Hawai‘i Public Radio’s fall fund drive finished in dramatic style at 7:45 a.m. on Thursday, October 16. The drive had been suspended at the end of the previous Friday, the tenth and presumed final day of the drive, with a shortfall of nearly $232,000 on the $1.03 million goal. The station returned to the air on the morning of Wednesday, October 15 with “Celebration 2014: Closing Time,” a planned two- to three-day extension of the original campaign. At today’s close, the final tally showed $1,039,131 – exceeding the goal by $7,131 and breaking all records for the amount HPR has raised in one of its semiannual pledge drives.
“We are extraordinarily humbled by the outpouring of support from the community,” said Michael Titterton, HPR’s President and General Manager. “Their gifts in all amounts and their many well wishes told us they want Hawai‘i Public Radio to stay around.”
Celebration 2014 gained the station 514 new member-donors. Neighbor Island pledges comprised almost a third of the 3,015 received. 790 members (new and renewing) opted-in to the monthly giving plan the station calls “sustaining membership.”
Titterton said, “The difficulty we experienced last week when we did not reach our fundraising goal seems to have illuminated for more of our listeners how essential they are in making their public radio service possible. HPR’s long-term health is tied to growing this membership base, with the 'core' of our core supporters being our sustaining members.”
The station holds on-air fund drives twice a year. The next is planned for April 2015.
