91.3 KVLU, Lamar University’s public radio station, will launch its spring fundraising campaign, March 31.
“The theme for this spring’s campaign is ‘Grow Your Public Radio,’” Shannon Harris, KVLU development director, said. “We are going to be on the air with friends of the station and staff for seven days, starting March 31 and ending April 8.”
During this seven-day campaign, the station will shout out their phone number on air, which listeners can call to pledge their support.
“We do have a lot online as the years have gone by, but some people still like to call,” she said. “We have students from the campus community that help out with answering the phones.”
Harris said this campaign is one of KVLU’s two large fundraisers and aims to encourage listener contributions, which is their largest source of support.
The funds go toward the station’s expenses, such as programming, equipment and staff salaries.
“There’s so many different kinds of expenses, but for our programming, that’s where we rely on listener support,” Harris said. “The NPR package includes all of our NPR news, but also there’s some other programs that fall into that. We have to pay for the right to air those programs.”
When pledging support, listeners can choose between a one-time gift, an installment plan or a sustaining membership, similar to a subscription. Every month, the amount chosen by the donor comes out of their account. It can be as little as $5, Harris said.
Alongside the one-time gift and membership, LU employees may also sign up for payroll deductions, in which the chosen amount will be automatically taken from the employee’s paycheck each pay period.
“It’s very important that we have listeners that give to the station,” Harris said. “We’re fundraising 365 days a year. It’s an ongoing thing for us. It’s just so important for us when we’re talking about planning for the coming year that we have really strong listener support during our campaigns.”
To pledge support for KVLU, visit kvlu.org, or call 409-880-8164.