Development is like the circle of life. We search for the right things to inspire our donors and to connect with them on a deeper level. Three years ago, WGVU Public Media invited a few station supporters to join us at the PBS Annual Meeting. The first year it was a good experience and we knew this was something we should look at doing more. Each year we worked to improve what we could do for those joining us at the Annual Meeting. Then came this year! All I can say is WOW!

The work on the PBS Insider Experience for the Annual Meeting took this year’s meeting to an entire new level for us and our donors! We had a total of fourteen station supporters join us in Chicago for different activities including eight that stayed the entire week. We had a variety of donors, volunteers, corporate sponsors, and committee chairs ranging in age from 28 – 67.

Before the Annual Meeting, we felt connected to our supporters, engaged with them, and felt they knew us as well. After the Annual Meeting and the Station Supporter events, we know their aspirations for our community and station; have memories that can never be taken away; and they know more of our why.

Here are a few things we heard from our supporters:

“It was so great, Lesli [Rotenberg] talked about the great work we are doing in Education!”

“Thank you so much for inviting me to join you this week! I am so inspired to work together more now than ever. I also wanted to let you know I made an additional donation online, thank you for letting me be part of the conference!”

“My grands are so in love with the great stuff we brought back, they are singing and dancing about being PBS Nerds. We had such a great time, please tell everyone at PBS thank you! So, San Diego next year?”

“I loved the conference, thank you for inviting me. The only problem is the team at my office is mad at me because I can’t shut up about all the things I want to do with you! Let’s figure out what we are doing first soon!”

“I now know why you do what you do. I am honored to be a small part of it. Thank you.”

“Holy crap! I just met LL Cool J! OK, he was like only 20 feet away from me, that’s meeting him right?”

“It was so cool to Facetime my Nephew while I was hanging out with Nature Cat. I think I liked it more than he did.”

As I said, we all strive to find a magic potion to build relationships with our donors in the circle that is the development cycle. We haven’t found the magic potion yet, but we can tell you that for us it does include a big portion of the PBS Insider Experience at the PBS Annual Meeting!

Tim Eernisse, Director of Development and Marketing, WGVU Public Media

Featured Image: Jodi Koning starting her morning with help from Cookie Monster and Elmo!

For more information on how you can involve your station supporters in next year’s PBS Insider Experience, contact Tia J. Graham, Sr. Director of Philanthropy, at tjgraham@pbs.org.

The stories in the Engagement series are:

1. PBS Insider Experience Recap
2. Insights from MPB Leadership
3. MPB Making Closer Connections
4. PBS Insider Experience: Time with Norman