Introducing The Daily Drive Report!

We understand that membership drives are not necessarily a VPR fan favorite.

But, believe it or not, some listeners have actually asked us for more information about membership drives, including how and why they are an important part of our overall fundraising efforts.

That's me, Brendan, on the left with VPR colleagues Lesli Blount
and Michelle Jeffery (conducting product research).

So, for the duration of this winter membership drive (which started today!) I'll post daily updates to the VPR Blog.

These reports will include things like: progress toward the overall goal, information about prize drawing winners, the results of challenges, and a few charts and graphs to satisfy the statisticians in our audience!

I'll also share some "behind the scenes" details of the membership drive, through photos and possibly a video or two.

One question that we frequently receive is, "How do you decide on the goal for a membership drive?"

As you can imagine, we have to consider a number of factors. History can help us determine reasonable goals for each drive. We take a look at how membership drives have contributed to our fundraising success in prior years and how they might perform in the year ahead.

We also examine how other factors might influence the size and scope of our drives. For example, we know that an increase in sustaining memberships has had an impact on our drives. With more people making automatic monthly gifts to VPR, participation in membership drives may decrease over time.

Over the past three years (partially as a result of  increases in our sustaining membership program!) we've been able to consistently lower the goals for our membership drives. For example, this year's winter membership drive goal is $500,000, compared to last year's goal of $520,000.

I hope you'll participate in this experiment by asking questions throughout the drive (or making suggestions in general). Use the comments section below to join the conversation!