Considering I’ve had my head buried in the “so how are we going to pay for this whole internet journalism thingy” issue quite a bit over the past couple of weeks, I read this article covering “public radio’s 10 most effective fundraising strategies” with a close eye. I mean, what NPR listener hasn’t groaned aloud when turning on the radio in the wee hours only to discover that she is going to have to endure the guilt trip that is the week-long fundraiser? Still most of us remain unable to change the channel in response, and apparently enough of us open up our checkbooks to keep public radio (alongside its other streams of revenue) afloat. Could this work on the internet?
Reading over the list, I don’t think that websites foster the same sense of obligation in the reader that public radio can suggest to those consuming its transmissions. We might be offering similarly enriching news and information, but no single site holds me captive or emotionally connects strongly enough that I wouldn’t just click away. Am I wrong about this? If your favorite website carved out a week and relentlessly asked you for cash, implied that you owed them for what you’d been reading for free and enjoying all year, threatened that without you they couldn’t go on, and offered you an umbrella in return for your charity, would you pony up?
(And if so, do you need my mailing address? I’ve got these lovely tote bags I can send as a thank you, and for the next hour your donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar by my Aunt Sallie.)
There’s only one NPR, while there are many websites. If a website were to fold because of lack of support, there’d be plenty of others ready to replace it in an instant, with or without funding.
Strangely enough, I’ve never felt any obligation to NPR. Once the pledge drive begins I tune out for years at a stretch.
There are, however, a small number of blogs that do the annual call for donations that I do respond to. And they don’t offer an umbrella in return. They are usually a full-time labor of love (and source of income) and a source of information that I’ve come to rely on.
I used to hate the fund drives at public radio stations, but I started actually listing to the banter of my then local WUOT in knoxville and found it pretty hilarious. Oddly enough, I really started to like fun drives. They just said the funniest and lamest things I had ever heard. It was like they new how repetitive it all was, and they were just laughing at it.
Molly ads: Seriously! That Slate article actually includes some of that in the MP3 files. Priceless.
smirkingchimp.com (left wing blog/essay curator) seems to use a donation drive approach with some effect to cover their hosting bills. It seems that the approach is always _just_ on the edge of working or not, but they haven’t shut down yet despite many close calls.