WJCT Public Broadcasting - Brunet

WJCT Public Broadcasting
Give or it Goes
Urgent Community Funding Campaign
Project Summary
For nearly 50 years, PBS member station WJCT has been
a trusted community resource in the greater Jacksonville,
Florida area. Not only does the station air over 55 hours
of children’s, standards-based, educational programming
per week, it also conducts “Ready To Learn” literacy
workshops for parents and caregivers of at-risk children.
But when state and federal funding support for WJCT were
cut off, Jacksonville risked becoming the second major
Florida market — after Orlando — to lose its only public
broadcast station. While a University of North Florida poll
found that 52 percent of those in the Jacksonville area
said the elimination of public broadcasting due to funding
losses would be “a significant loss to their family,” only
7 percent of the area’s 1.5 million viewers and listeners
provided financial support to WJCT. Facing this disconnect
between perceived value and actual support, WJCT turned
to Brunet-García to help galvanize the community and turn
a passive audience into sustaining supporters.
FL: 904.346.1977 | DC: 202.368.6805 | Toll-Free: 866.346.1977 | brunetgarcia.com | GSA Schedule 541 (AIMS), 8(a)-Certified
WJCT: Give or it Goes Urgent Community Funding Campaign
Saving an Endangered Community Resource
The “Give or It Goes” campaign was one of urgency, but it was also
one of sustenance. It aimed to solve WJCT’s immediate funding needs,
but also to build a future by activating an invigorated base of donors
and committed advocates. Since we didn’t have any time to waste, we
needed to show our community what they might lose if they continued
to ignore our message. We produced PSA advertisements for radio and
broadcast; digital, print, and out-of-home advertisements; and campaign
gifts for new donors. We searched for balance, with campaign spots that
were urgent without being strident, and emotionally resonant without
being maudlin. We utilized the station’s media channels for our radio and
PSA spots, identified opportunities for traded outdoor and print space,
and created social pledge badges and a branded donation URL. We
also created a special donor web page for WJCT that allowed people to
make a donation and then post a special “I Gave to Save” pledge icon to
their personal social media pages, allowing for a sense of community to
coalesce around our fundraising efforts.
The Impact
Our direct and urgent approach paid off. Soon after
its launch, the “Give or It Goes” campaign swept the
First Coast and generated donations that eventually
covered more than half the money WJCT had lost in
state and federal funding cuts. Ultimately it became
the most financially successful targeted pledge drive in
the station’s history. Additionally, WJCT acquired 500
unique new sustainers, whose automated donations
will help keep the station alive and thriving for years to
come. By alerting the community to how precarious one
of its greatest cultural and educational resources was, we
were able to help WJCT continue its mission of providing
vital programming and outreach to area schools,
libraries, and community centers.
FL: 904.346.1977 | DC: 202.368.6805 | Toll-Free: 866.346.1977 | brunetgarcia.com | GSA Schedule 541 (AIMS), 8(a)-Certified