Radiotopia 2017 Fundraiser Highlights
Radiotopia wrapped up its 2017 fundraiser this month, and we’re very proud of its success with 23,805 total donors from 68 different countries. Read on to find out more about the key themes and stats.
We’re With You
In this year’s kickoff video, we wanted to capture visually what it means to have such intimate audio connections with the shows you love. We portrayed listeners working with Radiotopians during daily rituals (commuting, dishwashing, bedtime), and the producers depending on their listeners.
Creativity
Our producers are often asked to describe their creative process and what inspires them. We turned some of their insights into motion graphic videos.
Merit and Citizenship
This year, we asked new donors to join our ranks and become Radiotopia Citizens. We rewarded existing donors with an embroidered patch to show off their citizenship.
We also introduced four sets of merit badge-style stickers to help keep up momentum over the 20-day campaign. Each set was unlocked when we reached a certain number of donors. In this way, listeners worked collectively to earn more rewards for everyone.
Producer Rewards
This year, nearly all our producers offered special rewards unique to their shows, and listeners scooped them up almost immediately. These gifts offer listeners the opportunity to get a peek inside producers’ brains, and in some cases spend time with them.They included a lunch date with The West Wing Weekly, an oral history from Phoebe Judge, producer for a day on The Bugle and 99% Invisible, and many more. Rewards from producers help set our fundraisers apart and incentivize giving. We also introduced our very first raffle to inspire donations at every level, and gave away a trip for two to NYC to see Radiotopia Live in 2018.
Key Data
23,805 total donations
11,285 new donations
535 average donations per day
38% recurring
62% one-time
68 countries represented
Gifts and Records
2015- 15% of donors contributed without the promise of a gift.
2016- 45% opted out of a gift.
2017- Over 65% of donors opted for either stickers only or no reward, meaning little to no transaction cost to us. Of the gifts offered, the camping mug was most popular, with about 10% of donations.
During past fundraisers, we’ve seen banner moments where we broke 1,000 donors in a single day. In 2015, days 3 and 5 saw 1,425 and 1,506 donors respectively. Last year, on day 17 we hit 1,025. This year, we experienced a record-setting 1,707 donors on Day 17.
Partners
We are ever grateful to our friends at RadioPublic, this year’s lead sponsor. RadioPublic is a podcast app that rewards creators, and helps listeners discover and support the shows they love. Listeners were able to listen to Radiotopia shows, gain points for listening, share with friends and donate right inside the app.
Listen to all our shows, discover new shows and episode recommendations, and make your own podcast playlists at radiopublic.com.
