PEORIA, Ill. – Members of Peoria’s public television station WTVP gathered at its State St. studio over coffee, pastries, and bagels to learn about its newest campaign.
A breakfast kickoff event on Wednesday morning gave the first public launch of the “Stronger Together” campaign. The campaign was announced on Friday, the one year anniversary since the federal funding was cut for public television and radio stations across the country.
The goal of “Stronger Together” is to raise $600,000 through new and sustainable memberships. It’s the newest campaign after last year’s “We Believe” campaign, which raised $1 million to fill the gaps lost in federal funding.
President and CEO Jenn Gordon says the “We Believe” campaign showed that the community can support the station.
“A lot of big gifts that came in last year, a lot of anonymous one-time gifts that came in last year, so people really met us in that moment,” Gordon said. “And then this year now is all about we’re paving that road to a sustainable future.”
Gordon says there were a few reasons why the goal was set for $600,000 for “Stronger Together.” She says there’s a certain number of new members and donations that they do not retain, noting that the industry standard is an around 75% retention rate.
In addition, Gordon is not anticipating receiving as many large gifts and donations this year. And the station has eliminated debt, and paid off the mortgage on its building.
Gordon says another big aspect of the “Stronger Together” campaign is making more people aware of WTVP.
“A lot of people just don’t know because of the competing landscape of streaming platforms and cable and satellite, there’s just so much content that’s everywhere, all at once. We want to build awareness that we are here, we are local,” Gordon said.
Gordon says part of that strategy is a stronger focus on digital and online, as well as more local programming.
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