Raise your hand to talk public radio fundraising!
The Public Radio Incubation Lab launched with the goal of “bringing transformative ideas to life in public media,” with equal emphasis on how we set about that work as well as what that work eventually produces. The second Lab team is tackling the theme of working better together to advance station membership and donations.
OK, I’ll say it. If we had to start problem solving right now, we probably could.
Our Incubation Lab team represents a variety of perspectives in public radio. We have an even mix of NPR staff and station staff. From our station folks, large and small stations, east coast, west coast, two radio-only licensees and a dual licensee. University and community licensees.
In the course of our conversations with one another, we’ve uncovered a multitude of challenges and opportunities related to our problem statement of, “working better together to advance station membership and donations” to keep us busy for 16 weeks. Or, you know, years.
But working towards solutions for the Lab team is not what we have been asked to do. We have been asked to take on big challenges facing public radio. While we each have expertise in our own work, no matter how different we are from one another, we are still not experts in the work of people, teams and organizations throughout public radio.
So while we could start problem solving right now, we aren’t going to do that.
Instead, over the weeks ahead, we will be conducting a research study aimed at expanding our understanding of public radio fundraising and cross-organizational work.
We’ll be speaking with staff at NPR Member stations and NPR to start, but we’re interested in all points of view, including consultants, agencies, etc.
The goals of our study are to:
(1) Understand the big picture: Gather insights to help us understand existing challenges
(2) Uncover the unknowns: Bring to light any surprises discovered along the way
(3) Establish relationships: Begin engaging with our colleagues at stations and NPR
What I’m saying is that a chunk of the Lab’s success comes down to active participation from people who care about these issues. We’re hoping that’s people like you. And you and you and you. We need your brains! Your experience! Your ideas!
If you want to raise your hand and get involved, the thing to do is add yourself to our contact list.
[Editor’s note: As of 11/26/2019, the Second Rotation of the Lab is complete and therefore our contact list is no longer active. While it was active, we used this list to ensure that we included stations in our process and journey as a Lab. We also invited everyone on the list to our demo, which took place on 11/21/2019. You can watch a recording of that presentation here. If you have questions about the Public Radio Incubation Lab or want to know more about the recommendations we made about working better together to advance station membership, please email IncubationLab@npr.org].
