You will remember that at the outset of this initiative many onlookers thought that the cei broadcasters would give up trying to turn outward and change when the money pressures became too big. Financial pressures, they said, would be stronger than any idea of engaging with the community. The fact is that economic pressures only worsened during the time of cei. In the middle of this effort, the housing market imploded, banks collapsed, and the nation entered an historic recession. Surely now these stations would abandon this work in favor of the tried and true, right?
W h y W e ’ r e h e r e
Some cei participants were worried about this too. Joe
Krushinsky at Maryland Public Television, admits that, like many in the public broadcasting system, he wondered whether
cei would be able to survive in a tough economy:
If you had asked me at the start what might be some of the things that could make this project go badly, or end prematurely that [unprecedented financial stress] would have been pretty close to the top of the list. If we run into hard times people will run screaming from this. And focus on short-term survival.
But the results tell a different story. For nearly every station, including Krushinsky’s, the work that emerged as part of cei became a profit center. Time and again, we heard—and continue to hear—from stations that it was their cei work that led them to raise more money than ever before. Becoming relevant and significant wasn’t too costly. Just the reverse: it was profitable! To be clear, we have often said to stations (and other organiza- tions involved in such work) that the ideas and principles of turning outward that we advocate should not be used for fundraising pur- poses—that is, as a ploy for raising new funds. But we also say that, for those organizations that do turn outward and become more relevant and significant in their communities, new support almost always follows. For each of the cei stations, it did. Here are just a handful of examples:
• At a time when state support was cut, Illinois Public Media’s success in turning outward generated a 28 percent increase in funding from local contributors. What’s more, before leading his station through
cei, General Manager Mark Leonard often spoke about how
p r o b L e M s & p r o M i s e s
difficult it was to get the attention of young entrepreneurs, let alone their support. Now, he reports, the same entrepreneurs who once avoided his calls are seeking him out and engaging with the station. And just before this book was completed, Leonard contacted us to say that his station had just won the Overall Development Award, the highest award given by the pbs Development Advisory Com- mittee, and that “our award-winning entry was based largely on our engagement activities with the Harwood Institute.” From the station’s winning entry:
The work we did with the cpb-funded Harwood Community Engagement Initiative provided the backdrop. It’s work that con- tinues today and will help to make us not just successful, but a significant community organization in the years ahead.… [The station] had its most successful year ever in total annual giving. We see community engagement principles as one of the keys for continued growth in the years to come.
• Maryland Public Television’s work with cei helped spur an individual donor to contribute $1 million for a New Initiatives Fund to support future community-based initiatives like cei. Discussing still another emerging effort, Joe Krushinsky says, “We don’t even have a product yet, and two foundations have committed money to move forward.”
• From both local and national sources, more than $2 million has been invested in ketc of St. Louis to sustain cei-related efforts.
ketc’s work with the community prompted The Dana Brown
Charitable Trust to donate $1 million to enable the station to renovate a section of its building to create a new space for
W h y W e ’ r e h e r e
ongoing community engagement.
• In 2008, Wells Fargo Foundation cut funding for every single one of its grantees in Las Vegas, except for knpr, whose cei-inspired work on its Community Connections program was seen as too valuable to cut. Instead of cutting back, Wells Fargo increased
knpr’s funding.
• In Grand Marais, Minnesota, the public radio station wtip recently completed its most successful membership drive ever. wtip’s More than Radio membership effort reflected the station’s new relationship with the community. The drive fea- tured listeners, community leaders, and nonprofit managers celebrating their partnerships with wtip and expressing the station’s value in the community. Since starting cei, wtip’s membership has increased by nearly 30 percent.
• As a result of its cei work, wskg in Binghamton, New York, re- ceived $150,000 from the Conrad and Virginia Klee Foundation for a Working on Wellness Initiative and is now part of cpb’s stem community-engagement initiative, with two grants of $25,000 and $10,000. General Manager Brian Sickora sees the connec- tion between cei and fundraising clearly, “All of our revenue lines are up, our major donors have just about doubled, pledge is up. That was helpful to show to the staff, that ‘this stuff might actually pay off.’”