Radiothon Fundraising

Quick post today; ate something last night that doesn’t agree with me.

Two of the biggest cause marketing charities, Children’s Miracle Network and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital both do successful national radiothons, which are like telethons only broadcast on the radio.

What do I mean by successful? I’m talking about tens of millions of dollars raised a year.

But you don’t have to be a big national charity to pull off a successful radiothon. In my market the local homeless shelter called, The Road Home, does a radiothon with seven area radio stations with different ownerships and formats. Between them they generated more than $340,000 last year.

How do you do ask a local radio station to do a radiothon at a time when stations are struggling for ad every dollar? Well, I’m going to share the secret.

Most radiothon stations do change their formats. But the time spent talking about the cause comes out of the music rather than the ad ‘budget.’ A delicate balance has to be struck, but by this means radiothon stations don’t lose in any ad revenue.

There’s more to a successful radiothon than this, of course, but I gotta get back to bed.

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