Current (https://current.org/tag/sustainers/)
The Target Analytics State of the System report reflects growing listening to public radio news and underscores “startling” payoffs from PBS’ Passport service.
Efforts to build sustainer files have shifted from conversion to acquisition, according to a recent study by Target Analytics.
Sustainers “are still the best possible source of membership revenue,” said Michal Heiplik of Contributor Development Partnership.
The station’s donor base grew 11 percent over two years.
Findings from a new survey suggest that public media should focus on cultivating sustainers for decades to come.
The audience researcher discusses findings of his company’s latest Public Radio Tech Survey.
Donors who give via electronic funds transfers are more likely to renew and reduce headaches caused by credit-card data breaches.
Nearly every public radio station now executes a sustaining membership program, but the latest analyses of fundraising performance reveal that very few of them could be described as effective or successful.
DENVER — An increase in sustaining memberships has provided a welcome source of stable income for some public radio stations, but it has also prompted some to rethink their strategies for on-air fund drives. Under a sustaining membership, a donor sets up automatic monthly contributions to a station instead of giving on an annual basis. That reduces the pressure during on-air fund drives to convince listeners to renew their memberships, and stations are responding by redoubling efforts to enlist new members during pledge campaigns. Executives from two stations described their approaches in a July 10 panel discussion here at the Public Media Development & Marketing Conference. “Our drives are no longer a renewal machine,” said Jacquie Fuller, on-air fundraising manager for Minnesota Public Radio.