should pull back on a great story. I don’t think you can air enough stories, that is why people will give, plus sharing stories is just good radio and that is what we do.
What do urgency and deadlines look like? This could be a match that needs to be reached in three songs or 10 people calling in 20 minutes at a dollar a day. We have to answer the question, “should I call now?” Yes, because if you don’t call, this goal will go unmet.
Instead of saying Stories VS Hype, I’d love to rephrase this and say, Stories and Urgency. They both are important and in most cases belong on your on-air fundraiser to get great results.
I have seen over the past few decades where stations decide to give up any urgency and goals and every time they do this, I have watched them only raise 30 to 40 percent of their goal when normally they would do 100 percent of their goal or more.
Bill Scott is Chief Content Officer with Vidare Creative / www.VidareCreative.com. Contact Bill at bill@vidarecreative.com
