Listening Post: A kick in the mission

NCPR has launched an experiment today in a new way to fund a journalism project–through crowd-funding–going directly to the people to obtain support. We are using a relatively new service called Kickstarter to raise funds for our Prison Time Media Project, now in the middle of its one-year run.

Prison Time is an in-depth year-long investigation into prisons and prison culture in the North Country and throughout the whole country. A boom in incarceration and corrections system expansion was begun with the Rockefeller-era drug laws of the 1970s and the ongoing 40-year War on Drugs. It’s a rich vein of under-reported stories, and one that is right in “the wheelhouse” of public interest journalism. Our Adirondack Bureau Chief Brian Mann, and producer Natasha Haverty spearhead the effort.

So why not pay for the project the old-fashioned way? Well–on one hand, you could say that public radio invented crowd-funding. Our on-air fundraisers are a kind of crowd-funding. But we have traditionally used that method as a way to fund  day-to-day operations. When it comes to particular programs, series and other projects, we have usually relied upon old-school philanthropy–going for private and public foundation grants, and support from underwriters and major donors.

We have done great things via conventional philanthropy in the past, and will again in the future, no doubt. But there is a downside to that method. It makes it difficult for a small organization like ours to be nimble and timely in doing great journalism. It takes a long time and a lot of work to fund reporting that way, work that could go into the reporting itself.

To do it the old-fashioned way, prospective funders need to be cultivated. There may be a wait for an application window, and a lengthy application and approval process. It may take multiple rounds of applications. Then the project might be rejected altogether, for reasons that may have nothing to do with the merits of the proposal. The bar to entry is high enough that many stations never even attempt to secure project-based grants. Those that do, probably attempt to fund fewer projects than they would otherwise.

Kickstarter kicks a lot of that barrier out of the way. You can get a project up and running fairly quickly. And you democratize your support to include anyone who can contribute anything at all, from a single dollar on up. This feels like a good fit for North Country Public Radio, this being a region where shallow pockets are many and deep pockets are few.

You can find out more about the Prison Time Media Project and the Kickstarter campaign here. Even if you don’t feel moved to support this particular project, or feel that your direct contributions to the station should be sufficient, please share news of the project with people in your own circle who might be interested.

Tags: listeningpost