Flutterby™! : Public Radio revenue sources 2009-02-01 16:36:01.515237+00

Public Radio revenue sources

2009-02-01 16:36:01.515237+00 by Dan Lyke 6 comments

Educated Guesswork looks at the curiously non-linear gift schedule for donations to KQED. I have nothing other than the deluge of crap that I've received after giving them money as evidence, but I think that most of KQED's revenues come from selling your name and address to other people, and the more you donate the more you're likely to be a sucker for all the other stuff people would want to sell you.

The sale of my contact info by non-profits has dried up a lot of my charitable giving. If they won't promise to never sell my contact information, they get nothing.

Even so, I suspect I'm going to have to re-check the policies for a few. The deluge of crap spiked again recently. My bet is someone either changed their policy or outright lied.

So if the charity sells your name to somebody else, who spends their own money to send you mail, and you just toss it out, it seems that your cost is pretty small. I kind of like getting mail. I also haven't bought a set of address labels in years, since the USO, WWF, and myriad non-profits are so kind to send me some for free. I don;t see what the problem is.

I've given to NPR a couple of times by donating anonymously to member stations. I'm not sure if it's allowed still, but it may be a better option.

I'm ending up primarily getting my NPR from podcasts nowadays, so I'll likely just be sending cash to the mothership. To petronius's point, I do object to yet more crap that I have to deal with, despite being on the various "don't send us stuff" lists we end up with a pretty full recycling bin every week, but I also resent the lack of transparency in the fundraising process. If, as seems to be indicated by the "rewards" schedule, the value of my contribution to the station is primarily as a name to be re-sold, then the "we can only do this with your support" thing rings a little hollow.

Of course "$30 a month tells the people who really fund this station that you're a serious sales prospect" doesn't quite have the same ring during pledge drives, but that sort of honesty would be a good reminder that even with NPR (or Pacifica or what-have-you), you are the product, not the consumer.

Petronius, the cost may be small, but I'm tired of having a full grocery store paper bag of junk mail every two weeks. And knowing that Minneapolis doesn't actually "recycle" paper, but instead uses it as "premium" fuel to balance out the mix in the garbage burner turns up my crankiness level about the junk mail.

DaveP, I've been considering welding up a small "fireplace" with a slot feed for junk mail. think free fuel. Heck, I'm starting to wonder what could be possible with a steam engine driven small car. Maybe a micro-steam turbine regenerated hybrid fueled by junk-mail?