It Takes Care To Get Cash

I'm writing this an hour after getting off the air for our station's "Days of Giving" campaign. Our big ask to keep the station funded for the next six months. It's a lot of talking, a lot of strategy, and a lot of amazing stories of how God is using WCSG in our community.

I feel exhausted and thankful. Each gift represents a "why we do what we do"...why the alarm goes off in the middle of the night, why we answer the phones in the studio even when it isn't convenient, and why we select the songs that we do.

During this week, we get affirmation that it's "working." People are being impacted and at times, lives are being changed. They see the value in having a local Christian station at their disposal and are willing to support it with their wallets, which is pretty amazing and humbling.

I used to think that I had a fundraising formula figured out - give the phone number (a lot), tell some stories, keep it positive. Tell the listener why they need to support the station - "to keep us on the air."

Do you know who "keep us on the air" works for? The people who work at the station. The ones who receive paychecks and health insurance. If you haven't come to terms with the fact that our listeners can get their music anywhere, you should probably get there soon. Songs aren't enough to sell the value of a station, so why else would someone need your station (and need it enough to give their hard earned money to support it)? How can you boldly ask listeners to give you money for something that they can get elsewhere for free?

What's helped for me is a change in mindset. A change in thinking that the station is the only thing in the universe and is literally the life and breath of every person who turns the radio on.

I think about it this way now - a lot of times, the station is simply a middle man. The middle man between God and the listener and the middle man between listeners and each other. We get to be a part of those moments when God intervenes through something being heard and we get to be the conduit in which two people have a moment of connection because of the station, but we are not the sole reason these things happen.

There are exactly zero Music Directors who can schedule music in a way that gives those "right song at the right time" moments. There aren't any morning shows who can directly see into the homes of women listening who are trying to put their makeup on with tears streaming down their faces because they got into a fight with their husband that morning and now they have to go to work. There aren't any overnight shows that have the ability to know that a family is saying goodbye to a loved one in their last moments as they gather in a hospital room. Sure, the station can be a part of feeling the presence of God in those moments, but they aren't because of us.

That's all God's work. His power. Not ours.

So what power do we have?

The power to care.

We can't just tell our listeners we care about them during our fundraising drives and expect them to believe us. You know this as well as I do: actions speak louder than words. It takes faithful work, day in and day out to really make people believe what you say. It means talking to that listener at the remote who probably won't ever give to the station. It means taking a genuine interest in the people who call to request a song. It means breaking format and sweeping a few songs when that caller needs a little extra care during your show - not because of what they might give you someday, but because you really are a lifeline in their time of trouble.

Sometimes we forget - they aren't just listeners or donors. They are PEOPLE. Individuals with real lives and challenges and successes. Good days and downright terrible ones. People who have lost things very dear to them and who walk through this life with uncertainty. They live in your neighborhoods. They walk their dogs down your street. You see them at your kids' school activities. They matter. Pour into them.

Take care of their needs when you aren't fundraising, and watch what happens when it's time for them to take care of you.