I love NPR I LOVE IT. My husband and I donate and pay membership dues every month to them. I just HATE there fund drives. BUGS me to no end. Why are they wasting money on merchandise to GIVE to people when they pledge money? I am fine with the name said on the radio thing. However that they are handing out things to people for certain amounts of donated money really bothers me. Does anyone else have a issue with this as well?
More than likely they aren't paying a dime for the perks given out; they are donated by businesses who advertise w/ NPR.
NPR = National Public Radio
People give more money when they can get a trinket and such in return. They are really buying into higher membership fees in return for items. KERA, PBS all do similar things.
3boys, NPR is National Public Radio
http://www.npr.org
Sad but true that there are people that are always "looking for something" when they donate to ANYTHING!
silly question, what is NPR?
The 'merchandise' is gotten via their sponsors.
Sponsors, 'donate' prizes. It is probably because they support NPR and any donations made by them is a tax write off too. And well people like incentives to donate money for a cause. And it promotes their business and marketing too.
NPR does not pay for these merchandise.
It defeats the purpose, of a fund drive if they are using monetary donations just to buy and then give away, gifts to donors. And any organization has a budget, for things like this.
Love NPR too. You can opt out of the gifts and just donate the money. They are just trying to incent you to donate. Pretty typical tactic for fundraising.
If it makes you feel any better, usually the merchandise is donated by a company in exchange for a mention on the radio. Also, NPR has worked so hard to shorten the fund drives for just the reason you mention - they are trying to raise the funds in less than half the usual time by telling people up front. The sooner people donate (who would anyway), the sooner NPR makes its goal and the sooner they can go back to programming. So ask your friends to just call up or go on line, sign up for a monthly pledge, and get it over with! Ask companies to become donors (for an on-air mention) and reduce the need for these long fund drives. Everyone agrees that they are time consuming, but the funds need to be there.
I donate to MPR, but don't like fund drives either. So during fund drive weeks, try listening online.
When I listen online, I can't hear broadcasts in real time, but my favorite shows such as Gary Eichten and Kerri Miller are recorded in full. The fund drive stuff is still there, but because it's online, I can fast-forward through it.
Also, those shows are posted online within a half hour of the real-time broadcast anyway.
P.S. Since you are in Mpls, I assume you're donating to MPR, not NPR?
I agree: MPR is awesome!
As someone else said, you can opt out of any NPR "thank you" gift. Is this what you do when you donate? They're not "handing out things" to anyone. The value of the "gift" you receive is deducted from the amount donated. So, if you donate $100, and the value of the mug is $10, you've only donated $90 & you've purchased a mug. Plus, they call it a "membership," but it's really just a donation.
It's standard MO and I have absolutely no problem with it. It's the same concept for silent auctions and the vast majority of nonprofit fundraising that goes on in this country.
And, as someone else said, if "public" radio/TV were adequately funded, there wouldn't be a need for this discussion. But, that's another topic entirely.
ive never understood that myself-except promotions an bribes-stop donating-just pay your membership and let it go.or just switch places.i myself figure id never give donations to a place that doesnt need it-i save it for the places that really do.
Agree with other mamas, those items are usually donated by businesses. My husband and I are long-time listeners, and we donate as well. We don't do it for the recognition or the merchandise, but we really like the option of feeding 40 instead of getting more stuff to put in our house! The fund drives do get old after a while, but they're definitely necessary. I'd rather listen to fund drives than not have NPR at all!
Honestly, it has always bothered me that not-for-profit organizations exchange donations for stuff, most of which is made in sweatshops by people who barely make enough to survive (this has been a long-standing notion, but I'm not really sure if it is still true). The items are donated by supporters. Some organizations like MPR do give out "socially responsible" or "fair trade" items, and encourages members to deny the gift, but still. Unfortunately, we live in a stingy society and people will donate more if they get something cool in return, and ultimately it results in more money coming in. That is the bottom line. If the corporate sponsors just gave NPR money to keep their station going instead, much of the public would feel no obligation to contribute, and public funds are a big part of the budget. It would be interesting to do an experiment and see how much money they got if they just appealed to the philanthropist in everyone, or even the ego, postering donated billboard space with all the members names or something. Problem is, if it doesn't work, there may be no more MPR/NPR/PBS or what have you!
Alot of times those gifts are donated as well. I use to work at a store that did a variety of charity each year. I was on the board that did this. And each year we did a giving tree for christmas. Well sadly not every item (or sometimes even half the items) on the giving tree were purchased come christmas, so the board would have to buy them. One way we did this was by having a raffle. We would call up local buisnesses and ask them if they could donate items to us and then sell raffle tickets for $1. Alot of charities and non profit organizations do this.
