Roundup: “Hats off to ya! “

Tuesday June 11, 2024
From the less messy desk of Amanda Eichstaedt…

Out of Office (note from Amanda)

Since I am away you will get to hear from some of the illustrious staff members at KWMR who as much, or more to offer in terms of communicating relevant community-based information than I do!

Today it is KWMR’s Development Director, Alyssa Jane Tanner!

Thank you as always for reading our newsletters and have a great day!

Amanda Eichstaedt
Station Manager and Executive Director

Hats off to ya! (By Alyssa Jane Tanner)

Like most of us at KWMR, I wear a lot of hats. 

I call the Calendar Club Members when their credit cards have expired, work with businesses & nonprofits to get their announcements on the air, design our super cool merchandise, volunteer my time as a programmer, and I manage and implement our fundraising efforts. 

This includes our pledge drives. 

I’ve worked in fundraising with a good handful of nonprofits. So, when I started at KWMR in 2020 (the day after Jeff Manson) I thought I knew exactly how the fundraising would go. Very quickly, I realized that I knew very little about this big-hearted radio station. 

NEVER HAVE I EVER worked at a nonprofit that has so MANY individual donors. 

The first Pledge Drive that I worked on blew my mind. The amount of folks who called, emailed, stopped by, gave online, handed me cash in town, handed me jars full of change that they had been saving up for a whole year???!!! 

It absolutely blew my mind. I knew KWMR was amazing, but seriously?! It was a total shock that so many folks knew that KWMR was amazing, too. I know that YOU know what I am talking about, because otherwise you would have stopped reading at, “Out of Office…”

The value that we all see in KWMR is truly great. 

It was especially shown during our 25th Anniversary Pledge Drive. I am still doing a big database clean-up to make sure that we have everyone’s info right, but right now it is looking like we had over 550 folks make a pledge, in support of KWMR Community Radio. I am still not done crunching the numbers, but together (that includes YOU) we raised over $75,000.

Hats off to ya! 

To all who supported this Pledge Drive and hats off to all that have played a part in creating and sustaining this station the last 25 years. You have all expanded our minds and brightened our days more than you could ever know. 

A huge success of this Pledge Drive was KWMR Day! May 2nd! I have a big announcement for ya…drum roll…we will officially be celebrating KWMR Day, every year, on May 2nd! Yes this will be an event and yes we will also be bringing back other past KWMR events this year, too. (😉, has anyone else been brushing up on their story telling skills?) 

I want to let you, our Round-Up readers, know about our fresh new plans. Our tremendous KWMR Day and Spring/Fall Pledge Drive efforts will now be bundled. From here on out we will be holding one single Pledge Drive per year. It will be in the spring time. It will be centered around KWMR Day on May 2nd. It will have a big ‘ol goal. It will be full of spring time frenzy energy.

Due to this change we will also be having a more intentional end of year fundraising campaign in November and December. It will have more cozy fall time vibes. We will be reaching out to folks in person and on the air. The intention is really to be based around personal values in what we all see in the station. It will be lovely.  

Now that we are 25 years young, and our prefrontal cortex has final developed, it is time for us to work at making this station a lasting resource for generations to come. It will come with ease and intention and joy. We will keep our programming open to all and our ears open to new ideas as we grow together. 

Since Amanda is “Out of Office” I must also take the opportunity to share a picture of Juju, the radio dog, in a hat…

If you ever have any questions for me or want to chat, call or text me! 

Alyssa Jane Tanner
Development Director 
(628) 587-1230 (Call or Text)