General Manager's Report 2009-04-14
Submitted by webadmin on Tue, 04/14/2009 - 18:29.
As an experiment at improving communication with you, our vital KSER volunteers, I've decided to make regular blog posts here for the next couple months. I will post my monthly General Manager's report, and copy all emails sent out to the listserv here as well.
To make it as easy as possible to access this information, I've created a new user login name and password that everyone can use, in case you have problems remembering your personal password.
And, everything on our website is indexed, so you should be able to search for a particular word and find articles and blog posts based on that key-word search. Hopefully this will make it easier for you to read, and find information.
Please let me know if you find this useful.
Below is the GM report for the April 14th, 2009 Board meeting.
GM Report for April 14, 2009
SUMMARY
Pledge Drive: Near-record high # of pledges but average donation down
Finances: Cash flow projections suggest additional fundraising efforts
Fundraising: Call-list for Board stewardship of donors. Regaining CPB status
Personnel: Volunteer Appreciation dinner: May 30th
Strategic Planning: Whidbey Island station update
PLEDGE DRIVE
Our Spring pledge drive was historic in more ways than one. We received the second highest number of phone calls (401) of any drive in the last 4 years, telling me that improvements in our programming continue to pay off in terms of listener interest. Unfortunately, the economy has apparently had a significant impact on donors’ pocketbooks, the average donation down to $85 per pledge (the lowest in the last 4 years). Total pledged dollars (not including challenge money) was about $34,000. Our actual income during the drive was down 15% from Spring 2008, reversing a trend of near double-digit growth from Spring-Spring over the last 4 years. Other firsts: challenge money was at an all time high this Spring – $6500. But renewals were at an all time low – $2700.
FINANCES
A fabulous all-day workshop that Becky & I attended at NFCB, led by Kim Klein, the non-profit fundraising guru, left us with a couple sobering facts that bear on our pledge drive data:
· the impact of the current economy has only begun to be felt by non-profits
· the current economic volatility and insecurity will not subside for years, maybe decades.
In Kim Klein’s words, “this is the new normal.” She emphasized that all our business planning needs to based on this assumption. Specifically, we should not be cutting back “until things get better”, but rather, spending wisely and making investments to increase our income-generating capacity.
I have recently revised my cash flow projections for the year, reflecting our income and expenses to date. Our membership income is lower than projected, as is our tower income. Taking these two factors into account, it appears we will face a deficit in the neighborhood of $12k by August of this year, unless we take steps now to begin raising additional funds. Becky and I are still considering options, which may or may not include a summer pledge drive, but in the mean time, we would like to start working with board members on stewardship activities.
FUNDRAISING
Stewardship
At the Board meeting I will distribute a list of volunteers and challenge donors who contributed significantly to our recent pledge drive. We are asking board members to make 3-5 phone calls over the next couple weeks specifically to thank these folks.
Your primary objective is simple and straightforward: say thank you and then listen to (and note) any comments they have. We will have prepared for you a short description of what you might want to say, along with some questions to ask, details about the person you are calling, and other helpful information.
Over the coming months, we will set aside time during each board meeting to give you information and training you can use when working with listeners, supporters, and the public.
Regaining CPB status
Looking at the challenges facing us this year, but even more importantly in 2010, I am convinced we must consider new options for regaining our CPB funding. Karen and I spoke with our lawyers at the NFCB conference and discussed the option of changing the way we book our tower income so it qualifies as community financial support (CFS). There are a couple options that present themselves: creating a new non-profit foundation to manage and distribute the tower’s assets, or selling the tower to a for-profit corporation owned or controlled by the KSER Foundation. In either case, the goal is that the income distributed by that entity to KSER would then meet the CFS criteria set-out by CPB.
PERSONNEL
Volunteer Appreciation Party
We are trying to reschedule the Volunteer Appreciation Party for May 30th, from 4:30-6:30pm. John McAlpine is contacting the church to confirm that the church space is available at that time.
We decided, given our financials, that it would be better to make this dinner a potluck. But so as to still offer a thank you to our dedicated volunteers, we thought we would give a free ticket to the Pearl Django concert later that evening to any volunteer who would like to attend. Attendees must RSVP by May 15th to reserve a ticket for the concert.
I would very much like to see all board members at the dinner. I would like to have you present awards for years of service to our volunteers, as a way of showing that you recognize their important contributions to KSER. I will, in turn, acknowledge your support and commitment to KSER.
I will let you know as soon as we have confirmed the date and location of the party.
Strategic Planning
Whidbey Island frequency
At the NFCB conference, I spoke with our lawyers, our engineer, and attended a panel discussion about the status of applications to the FCC for new non-commercial stations. The best estimate these sources have is that the FCC may resolve our application in the coming year, perhaps as early as this Fall. This is a considerably faster timeline than I was initially led to expect.
This necessitates some quick action on moving our process forward. I would like to discuss with the Board some of the options available for advancing our application, regardless of when the FCC makes it decision.
2009 KSER Budget (revised 20090410)
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Signing up for the Potluck
Well, I have not found the sign up for the Potluck... I think I have searched every where. Oh my....
I just finally got onto this page, finally and see we have missed the deadline for a ticket to the show.
Gary's mother (my sweetie and partner) had open hear surgery and we have been trying to figure out how to do everything taking care of her, his father who has parkinsons, and doing our normal schedule, which is far from normal.
So yes, we are planning to come to the dinner, and also planning on coming to the Benefit afterwards.
Should I purchase 2 tickers?
Also I told Becky the other day, that KSER can set up a table at the Snohomish Farmers Market, I just need to know when they want to come to the Market. It is FREE to non profits.
Bad news I had to ask volunteers from KSER board to leave the market the other day and they were stopping customers and passing out information without the Market approval. We have a Board of Directors and all information must be passed out from a booth/stall at the Market.
always
Karen Erickson
RecyclewithKBK@gmail.com
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