Digital Fundraising Scorecard

A look at the online giving experience of 56 PBS member stations.

Staffing for Success

PBS Sponsorship Casestudy: Atiyeh Bros. & Oregon Public Broadcasting

PBS Sponsorship Case Study: Tillamook Coast & Oregon Public Broadcasting

Passport: Navigating a Sea Change in Fundraising

A Tale of Two Systems: PBS Digital Fundraising Whitepaper & Roadmap

WNET Pilots PBS Transaction Vault for Digital Fundraising

WNET and 14 member stations partnered together to leverage social media followers of Nature & American Masters in first digital fundraising campaign powered by PBS Transaction Vault (TVault).

Social Media and Email Yields 40% More Revenue

PBS Development Services and Carl Bloom Associates (CBA) partnered with eight stations to test the effectiveness of digital promotions around the premiere of the three-part mini-series Little Women on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 13, 2018.

Social Fundraising Technology Pilot for Passport Instant Access

In October 2017, PBS Development Services partnered with fourteen member stations for a fifteen-day fundraising campaign to pilot instantaneous Passport access from social donations made using Goodworld’s #donate technology.

Mister Rogers Twitch Marathon to Test Fundraising Campaign

PBS partnered with Twitch to engage a new audience and encourage financial support of viewers’ local PBS stations.

PBS Nerd: A Case for Digital Readiness

In February 2017, PBS partnered with 14 stations to test common P2P fundraising strategies and technologies alongside the PBS Nerd brand. Learn what questions your station should be asking in order to be digitally ready.

Twenty-Nine Stations Launch Social Media Fundraising Tools

PBS Development Services and Goodworld partnered with stations to pilot social media fundraising technology to support the March 2017 pledge drive. The introductory campaign utilized #donate (e.g. #donate $20) to enable social media audiences to give instantly to their local station on Facebook or Twitter. All of the participating stations were successfully trained, onboarded, and prepared for continued testing and learning.

CRM IP Targeting Lifts Renewals by Nine Percent

PBS Development Services and Carl Bloom Associates, Inc. partnered with 10 stations to test CRM IP Targeting on reactivating lapsed members and getting additional gifts from active members while using Passport as the offer. The stations tested the impact of IP Targeting and emails, verses rather than only sending emails. Lapsed members who received emails and IP ads renewed at a nine percent higher rate than members who only received emails.

Stations Reactivate 680 Lapsed Members

As the final campaign in the Roku series, Development Services partnered with 12 stations to launch a targeted, two-week email campaign to reactivate recent and deep lapsed members. PBS provided Rokus, campaign strategy, creative, and messaging copy that highlighted the newest member benefit, Passport. The campaign resulted in 680 reactivated donors and a projected revenue of $81,080 for participating stations.

Stations Raise $163,080 from New Sustainers

PBS partnered with 12 stations for a targeted, four-week digital-only campaign to promote access to great PBS programming through digital streaming media players. PBS provided participating stations with marketing materials and Roku® Streaming Sticks® for each new sustainer acquired, and fostered cross-station learning and collaboration. The campaign resulted in 1,208 new sustainers for annualized revenue of $163,080 for participating stations.

Upwards of 26% Open Rate for Welcome Series

Basin PBS of Midland, Texas and WLJT of West Tennessee, launched their first targeted welcome email campaign to subscribers downloaded from the PBS Prospect Portal. Over a three-week period, Basin PBS and WLJT sent three emails to individuals who opted in to receive local station communications. Both stations saw open rates at or above (upwards of 26%) public television digital marketing and fundraising benchmarks.

Email Files Grow 64% for Year-End Fundraising Campaign

Building on the success of the September Email Welcome Series3, 14 stations opted-in to the 2015 Year-End Campaign and eight agreed to have PBS send fundraising emails on their behalf through email automation for key giving dates including December 30th and 31st. The eight stations that opted-in saw a housefile increase of 64% — more than five times the non-profit industry benchmark.

Digital Fundraising Campaign Acquires 467 New Sustainers

Eleven stations launch a targeted, four-week digital-only campaign to promote PBS core programming anywhere – anytime on any platform. For each newly acquired sustainer, PBS provided stations with Roku streaming sticks to thank new sustainers for their ongoing financial support. By end of the campaign, 467 new sustainers were acquired with a 3-to-1 annualized return on investment.