It’s Share-A-Thon Time! Does that make you want to do a little happy dance around your office or find solace in a big bag of Cheetos?  Based on conversations with GM’s across the country, I am thinking Chester Cheetah is going to see record sales again this spring.
Which brings me to the simple question, is it supposed to be this way?   The fear is palpable and the questions hanging over our heads can almost be seen by everyone we pass...

• “Will we make our goal? It’s bigger than last  year!”
• “What happens if the phones don’t ring? What will I do?”
• “Is our team really ready for this?”

Could there a be a better approach to Share-A-Thons?  Is there a way to minimize the risks, reduce the fear and in general make them less of a big, hairy deal?  I think there are six action steps you can take right now to transform how you and your staff feel about Share-A-Thons at your station:

1. Give your listeners what they really want.

Let’s say you do two 3-day share-a-thons annually.  (Some stations do more, a few less, but that’s pretty average.)  Any expert in this area will tell you what happens on those six days really depends largely on what happens on-the-air those other 359 days of the year.  In other words, the stronger the station, the stronger the Share-A-Thon results will be.

In part, that makes the case for taking a hard look at a lot of the window dressing involved in share-a-thons, themes, added production like bumpers and music, flying in “hired guns” to host it....Anything that makes your station sound less like you usually do.  If you’ve got a successful station and listeners like and have come to depend on your on-air product, why turn away from it and sound like a completely different station when its time to raise money?

Give listeners what they want by keeping the music, the news, the weather, the traffic and oh, by the way, the regular hosts...Right in place where they always are.  If you hire outsiders, use them behind the scenes to coach your own talent to deliver a compelling break each and every time. If you do extra production, make it about capturing stories that really drive home why your station is a cause listeners should support.

To use an analogy, think of it like a meal at a friend’s house.  Would you rather be invited over along with more of your friends to enjoy a backyard barbecue where you show up in shorts and flip flops and eat cheese burgers or be sent a formal invitation, have to dress up and sit in the dining room with people you’ve just met?  Make your Share-A-Thon a fun backyard event, not a formal sitdown dinner.  If it’s fake, artificial, “putting on the dog” or just not you, don’t do it.

2.  Keep the message simple.

The reason many stations feel compelled to hire outside Share-A-Thon hosts is because they fear their own talent can't make the ask.  But if you give some thought to your on-air messaging beforehand, most on-air people are capable enough communicators that they will do just fine behind the mic right where listeners expect them to be.  Your regular on-air people already have a platform of trust with listeners and that’s where your messaging can begin.

Each break must deliver a one-two punch.  First, someone needs to make a short, to-the-point compelling statement about why you are worthy of a gift. Second, someone needs to give a single call to action.  Share-A-Thon hosts run into problems when they start rambling, giving a laundry list of reasons why the phones should ring.  They also run into problems when they simply bark orders to listeners to “call now” without giving a clear, compelling case statement.

And many would be donors are derailed by a confusing-baker’s-dozen list of ways they can take action.  Ask for monthly donors, give the phone number.  Ask for a single gift of $100, and give the web address.  Try not to do more than one of these combinations in the same break.

3. Stack the deck

If your station hasn’t developed a system to archive every email, collect audio through phone calls or by interviewing listeners at the event...Start this ASAP. Your stories are an asset as valuable as money in the bank because they can be used to raise money! Become obsessed with capturing them!  Arm your talent with a deep, varied library of audio clips, emails, letters and even statistics about the impact of your station, like how many people you reach, how many came to Christ at events, total event attendance, web traffic, etc.
And don’t just dump this on everyone the day before your event begins. Spend some time listening to clips and reading stories together.  Decide what “camera angle” a story or statistic conveys to listeners and talk through how it could be used on the air. 

4. Practice to make perfect.

If you have newer talent or your talent has never been asked to step up during a Share-A-Thon, put them in a Share-A-Thon Simulator (tracking studio) and have them practice break after break of making the case and delivering a call to action.  Develop whatever visual aids you need for the studio to make them feel at ease.  This might include all of your possible calls to action listed on a big sign...The gift handles, the phone number, the web address, etc. Use your practice to work out the kinks.

5. Ask for what you really need.

Personally, I have fallen out of love with the “faith promise” or paper pledge. This is where listeners call in, to tell us an amount they will give over a specified time period ($10 a month for 6 months, for example) but make no commitment.  It is then up to the station to “chase the money” by sending pledge reminders, sometimes as often as every month.  Mail has never been more expensive, and I advise stations to minimize the budget they spend on this often fruitless effort (some stations have more than half of their pledges under or unfulfilled!) and put mail dollars where they can do the most good, generating new gifts.

We all know this is true, when it comes to on-air fundraising: you get what you ask for.  All I am saying is figure out what your station really needs and ask for it during your Share-A-Thon, and don’t clutter it up by asking for things you don’t really need or want, like meaningless pledges.  Professional Share-A-Thon hosts will probably hate me for saying this because they want the phones to ring.  So do I.  But I want the people who make them ring to be people who are ready to commit to supporting the station, not people who just want to make a pledge they may or may not have any intention of actually keeping.  Ask for gifts not pledges.  You can still take pledges, but just don’t advertise the fact.

Chances are, what your station really needs is more monthly, electronic donors.  Ask for them! Make it easy to give on-line and sign up for monthly giving.  You may even take your total and break it down into the number of monthly supporters you need to make your goal.  For example, if you are trying to raise $300,000 during  your 3 day event, that’s 834 people at $30 a month.  Plus that up for attrition and go on the air counting down from maybe 1,000 people at $30 a month.  Sure, you will take single gifts.  You can even recognize them on-the-air.  Just don’t emphasize them on the air any more than a grocery store would put a “loss leader” in an advertising supplement in the newspaper.

6.  Make Donors The Stars.

Add producers, assistants, technical helpers whatever you need so that you can record interviews and put donors calling in with their gifts on-the-air.  Another option might be to add remotes or even do your entire Share-A-Thon in the public eye where listeners can stop by and make gifts in person or come for some kind of an event.  Ask them why they are giving; you will get some amazing answers!  I’ve met dads whose kids were healed of cancer, wives whose wayward husbands came home, drug addicts who’ve recovered and more all by talking to people during a Share-A-Thon.  Your radio ministry is changing lives! Don’t hide that LIGHT under a BUSHEL!

There are probably dozens of other ideas you can put into place to make your next Share-A-Thon much simpler, more effective and a whole lot less hassle.  Get your team together and brainstorm.  It could be done over lunch. You can even have Cheetos.  Just don’t eat the whole bag yourself!