Making the fundraising case for community engagement journalism

For many public media stations, community engagement journalism has been a game changer in terms of fundraising and membership. But articulating to potential donors all the ways engagement makes an impact and serves audiences can be challenging. There’s a lot of nuance in this work – it can be hard to fit into a fund drive break, and pitching a project with a lot of moving parts to a major donor can feel daunting. 

When we get it right, though, members and donors are excited to support mission-driven, community-focused work.

To help get you started, we’ve put together some examples that make the case for engagement — you can pull from these for e-blasts, pitch breaks, sponsorship kits or any other place you might be asking for money to sustain your community engagement journalism efforts.

Case One: We’re listening

You turn to [STATION] all the time to better understand the issues that matter to you, and to learn about new or surprising ideas from diverse perspectives. You value hearing the voices of people who don’t often get the microphone. To bring you those voices, [STATION] listens to the community. We listen to learn what stories aren’t being told and to make sure you get what you need from us as a news source. Your support allows us to spend more time outside of the station, engaging with YOU.

Case Two: More voices

We believe public radio should sound like the public — a mix of voices and ideas from all walks of life. At [STATION], you can hear the voices that don’t often get the opportunity to tell their story. [Share a couple strong community engagement stories you’ve done]. With your support today, we can continue this important work.

Case Three: Journalism that matters to you

It’s been another year with a seemingly endless supply of news. When the news impacts your day-to-day life, [STATION] makes sure you have the information you need — whether that’s the latest [wildfire/hurricane/COVID/flood] update or answers to your questions about voting. You know that you can trust this station to give you clear and accurate resources to keep you in the know. [STATION] can’t do it without your support.

Case Four: You can trust us

With all this talk lately of how people have lost faith in American institutions, including the media, we’re here to prove to you – each day –  that you can trust us. During the midterm elections, we asked you — what questions do you have about how to get involved? And we answered those questions, so you had the trusted information you needed to send in your ballot or go to your polling location and vote. We’re here, for you. But that’s only possible because you are here for us. 

Case Five: We count on each other

You rely on [station] to bring you accurate information, new ideas, rich context and a wide range of perspectives. When you tune in, you know you'll hear from experts and from every-day people, and that reporting that goes deep, listens and values all voices, is only possible because of local people like you who support [station] as members. You can rely on us. Today, we'd love to rely on you with a donation — you pick the amount — that keeps us independent, locally rooted and listening to this community.