WUFT Wins 2015 Greater Public Benchmarks Award

Impressive fundraising performance distinguishes the Florida station

WUFT – Gainesville, Florida was awarded the 2015 Greater Public Benchmarks Award for excellence in fundraising performance. The award was announced at this year’s Public Media Development and Marketing Conference (PMDMC) in Washington, DC.

WUFT’s fundraising gains from 2010-2014 have been truly impressive. The station’s total revenue grew by 48 percent, the highest increase among all of the stations who participated in Benchmarks. WUFT saw a 13 percent increase during this period of annual listener-hours, defined as the amount of listening that occurred over the course of a year.

The station cut its dependence on membership drives nearly in half; its community financial support index went from 29 to 72. This index is a Greater Public Benchmarks tool that indicates how much of a station’s daily operating expense is offset by its audience-sensitive fundraising revenue. WUFT’s increase shows a much stronger picture of financial health.

Greater Public president Doug Eichten noted the importance of such sustainability. “WUFT’s fundraising performance illustrates a commitment to best practices that is crucial for the future of public media,” Eichten said. “We at Greater Public commend this entire fundraising team on their excellent work!”

Greater Public’s Benchmarks also calculates net revenue per listener-hour, which is the difference between a station’s gross revenue and its fundraising expenses per listener hour. This allows the comparison of fundraising performance across all participating stations, and establishes fundraising potential. WUFT increased net revenue per listener-hour in membership/mid-level giving by 40 percent, and increased overall revenue in membership/mid-level giving by 38 percent. These revenue results were partly achieved by decreasing station fundraising costs. The station’s accomplished fundraising occurred not only in membership but in other areas too. Major giving revenue grew 28 percent, and net underwriting revenue per listener hour nearly tripled.

Greater Public’s Benchmarks program is public media’s only research to aggregate fundraising data from more than 100 participating stations in order to provide an analysis of each station’s net revenue relative to its audience size. This powerful tool allows stations to set data-driven goals to maximize fundraising potential and to make apples-to-apples comparisons among peer stations.

Based in Minneapolis, Greater Public serves over 263 member stations and produces the PMDMC each summer.

Posted: July 20, 2015
Category: College News
Tagged as: WUFT