Are you gambling with your TV station’s future?  Government funding for cable access channels is at greater risk than ever before. Economic slowdown is a reality for most of the nation and many communities are finding those shortfalls further compounded by tax-cutting initiatives. Even so, there are things you can do to ensure a lasting future for your government access channel.

Does your funding currently come from the cable fund or the general fund? If your budget is totally dependent on one of these sources it would be wise to begin pursuing alternative funding resources. From grants, to program underwriting or collaborative productions there are any number of creative ways to increase – or simply stabilize--your operating budget. 

Fifteen years ago, one hundred percent of the TV Tacoma budget came from the City’s general fund. As a “non-essential” service, the station operated with a less than optimal funding level.  Each budget cycle brought with it the threat of cutbacks or even total elimination of the station. On top of that, there was a frustration of having to spend money before the end of the budget cycle – the “use it or lose it” mentality - rather than effectively managing the money by building a reserve.  One of the greatest challenges we faced was a lack of sufficient capital funding.   Working with our finance department and with support of the City Council, TV Tacoma created a subfund in the City’s grant summary fund.  This allowed us to generate outside dollars that could be carried over into future years.    

Establishing the fund was like hitting the jackpot. With more than half a million dollars generated to date, this fund has proven to be a valuable asset.  It not only helps meet long-range capital needs, but also is a resource for equipment rentals, contracted help and other special operational costs that help us to produce the highest quality of local programming possible. Other channels have addressed this area as well by becoming enterprise divisions that can receive revenue, or by creating special accounts that can receive revenue and then be spent in any way that is appropriate. The main idea is to create a way to take in revenue and then be able to spend it for your channel’s operations, rather than losing that revenue to your City’s general fund. 

You have to play your cards right to be successful in fundraising; whether it’s writing a grant, pitching an underwriting sponsorship or requesting in-kind donations, you must have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish.  My first request for funding was a cold call letter to the local credit union serving government employees.   

We wanted to produce a one-hour holiday music special featuring teens from our community.  It was the late 80’s and teens in Tacoma had gotten a bad rap from the local, and even national, media as a result of gang activity.  We wanted to remind the public that the average teen in our community was not what the media portrayed.  We wanted the program to grab viewer’s attention, which meant renting equipment like a jib arm, dolly and dutch head which, of course, cost money we didn’t have in the budget. Without a clue as to protocol for seeking underwriting or sponsorships, I made a cold call to TAPCO Credit Union and explained what we were trying to accomplish and why I needed their help.  

 I was fortunate to be connected with an incredibly community-minded staff member, who asked for a letter outlining the request so she could pitch it to the CEO. Since that first letter, the credit union has partnered with us annually to bring arts and high school sports coverage to the community.   But, they aren’t alone. Other businesses have supported our local programming efforts including stores, banks and private schools.  Even the cable companies have underwritten programs—outside of their required franchise dollars – and have expressed great pride partnering with us to provide funding for community events programs.  

Businesses aren’t the only source of local funding in the community.  Most communities have a number of local foundations serving their area.   I had heard the names of four or five foundations responsible for millions of dollars donated in Tacoma each year, but came to learn there were many smaller family foundations also contribute to a variety of projects.  Quite often these are the folks committed to hometown arts and opportunities for young people.  In Tacoma, local foundations often provide the majority of funding for civic arts. If providing arts’ programming is your goal, find out about their current, and even past, supporters.   Imagine the value those foundations would place on a partnership to produce a high quality television program showcasing the organizations they support.  In addition to increasing public awareness of area arts organizations, televised coverage brings the programming into the homes of those unable to attend the live performance.  

Partnering with non-profit agencies can be mutually beneficial. As government programmers, we can expand arts and cultural programming while partnering organizations like the symphony, ballet and opera receive the benefit of increased local awareness of their craft.  One word of caution: arts productions can include union expenses related to the cast or even the crew.  Make sure to obtain all the necessary releases up front to allow you to record, air and distribute the production.  Another idea is to produce public service announcements that help educate the community about disaster plans for your community.  In the wake of September 11, a number of public and private grants became available for that kind of programming. 

When you write a grant to a local foundation, your request letter should look and feel much different than a national grant application.  Remember these folks are a part of your community.  The people I’ve worked with say they often make their decisions based purely on emotion. Attaching letters of support from people you mutually know, and have worked with, may be more effective than providing a lot of statistical information in your request. 

Totally different game rules apply when you play with the High Rollers. National grants are often where you will find the highest level of funding, but remember the odds are stacked against you, based on the sheer volume of applications submitted. On top of that, the forms are complicated and involve a process that is spelled out to the most trivial detail, including the type of folder and tab markers you use (honestly). Government grants are by far the worst, but some private national processes are equally challenging. If you are to be successful in obtaining one of these, you have to pay close attention to every requirement.  If you don’t play by their rules you’ve simply made their job easier. Most will weed out the application before reading your summary statement.  That being said, we have successfully acquired two grants in excess of $100,000 each, so it can be well worth the effort.   

There are several things I believe helped us acquire federal funding.  The first time through, I had the great fortune of working with an experienced grant writer.  She had already been through the frustration of spending hours developing content for a request that was rejected simply because she had not followed format requirements.  Like all creative types, she had packaged her proposal to be eye-catching, rather than using a specifically required portfolio cover. (Something that might would have paid off if the proposal had gone to a local foundation).  The proposal was sent back with a form letter rejection attached and the box next to “wrong portfolio type” checked. I had to call four different office supply stores before locating the one we needed for our proposal, but in the end it paid off.   

Once you’ve made it through that first phase of elimination, I’m told that the summary statement – your opening paragraph—will determine whether your application advances to the next phase or not. The keys to a successful summary statement?  Start with the A, B,C’s: 

1. Authenticity—Present a project that you genuinely believe in and know you can deliver.
2. Brevity- You want to provide a compelling snapshot of the information that they will find detailed later in the application. Remember that they will read throngs of these things and are likely to zone out if your summary statement is the 50^th one they will read and you’ve tried to convey too much information.
3. Creativity – Grant providers like projects that are out of the ordinary. But whatever you do, don’t describe it as “innovative.” I recently attended a grant writers conference where it was drilled into our heads that the word “innovative” should be banished from our grant writing vocabulary list.  It turns out everything these days is described as “innovative,” so the word doesn’t lend any meaningful insight to a review committee.

Grantors also want to know that you are working collaboratively with others to accomplish your goals.  If you are producing a program to educate the public about domestic violence, the granting agency will want to know that the shelters, law enforcement and the medical community are partnering with you to send a comprehensive message about the multifaceted aspects of the issue. 

Whether you start small, with a local programming sponsorship from the place you buy groceries or do your banking or go for the big bucks from a corporate or federal grant, there is money out there to help you better serve your viewers. There’s no better time to build your bank roll. 

Some examples of grants that could fit your programming needs:

LINKS:
Some examples of grants that could fit your programming needs:

Humanities

Victims Assistance Education
 

	back to NATOA Journal
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	2. I didn't know you did that: services to make your operation indispensable by Brad Clark
	3. Is anyone watching? by Robin Gee with David Korte
	4. Generating Revenue for your government access channel by Nancy Johnson
	5. Is Commercial Speech Permitted on Government Access Channels? by Neil Lehto
	6. Implementing Captioning on your government access channel by Darren Doerschel
	7. Spanish language programming for PEG channels by Ramon Torres
	8. DC's VOD by Darryl Anderson and Dan Westman
	9. Civic Media Build Social Capital: The Ethics of Government Access in the Marketplace of Ideas by Sean McLaughlin