3 Good Reasons to Become an FOR Monthly Sustainer
- It’s Convenient for You
- Increased Giving = Improved Water Quality
- Cost Savings for FOR = Expanding FOR’s Impact
Like a lot of you, I’m a big fan of NPR. I love getting news updates while I’m driving, and my best road trips are often ones that coincide with broadcasts of shows like All Things Considered or Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!
I was driving to visit my eldest daughter recently and it was the last night of WVTF Radio IQ’s annual membership drive. I really dialed in on their messaging, because I’m the membership coordinator at FOR. Like anybody, I can get stuck in a rut, repeating the same catchphrases and sending out the same renewal requests each year to our membership.
So I’ve decided to take a cue from Radio IQ and have a conversation with our River Friends about how easy it is to be an FOR member, how your annual financial support meets your goals, and how it helps FOR do very important things, like keeping the lights turned on.
Hold on, I hear a call coming in… We have only 15 minutes to meet our fundraising goal this hour… Johnny, can you tell us more about the cool prizes we have at the monthly sustainer level…
FOR has annual memberships and lifetime memberships. Annual memberships are grouped around two “start” dates, March 1 and Oct. 1. That means twice each year we run membership renewal drives, in the spring and fall. Some of you may have recently renewed your membership as part of our spring renewal campaign. Annual memberships start at the $30 River Friend level and there are various other categories to help fit everyone’s giving ability, from $50 River Families to $500 River Defenders.
Lifetime memberships are our highest and most-honored membership level. A donation of $1,500 earns the Lifetime Member Award. We display the names of lifetime members in our office and recognize them at events.
We offer several ways you can become an FOR member, or renew an exisiting membership. It’s easy to do online at www.riverfriends.org/donations, but you can mail us a check or call us and we’ll take care of the transaction over the phone. We are friendly people and we want this to be an easy process.
Speaking of friendly, we want all of our supporters to get FOR’s e-newsletters and advocacy alerts, so if you give us $30 in support of an annual fundraising appeal, we’ll give you a complimentary one-year membership. It keeps you in the know about FOR and our projects and we hope it leads to a membership renewal when the year is up.
Of particular interest to me as our membership coordinator is our Monthly Sustainer program, which starts at $5. When I was listening to NPR on that recent road trip, they kept mentioning monthly sustainers, how easy it is to do and how valuable it is to the receiving organization. When somebody decides to support our river conservation programs at the introductory $5 per month level, they have doubled the standard River Friend level. And that’s important to our members and to FOR.
To begin with, being an FOR member is a personal commitment to conservation. It means acting locally to enact change on a larger scale. We partner with local, state and federal agencies to adopt safe, responsible environmental policies that affect the Rappahannock River watershed and the Chesapeake Bay. Adding your voice to ours makes FOR stronger when we advocate for watershed protection.
Being an FOR member means influencing the next generation of river stewards. We interact with more than 6,000 young people each year through our education, volunteer and intern programs. Our members have told us they want their money to support these kinds of activities.
Memberships such as the Monthly Sustainer program are important to FOR because they give us a chance to plan ahead. Unlike a lot of our grant funding, membership revenue is available for paying the electricity and telephone bill, and for insuring our vehicles, trailers, boats and building. Memberships support staff time for volunteer programs and community events, like Earth Day.
So as you can see, FOR memberships are a two-way street. They help members accomplish their conservation goals by making FOR a stronger Voice for the River. I hope you consider this when your next membership renewal comes due. And if you ever have questions or ideas you wish to share, give me a call. I want to hear your ideas.
And now, back to our regularly-scheduled programming…
By Woodie Walker, FOR Community Conservationist
Like a lot of you, I’m a big fan of NPR. I love getting news updates while I’m driving, and my best road trips are often ones that coincide with broadcasts of shows like All Things Considered or Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!
I was driving to visit my eldest daughter recently and it was the last night of WVTF Radio IQ’s annual membership drive. I really dialed in on their messaging, because I’m the membership coordinator at FOR. Like anybody, I can get stuck in a rut, repeating the same catchphrases and sending out the same renewal requests each year to our membership.
So I’ve decided to take a cue from Radio IQ and have a conversation with our River Friends about how easy it is to be an FOR member, how your annual financial support meets your goals, and how it helps FOR do very important things, like keeping the lights turned on.
Hold on, I hear a call coming in… We have only 15 minutes to meet our fundraising goal this hour… Johnny, can you tell us more about the cool prizes we have at the monthly sustainer level…
FOR has annual memberships and lifetime memberships. Annual memberships are grouped around two “start” dates, March 1 and Oct. 1. That means twice each year we run membership renewal drives, in the spring and fall. Some of you may have recently renewed your membership as part of our spring renewal campaign. Annual memberships start at the $30 River Friend level and there are various other categories to help fit everyone’s giving ability, from $50 River Families to $500 River Defenders.
Lifetime memberships are our highest and most-honored membership level. A donation of $1,500 earns the Lifetime Member Award. We display the names of lifetime members in our office and recognize them at events.
We offer several ways you can become an FOR member, or renew an exisiting membership. It’s easy to do online at www.riverfriends.org/donations, but you can mail us a check or call us and we’ll take care of the transaction over the phone. We are friendly people and we want this to be an easy process.
Speaking of friendly, we want all of our supporters to get FOR’s e-newsletters and advocacy alerts, so if you give us $30 in support of an annual fundraising appeal, we’ll give you a complimentary one-year membership. It keeps you in the know about FOR and our projects and we hope it leads to a membership renewal when the year is up.
Of particular interest to me as our membership coordinator is our Monthly Sustainer program, which starts at $5. When I was listening to NPR on that recent road trip, they kept mentioning monthly sustainers, how easy it is to do and how valuable it is to the receiving organization. When somebody decides to support our river conservation programs at the introductory $5 per month level, they have doubled the standard River Friend level. And that’s important to our members and to FOR.
To begin with, being an FOR member is a personal commitment to conservation. It means acting locally to enact change on a larger scale. We partner with local, state and federal agencies to adopt safe, responsible environmental policies that affect the Rappahannock River watershed and the Chesapeake Bay. Adding your voice to ours makes FOR stronger when we advocate for watershed protection.
Being an FOR member means influencing the next generation of river stewards. We interact with more than 6,000 young people each year through our education, volunteer and intern programs. Our members have told us they want their money to support these kinds of activities.
Memberships such as the Monthly Sustainer program are important to FOR because they give us a chance to plan ahead. Unlike a lot of our grant funding, membership revenue is available for paying the electricity and telephone bill, and for insuring our vehicles, trailers, boats and building. Memberships support staff time for volunteer programs and community events, like Earth Day.
So as you can see, FOR memberships are a two-way street. They help members accomplish their conservation goals by making FOR a stronger Voice for the River. I hope you consider this when your next membership renewal comes due. And if you ever have questions or ideas you wish to share, give me a call. I want to hear your ideas.
And now, back to our regularly-scheduled programming…
By Woodie Walker, FOR Community Conservationist
3 Good Reasons to Become an FOR Monthly Sustainer
- It’s Convenient for You
- Increased Giving = Improved Water Quality
- Cost Savings for FOR = Expanding FOR’s Impact
