April 16, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
Henry Krinkle is a self-described addict of National Public Radio, but he has some pet peeves about his “bad habit” — including how it raises money.
On the blog of WFMU, an independent radio station in Jersey City, N.J., Mr. Krinkle lists 10 things he hates about public radio.
Number five is a small rant against a common fund-raising practice.
“Matching-gift periods. A more dishonest (albeit legal) fund-raising scam was never devised,” he writes. “How often does it happen that the needed total for a fund-raising match period is not met, and the original match is then withdrawn? Try: never.”
To be sure, the rest of the NPR missive is aimed at programming.
For example, number two on the list: “Any NPR story about hip-hop. Maybe it’s the perfectly enunciated rap terms, or maybe it’s leads like this: ‘Hip-hop, maybe more than any other kind of music, is a melding of genres. Soul, funk, R&B, all laid over a hard beat and a rhyming verse.’”
What do you think? Are matching-gift offers misleading or an important approach to garnering supporters? Do other NPR addicts have pet peeves about the organization’s fund raising?
