HPR concluded its three-day Summer Pledge Drive at 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 11, with more than $215,000 raised for the nonprofit, noncommercial radio station. More than 1,000 individual contributions were received from listeners across the state, 272 of whom were new members.
The nine-day Spring Pledge Drive, originally planned for April, was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The recent Summer campaign was an“acoustic version” of the typical drive, lasting just three days and with fewer hours of hours of on-air pitching. Social distancing measures were implemented throughout the station, including transparent barriers between hosts, cleaning protocols, and physical distancing at phone banks. In order to ensure safety for all, there were no community guests or volunteers at the station for this drive.
95% of HPR's $6.4 million operating budget is contributed by individuals, families, and businesses in the community. For eight years in a row, HPR has earned a four-star rating(the highest possible) from Charity Navigator, which evaluates nonprofits on financial health, accountability, and transparency. HPR was named one of the top 10 public radio stations in the country by the same organization in 2018.
Hawai‘i Public Radio provides two stations statewide(HPR-1, with news, talk, and entertainment, and HPR-2, your home for classical music). As an essential public service, the station has remained operational throughout the coronavirus pandemic, providing timely and reliable news updates from the islands and around the world, as well as an oasis of music when you need it.
Although the drive has concluded, contributions are still welcomed and may be made at members.hawaiipublicradio.org, as well as through the freeHPR mobile app.
