Recent WBAI fund drive problems
The last five years (since spring 2003) have not a good for WBAI's on air fundraising. Because of the decrease in funds raised per day, about 20 more days of fundraising have had to be added (documented in the table below) for a whopping yearly total of 90 or more. Think about it - that's 25 percent of of the year spent in fund drives. And the problem - decreasing amounts of money raised per day - continues to worsen.
Decline in WBAI's fundraising ability
The plot above shows actual money (not pledges) raised in WBAI's on-air drives from late 2000 to the present. The blue line represents money raised per day (right axis); the pink line represents money raised in per year (left axis). The best year was fiscal year 2003. (Fiscal years run from October to September - Fall 2001 is in FY 2002.) Clearly, fundraising ability has been declining since then - even though WBAI is spending more time on air asking for money.
This data comes from reports for the interim GM, MEMSYS reports, WBAI newsletters, a report from the station presented at the 9/21/04 LSB meeting, on-air reports, and the station website. It is not corrected for inflation.
WBAI Fund Drive Details, Fall 2000 - present
| Drive | Start date |
End date |
Total days |
Goal | Pledges | Daily Pledge Rate |
Fulfillment Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2000 drive | 10/11/00 | 10/27/00 | 17 | - | 920,000 | $54,100 | 68% |
| Winter 2001 drive | 2/7/01 | 2/27/01 | 21 | - | $799,000 | $38,000 | 69% |
| Spring 2001 drive | 5/16/01 | 6/5/01 | 22 | - | $589,100 | $26,800 | 64% |
| Summer 2001 mini-drive |
8/22/01 | 8/31/01 | 10 | - | $42,200 | $4200 | 76% |
| Fall 2001 drive | 10/17/01 | 11/9/01 | 24 | - | $958,300 | $39,900 | 71% |
| Winter 2002 special day |
1/21/02 | 1/21/02 | 1 | - | $59,523 | $59,523 | 82% |
| Winter 2002 drive | 2/4/02 | 2/22/02 | 19 | - | $980,700 | $49,000 | 78% |
| Spring 2002 drive | 5/4/02 | 5/24/02 | 21 | - | $889,600 | $42,400 | 78% |
| Summer 2002 mini-drive |
8/5/02 | 8/10/02 | 6 | - | $274,200 | $45,700 | 73% |
| Fall 2002 drive | 10/11/02 | 10/31/02 | 21 | - | $1,044,000 | $49,700 | 78% |
| Winter 2003 special day |
1/20/03 | 1/20/03 | 1 | - | $77,800 | $77,800 | 76% |
| Winter 2003 drive | 2/11/03 | 3/1/03 | 19 | - | $1,120,300 | $58,960 | 75% |
| Spring 2003 drive | 5/12/03 | 5/31/03 | 20 | $1.2 million | $840,000 | $42,000 | 74% |
| June 2003 emergency mini-drive |
6/24/04 | 6/27/04 | 4 | $300,000 | $200,000 | $50,000 | 75% |
| August 2003 mini drive |
8/18/03 | 8/23/03 | 6 | $300,000 | $320,795 | $53,500 | 72% |
| Emergency day of fundraising |
8/26/03 | 8/26/03 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Fall 2003 drive | 10/15/03 | 11/03/03 | 20 | $1.2 million | $800,000 | $40,000 | 81% |
| November 2003 mini drive |
11/24/03 | 11/26/04 | 3 | $200,000 | $200,000 | $67,000 | -- |
| December 2003 Radiothon (Arts Programming Weekend) |
12/12/03 7:00 p.m. |
12/14/03 | 2.25 | $100,000 | $34,800 | $15,700 | 68% |
| Winter 2004 drive | 1/19/04 | 2/11/04 | 24 | $1.1 million | $1.04 million | $43,000 | 77% |
| Special Day: Citizen King |
4/5/04 | 4/5/04 | 1 | -- | $29,400 | $29,400 | 81% |
| Spring 2004 drive | 5/10/04 | 6/5/04 | 25 | $1.1 million | $834,000 | $34,000 | 74% |
| July 2004 mini drive |
7/26/04 | 7/30/04 | 5 | $150,000 | $150,000 | $30,000 | 73% |
| August 2004 mini drive |
8/25/04 | 9/4/04 | 11 | $250,000 | $267,000 on-air, $22,000 online |
$26,300 | 61% |
| Fall 2004 drive | 10/20/04 | 11/10/04 | 22 | $900,000 | $920,000 | $42,091 | 78% |
| Fall 2004 radiothon |
12/17/04 7:00 PM |
12/19/04 | 2.25 | - | - | - | - |
| Martin Luther King, Jr. Day |
1/17/05 | 1/17/05 | 1 | - | $94,000 | $94,000 | - |
| Winter 2005 drive | 1/24/05 | 2/15/05 | 23 | - | $833,000 | $36,200 | 75% |
| Winter 2005 mini drive |
2/21/05 | 2/23/05 | 3 | - | $128,800 | $42,900 | - |
| Spring 2005 drive | 5/11/05 | 6/4/05 | 25 | $1,100,000 | $688,000 | $27,520 | - |
| Summer 2005 drive | 7/18/05 | 7/30/05 | 13 | $325,000 | $487,000 | $37,500 | - |
| Fall 2005 drive | 10/5/05 | 10/29/05 | 25 | $950,000 | $836,000 | $33,400 | 79.8% |
| Fall 2005 membership mini-drive |
- | - | 3 | - | $50,310 | $16,770 | 86.3% |
| Martin Luther King, Jr. day |
1/16/06 | 1/16/06 | 1 | - | $54,145 | $54,145 | - |
| Winter 2006 drive | - | - | 25 | - | $842,000 | $33,674 | 79.7% |
| Spring 2006 drive | - | - | 24 | - | $739,200 | $30,800 | 79.6% |
| Summer 2006 drive | - | - | 14 | - | $367,200 | $26,220 | 77.7% |
| Special Day | 9/12/06 | 9/12/06 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| Fall 2006 drive | 10/4/06 | 10/28/06 | 25 | $900,000 | $816,000 | $32,640 | 75% |
| Winter 2007 drive | 1/15/07 | 2/10/07 | 27 | $950,000 | $871,000 | $32,333 | - |
| Special Day | 4/4/07 | 4/4/07 | 1 | - | $25,000 | $25,000 | - |
| Spring 2007 drive | 5/7/07 | 5/26/07 | 20 | - | $637,000 | $31,850 | - |
| Summer 2007 drive | 7/11/07 | 7/28/07 | 18 | - | $474,000 | $26,333 | - |
| Special day | 9/12/07 | 9/12/07 | 1 | - | $24,300 | $24,300 | - |
| Fall 2007 drive | 10/8/06 | 11/3/07 | 27 | $850,000 | $800,000 | $29,629 | - |
| Martin Luther King, Jr. day 1 |
1/16/08 | 1/16/08 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| Martin Luther King, Jr. day 2 |
1/21/08 | 1/21/08 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| Winter 2008 drive | 2/4/08 | 3/1/08 | 27 | $875,000 | $734,000 | $27,185 | - |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
This table was compiled from the sources listed above.
It is striking how many days have been devoted to fundraising: 91 in Fiscal Year 2004, 89 in FY 2005, 93 in FY 2006, and 92 in 2007. For comparison, the other Pacifica stations do about 40-60 days per year. According to station records, WBAI did around 70 days per year fundraising in FY 2001 - FY 2003. Anecdotal evidence indicates that WBAI did 55-60 days per year in the middle and late 1990s.