[Rfu-station] Fundraising Ideas and How to Help

[Mike Lehman]

I've received a number of replies to the email about our struggling 
financial situation. Thanks, as I appreciate the fact that people want 
to do something about this problem. I can't answer them all, in fact, so 
please look for answers to your questions and suggestions below.

However, let's remember how we got into this situation, as we prepare to 
do something about it. It is the lack of an organized and active 
RFU-finance group that is the root of our problem.

I am not really in a position to take all these ideas, organize them, 
and suggest a way forward. Remember, I am trying to step down as station 
manager. I'm just not going to be able to trade that hat for a 
fundraising hat. I really need to step back from things and let y'all 
get something going together.

I suggest that people who want to contribute to RFU's fundraising 
efforts sign up for the RFU-Finance list at:
http://lists.ucimc.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/rfu-finance

If anyone who wants to help has a problem signing up for it, let me, Ray 
or Dan know, as we are all admins for this list.

Currently, there are just a handful of active members on it. It has seen 
very little use, with the last message to it in April 2007. Making this 
list work, using it to organize RFU-Finance meetings, regularly 
communicating the minutes of those meetings to the rest of the RFU 
membership, and putting those plans into action is what needs to be 
done. Join the RFU-France list and make it happen!

Here's some suggestions about the situation on what we can do.

We can do underwriting. We spent a lot of time getting a policy in place 
to accept underwriting funding from those who want to help us. Yet, 
AFAIK, we have never had ANY underwriting.

Other than the funds from the $20/year RFU membership, underwriting and 
special events are the only other ways we can raise funds for station 
operations. It doesn't take much money to run the station, which is why 
we made a policy at the beginning of RFU that we would NOT do regular 
on-air fund drives for this purpose. Excess underwriting funds over and 
above basic station expenses COULD be used to fund internet streaming. I 
say COULD, because we've yet to see ANY underwriting income.

This is also the BIG reason why I keep suggesting to those who want to 
do streaming that they must identify a specific source of funding to 
sustain streaming. It's true there can be a little, and I do mean a 
little, support for streaming from membership dues -- we did agree to do 
that, assuming there was anything left in the budget. But all you need 
to do is the math to figure out that even at $20/year, IF we had 150 
members (we don't!) that would only bring in $3,000/year. We have $1200 
in studio overhead, $420 in phone bills, and $580 in broadcast copyright 
licensing, a total of $2,200/year in expenses.

Since we have LESS than 150 members, having money left for internet 
streaming copyright licensing requires that we either get more members 
signed up or that we identify another source of funds for it to happen. 
Let's please quit holding all other station fundraising priorities 
hostage to doing something first about streaming unless you've already 
got a plan you are acting on to raise funds for streaming. Streaming is 
an option, not a necessity, and it will cost us money for every listener 
we add beyond the limited capacity of the station server, further adding 
to the need to have a source of funding for it separate from other 
station operations. Internet listeners need to be the source of funds 
for this, not everything else at the station, if underwriting income is 
not tehre to support it. We simply don't have the funds to afford it 
right now and will only be able to make a contribution of excess funds 
from memberships and/or underwriting once we've gotten steadily on our feet.

If we can't do on-air fund drives for operating expenses, then how do we 
raise money? Why do we even need money?

Our policy on on-air fundraising that I mentioned earlier EXCLUDES 
fundraising needed for specific equipment. We CAN do a fund drive for 
the permanent tower and studio equipment, for instance. That is why I've 
been suggesting we do that for the last year, among other options. I 
don't know whether people want to set up a short fund drive or simply 
want to read a PSA on _every_ show about our fundraising needs and where 
people can contribute to help. But we now know it needs to be done, 
whatever we decide.

We definitely need to produce at least one, preferably several, spots to 
place into automation so that it plays once an hour when we are in 
automation until we've got the funds raised for our equipment needs. 
Producing such spots should be a high priority!

The idea of a big event to raise funds could be a good one. I'll remind 
everyone that such an event needs to be self-financing and needs to 
bring in substantial money to succeed. That is hard to pull off. We 
can't afford to invest $500 to raise $200. We need to invest $200 to 
raise $5,000 or more for that to work.

A permanent tower is a necessity. The one on the roof works, but doesn't 
get us to all the listeners who could be willing to contribute to our 
fund appeals. It would also expand the incentive for underwriters to 
contribute, because their underwriting spots would reach a bigger 
audience. Once again, raising income that might contribute to streaming 
is directly connected to the station as a whole being better off.

Another thing is that we have a two-year window to replace the current 
tower with one that is NOT on the roof. That window closes on Nov. 13. 
This is not an absolutely firm deadline, but it is one that could 
eventually cause a shut down of the station if we are not clearly seen 
to be working on a solution for it. Would you rather raise funds while 
we are on the air or take the risk of doing it without being able to 
broadcast? This is a no-brainer to me, which is also part of the reason 
I'm starting to sound a little desperate about the need to get something 
done about the tower ASAP.

Studio equipment? Heck yeah, new stuff would be great! But given that 
we've done practically no fundraising over the 21 months we've been on 
the air, we simply can't afford to spend any money that is not 
absolutely necessary until the new tower is funded. Otherwise, it's 
_again_ a no-brainer to me, which is again part of the reason I'm 
starting to sound a little desperate about the need to get something 
done about the tower ASAP.

What are our needs? We need about $10,000 to put up a permanent tower. 
We have about $1,000 for it so far, with another $1,000 pledged. We need 
another $8,000 for it.

Ray says we need a new board. That will run at _least_ $2,500, actually 
probably closer to $4,000 for a high quality board that gives us all the 
options we'd like. We could also use new CD players, so the current ones 
could be backups. We need a station amplifier/receiver for the monitors 
(although this is the one place where a contribution of a consumer-grade 
item by someone could work.) It would be nice to have two good 
turntables, replacement mics, high quality remote broadcast gear, all 
kinds of other stuff. Make your list and give us a total to add to the 
tower funds needed. I'll bet we can do it all for $20,000 or even less.

Sell T-shirts? Sure, heck every RFU member should buy a T-shirt to 
support the station. We have a few left and can make more. But it takes 
a lot of T-shirts to make the kind of change we need.

Renew your membership? Heck yeah! Do it now.

Passing the hat? Yes, a few of us can kick in something more than 
$20/year. Why not, if you can afford it?

That's enough for now. I said I wasn't going to be able to do this for 
you. All these ideas have been brought up before, but I think it's 
important to point out that taken all together, it is within your 
capacity to raise these funds. But we need to quit talking about it as 
soon as we have a plan in place and start DOING IT!

What's the first thing to do if you personally are ready to act?

Sign up for the RFU-Finance list!
http://lists.ucimc.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/rfu-finance

I know you all can do this. RFU is the largest group of active IMCistas 
at the IMC. We have a radio station at our disposal. There's no reason 
we can't fix our financial problems and have all this funding in place 
by the end of the year -- unless you're waiting on someone else to do it!
Regards,
Mike Lehman