In this WYSO Weekend excerpt, Jackie Winfree, our membership director, discusses her role in overseeing the station's membership drives.
She also talks about her efforts to make the donation process easier for listeners and to promote the station's membership message across various online platforms. Winfree shares her own history as a listener and volunteer at the station before becoming a staff member, and offers a glimpse of her music and entertainment choices.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Winfree: I've been here for just over nine years, which is wild and crazy to think about, especially when I think about how much has changed since I first started here. How much more there is to do.
Kenney: You started as an intern, correct?
Winfree: I know I'm not the only one who has this origin story where, I started volunteering here, and then I started volunteering to do other stuff where you come and then you just never leave. It started like that. I started as a regular volunteer helping send out thank you mail and then I started helping with some specific tasks in our database and updating mail and stuff like that. And then I took Community Voices, and then in 2015, I got the job here.
Kenney: Now you're overseeing that whole [volunteer] program and a whole lot more. Well, thanks for stepping in to talk to us and maybe tell us a little bit about what is involved as membership director.
Winfree: Gosh, what isn't involved at this point? So a big part of my job is thinking about planning and executing the big fundraising campaigns that we do throughout the year. So listeners out there will be familiar with the membership drives that we do every few months. We have one coming up in less than two months.
Kenney: It's hard to believe.
Winfree: Early March is our next one. So there's a lot of prep and planning that goes into each one of those. I start two or three months ahead of time thinking about what sort of messaging we want to use, thinking about, do we want to offer a special thank you gift? Because a lot of times we have to order those weeks ahead of time, thinking about, ooh, are we going to offer some cool prize or incentive for someone to donate during a drive?' We have to start planning for that months ahead of time. So I'm already deep into the work for our spring drive.
And then I'm also thinking about constantly: what are the ways that people are finding us online? How can we get our membership message there so people realize that the stuff they love from WYSO that they're seeing online on Instagram or stories they might share on Facebook with their relatives and friends, they can support all that when they become a member.
So we're always trying to get the membership message out to where the people are beyond just when they hear us ask for the donations. And then I'm also trying to think of how can we make that decision to donate the easiest decision that someone will make that day. So you'll notice that our donation forms will change because we're trying to make them even easier to use and make them more accessible. I'm always investigating and testing out things like that all the time.
Kenney: So and I'm sorry if you mentioned this, but you're also coordinating the volunteers that come in for the drives to help us get through the week?
Winfree: I used to do that. That used to be part of my job. Thankfully, I have someone to help with all that. So now that's their job, okay. But I still know a lot of the volunteers because a lot of you kind folks out there, the volunteer, we know you like to come back again and again. So eventually we get to learn people's faces. So it's nice to see the same folks come back every year or two. But yeah, I don't have to do that alone anymore. We have a membership associate now.
Kenney: Well, that's great. So a little bit off your plate but more gets added on every year. In fact, you are a big numbers cruncher once the drive is underway and looking at the final results.
Winfree: There's a fair amount of analysis that is happening throughout the year. I'm always cognizant of what our revenue goal is for each year, what we have to do each campaign to make sure that we're on track. Myself and our director of development are constantly monitoring those numbers to make sure that will be able to meet our goals every June. We're halfway through the year now and we're a little more than halfway toward our goal, which is really great. I'm also looking at other metrics like how many total members do we have? Right now that number is around 5,500 members. So I'm happy to see that number is starting to tick up and hopefully it will tic up even more after our spring membership drive. Although, honestly, just to put in a plug right now, you do not have to wait for a membership drive to give. You can give any time of the year.
Kenney: That's great. So let me just jump back real quick. So before you started volunteering for WYSO, you were a listener.
Winfree: Yeah, I started in college. I feel like I shouldn't say this, but I didn't start listening to community radio with WYSO. I started with a station up in college in Minnesota called The Current and then I came back home after college, and I was trying to find a station that had a similar music mix. And that's how I found WYSO was I was trying to find a music mix that I liked. And then I also found the news on my work commute. In my 20s I found it and I stayed.
Kenney: Well, let's talk about that preferred music mix that you like. What are you into?
Winfree: So many things. A lot of the stuff that I find I'm into now are things that I find courtesy of Evan's show, Midday Music. And I am also a big listener of our new music station, Novaphonic. So I'm usually listening to that on my way to and from work. So I enjoy stuff like Band of Horses. That's always a favorite one for me. I enjoy getting back into the stuff that I enjoyed in college, like James Morrison from the UK. Yeah, and I'm also I love the incorporation of local hip hop and R&B artists that Evan and Juliet have been putting into the Midday Music. That's been so great to hear over the last couple of years.
Kenney: Yeah. So I know we've bonded over the years over a couple of Netflix shows. Anything on your visual playlist that that you're into now and care to pass along?
Winfree: My gosh. You could probably cut this out, Jerry, and I won't judge you for it. But I started watching on Netflix, it's a series called American Primeval, and it's like a dramatized, historic look at when the LDS was settling out and what is now called Utah. It's extremely gritty and I kind of love it. I'm also into some more goofy stuff like What We Do in the Shadows. Love that. Actually, my preferred method, when I get home at the end of the day and I'm ready to disconnect, is listening to three-hour YouTube video essays about any number of topics.
Kenney: Well, I appreciate you letting me put you on the spot with those questions. Jackie Winfree is someone who works very hard behind the scenes. You'll hear her occasionally during the fun drives, helping us to gain your financial support for the station. But you're a very hardworking individual, and it is very much appreciated by members and staff alike.
Winfree: Thanks.
Kenney: So we appreciate the hard work and thanks so much for talking to us this weekend.
