Why does VPR need to hold membership drives?
On-air membership drives are public radio's life blood - they continue to be the most effective way to raise money for this station and others across the country. A direct appeal for support over the airwaves reinforces the importance of VPR in listeners' lives, and allows us reach new members by educating them about the organization and our programming.

How often does VPR have membership drives?
VPR typically holds three on-air membership drives each year, in March, June, and October. Each drive is initially planned to last 10 days, although it is VPR's long-time policy to end the drive as soon as we meet our financial goal if we reach it before the 10 days are up. Over the last several years VPR has been experimenting with ways to shorten the on-air drives, such as cutting the drive in half or challenging listeners to take days off a drive by pledging early through the mail or online. Over the last few years VPR has had an average of 23 days of on-air fundraising per year.

Why are you counting pledges instead of dollars?
Sometimes we count pledges instead of dollars in order to encourage participation and to emphasize that every pledge counts. To find the number of pledges VPR needed to reach its dollar goal of $570,000, we divided that number by $90, which is a fairly consistent average pledge for past March drives. At a $90 average pledge, that's about 6,300 pledges.

So, how did you determine how many pledges equal one day?
The pledge goal for the drive is 6,300 pledges. Over a traditional 10-day drive, we calculated one day to equal about 630 pledges.

Which days did you take off?
We were able to shorten the drive by two days because we received more than 1,260 pledges through the mail and online by March 4. The days we took off the drive are Wednesday, March 5, and Sunday, March 9.

Why are you saying the same thing over and over? I know the number.
Most listeners have to hear a message a couple of dozen times before it registers, and usually another few dozen before they take action. That said, we’re committed to fundraising in a way that balances the needs of the station with our obligation to maintain great programming. We’re constantly trying to improve the sound of our pledge drives while reaching our financial goals. We’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions about how to make pledge drives sound better and what would inspire you to make a contribution. Email us anytime with your thoughts.

Why does VPR have to raise so much money?
90 percent of VPR's funding comes from the local community. As a community licensee, VPR is not affiliated with a public television station or a college or university from which we could receive funding, building space and other shared resources. The result is that VPR relies more on listeners like you to help pay for the programming you hear on VPR and helps us control and maintain both broadcast and fiduciary independence. VPR is dedicated to setting financial goals based on real needs as well as to spending our members' dollars wisely and efficiently. You can see a breakdown of how VPR receives and spends its funding here.