This first report of what for many is the start of the fiscal year shows a year off to a rocky start. The Membership Revenue Index for the three-month period ending July 31 showed a 0.3% decrease in Membership revenue compared to the same three-month period in 2023 — in line with flat revenue results for most of the first half of calendar year 2024. Revenue change has fluctuated from -0.3% to 2.9% since November 2023. Three of the four giving metrics in the index experienced declines this month, including revenue, new donors and high-dollar gifts. Only sustaining donor counts saw growth.
TV/Joint licensees did see a very modest Membership revenue increase of 1.4%, while Radio had a decline of 1.7%. Stations of medium size (15,000–40,000 12-month donors) once again outperformed stations of other sizes, with a 3.3% lift in revenue. This group of stations is the only segment by size to have growth in high-dollar gifts during this period.
In fact, overall the High-Dollar Gifts Index saw the first decline in the last 12 months, dropping by 4.1%. This is a significant development and one we hope is just an anomaly of timing. High-dollar gifts are defined in the index as gifts of $500 or more. At that level, pledge declines could be a factor.
In other CDP reporting, we have taken a deeper look at pledge trends for the year. With declining audiences, pledge has dropped for all station types across the last five years. In the most recent three-year period, pledge declines have eased for TV and Joint licensees to around 3% in the last year. Radio has continued to see steep declines, exceeding 15% at the median for two years in a row. This is particularly troubling for Radio, as pledge is still responsible for more than 50% of new radio donors. This certainly affected the New Donor Index, which declined 8.9% overall. The decline for Radio was 24% for this three-month period compared to the same period in the prior year.
As reported last month, a growing share of new donors are making sustaining gifts, with Radio surpassing 30% for the first time since the pandemic. With the stellar retention rates that Radio has with these donors, this is great news. However, the overall number of sustaining donors for Radio decreased 2.7%, largely due to significant drops in the total number of new donors. The overall Sustainer Index showed a 4.1% growth rate this period due to TV/Joint licensees. At these stations, Passport continues to drive new sustainers and conversion of current and former donors to sustainer giving. The Passport Users Index settled at 3.4% growth this period.
While a difficult start to the new fiscal year, the results for the 12-month period are much more encouraging. Membership Revenue for the 12-month period is up a healthy 2.9%, driven partially by high-dollar gifts (up 2.2%) and consistent increases in both sustainers (5%) and Passport users (5%).
As suggested last month, growing sustainer files and improving revenue retention among our most loyal and generous donors are two areas to review and strategize on for the coming year.
This monthly report on the fundraising performance of public media stations is provided through an editorial collaboration between Current and Contributor Development Partnership (CDP). The collaboration draws from CDP’s National Reference File, which collects monthly membership and revenue data from more than 170 public media stations. (Read more about the methodology.)
Deb Ashmore joined CDP as Analytics Strategist in September 2023. With more than 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector and public media fundraising, she is passionate about working to help clients understand their fundraising data to inform strategies for long-term file health and growth. Her previous public media experience includes 10 years as director of individual giving for WXPN in Philadelphia.