If you had asked most people a year ago if WYOU would be here today, they would have said no. Well, HERE WE ARE!!! ONE YEAR STRONGER!!!! I don’t mean to be so excited, but it feels like a MAJOR accomplishment, especially given how busy I’ve been and knowing what it takes to keep non-profits alive on a daily basis.
Last night was our annual meeting, and I thought I should share some of my remarks at the meeting. For those of you who don’t know, I’m the chair of the Board of Directors of the now almost all volunteer organization (we have one person who we pay to teach some classes and work 6 or so hours a week to program the shows) and I basically manage the station the best I can on a daily basis, with a LOTTA help from my friends!
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Yes, in the past year, we’ve managed to:
– Keep the office open and increase the hours throughout the year.
– Return live shows to the air – 4 shows are now live every week.
– Continue new programing. We have 5 – 6 new shows coming on-line in the past month and the next month or so and we continue to program the station 24/7 with a majority of local content.
– Orient 25 people in the studio in the past month
– Continue our classes (cameras and editing) and youth camps are still up and running.
– Fundraise! and keep the finances in order
– Produce live, on location shoots of summer festivals and events at the Barrymore
– Start the Wisconsin Uprising Project.
– Keep the technology working and stay on the air (with some bumps along the way).
HOW ARE WE DOING IT?
So, how are we doing it?
1. Charter screwed up AND (unlike in the past) the city was fair to us. Charter collected the PEG fees for an extra month or two and the city got some additional money as a result, so the Mayor and others made sure that it got passed along to us. That allows us to have a reserve of about $10K for emergencies.
2. Volunteers! Volunteers do all the administrative work (accounting, email, phone calls, etc), keep the office open (M 10 – 2, T 2 – 8, R 10 – 2, 5 – 8, Fri 1 – 5, Sat noon – 5 and Sun 4 – 7), do the tech work when things aren’t working, do the fundraising, taught youth summer classes, started the Wisconsin Uprising Project and much more. Last night I attempted to mention some of them, but I’m afraid I left some out . . . so I don’t want to attempt again. Suffice it to say, there are at least 20 – 25 key volunteers at WYOU doing this work.
3. Donations! Memberships! Camera and equipment check outs! Class fees! Sales of tapes and dvds! Media services for hire! Yes, it all matters to us.
WHAT COULD YOU DO TO HELP?
Well, the list is long . . .
1. First and foremost, we need someone with the time to help coordinate all the volunteers. We have people who want to help, but we don’t always have time to train, supervise and assist them in getting the info they need to volunteer.
2. Help seeking in-kind donations. We would love to do some upgrades to our editing and video equipment – moving into some newer technology. We need people to help with asking to get newer equipment.
3. Help with grantwriting. We haven’t been too successful in getting grants, but we need to keep trying and being creative.
4. We need a relatively new Mac computer for the Uprising Archiving project, we are currently using laptops from volunteers, but we need a good computer to be available for volunteers and people who want to access the information.
5. Fundraising – we always need help with fundraising.
6. Help with classes and educational opportunities. We could be teaching all kinds of classes with some more coordination and some volunteer teachers.
7. We have a constant need for office volunteers, studio volunteers and people to work on media services for hire (editing, capturing and burning dvds, taping events, etc)
8. Donations! Memberships! We are keeping the station alive, but it relies on the generosity of the community. And, you can not just donate, but become a member, either just a dues paying member, or a dues paying AND participating member. Members make the station run, in whatever way you can give. And, you could learn to edit or check out a camera for a project you are working on too!
9. Content. We always need content. One time events or a weekly or monthly show are all possible. If you have something you want shown on the air, let us know!
10. Technical assistance. Um, if you’re one of those geeky people who know how to fix broken cords, fix computers, help assess broken equipment etc. We could use some folks to volunteer on the technical committee.
11. Marketing. Yeah, the whole package is needed, a marketing plan, newsletters, twitter, facebook, website updates, blog, brochures, flyers, member communications and one-on-one contacts.
12. Committee work. We have an active programming committee, and groups of people working on grantwriting, the archiving project, in-kind donations, education, volunteers, etc. But we can always use more hands.
That’s just a list off the top of my head. We’re trying to focus and work on various things throughout the year in a more strategic way, but the needs are many and we won’t turn people away. We’re making it work, but we could always make it work better.
We’ve done more in the last year than I could have imagined – yes, I had my doubts along the way. I’ve learned more about running a 24/7 television station than I could have ever imagined. And, thanks to the work of our previous staff (they still continue to help us out immensely), they left us in as good of a position as we could have been in and they laid the foundation for us being successful this year! The volunteers help take it from there! I always maintained that we can’t afford to lose this community asset, because we will never get a community television station back if we give it up. And, now, more than ever, I’m convinced that we have the ability to move into the future and make it even better . . . with the help of the community!
