KOOP is a small (budget under $300K), cooperatively run, 3,000-watt radio station in Austin, Texas. Normally we have two full-time staff and two part-time staff to get the job done.
Our Volunteer Coordinator was able to rally 100+volunteers to pitch-in with their creativity and energy and leverage their relationships and interests to help us get through the summer and be set up for a successful fall membership drive.
Collaboration#1: A volunteer who is also active with the Austin Film Society arranges for a screening of “Valley Girl”. With heavy on-air promotion, a social media blitz, and great volunteer participation, we sell out the theatre, all the mystery albums in the silent auction are sold, the remote broadcast (we have the BEST tech volunteers) is a great success, and the live DJ pre-movie event is a kick. We make $1,300, the AFS theatre bar is mobbed and both KOOP and the AFS theatre have the opportunity to meet people not already on our donor list.
Collaboration #2: The volunteers enjoyed the Dj-ing portion of the movie event so much that they arranged to have DJ Nights at a favorite watering hole. We set up the equipment and supply the DJs, and they give us 10% of their bar proceeds. We of course have our outreach table set up complete with tip jar and make a total of $260.
Collaboration #3: Every spring we produce a digital download of live performances recorded in our studios. This summer we released “Alive from KOOP Studios-2018 Sizzlin’ Summer CD” using existing performances in our archives. One of our volunteers designs the cover, another donates a box of new jewel cases and the company we were going to pay to professionally burn the CDs and print the covers decides to trade their fee for underwriting. We make $1,000 by using the CDs as a thank you gift for summer donations.