We’re thrilled to announce the results of our recent staffing study for the PBS station ecosystem: Staffing for Success: Digital Fundraising in the Era of PBS Passport.
Over the past 6 months, we set out to explore how digital fundraising work gets done at PBS stations across the country: who does it, how these roles are changing, and which success factors must be present for station staff to succeed in growing their membership, with particular attention to how PBS Passport (a video-on-demand streaming service and member benefit) has affected both workflow and staffing needs. We sought to understand how PBS stations are staffing for digital fundraising success: what’s already working well; how stations are struggling to get the capacity they need to conduct digital fundraising and Passport activities; and ways that staffing models might evolve over the next 3-5 years.
Our research process covered 45% of the PBS system (72 stations), with careful attention to achieving balanced perspectives across station size (from very small to very large), licensee types, and region (from urban to frontier, including border stations). We collected station staffing artifacts such as organization charts and workflow diagrams; surveyed 70+ stations via GMs, the PBS marketing, development, and digital advisory councils, the Passport Station User Group, and the Passport Point of Contact group; and conducted in-depth interviews with staff at 20 stations, including fundraisers, marketers, content and education staff, digital directors, and station leadership.
Check out the report and let us know what you think!