WABE raises $1 million in fall pledge drive

Last fall, the station received $1,077,000 in pledges. The station decided to ditch announcing any fund-raising goals on the air; rather, it encouraged people to donate as much as they could, be it $5 or $500.

Plus, on-air announcers de-emphasized incentives such as reusable shopping bags and coffee mugs. Rather, WABE talked more about how donations pay for programming, specifying exactly how much each show costs the station annually. This "transparency" approach is less annoying, Weatherford said, than standard pledge drive requests.

"Public broadcasting is one of the most confusing systems in the world," Weatherford said. There is a misconception, he noted, that the federal government feeds the station much of its funding. In reality, federal money represents 12 percent of Public Broadcasting Atlanta's annual $11.5 million budget.

The number of people who donated is about the same as a year ago, in the 10,500 range. Now with most people donating using credit cards, virtually all the money will land immediately in WABE's coffers. (In the past when people mailed checks, fulfillment was far lower.) Interestingly, 57 percent of donors declined the gifts this year, a higher rate than in the past.

Every penny of pledge dollars goes to the general fund, which includes programming, Weatherford said.

Corporate sponsorship has been down as much as 14 percent this year, but year-over-year dropoffs are now down 9 percent, Weatherford said.