The public radio station that blew past its goal by 166%

WFAE, Charlotte’s primary public radio station, had the audience, the email list, and the newsletter. 

What they didn’t have was a system behind it all.

Testing was ad hoc, and campaigns stalled in cross-departmental review before reaching the inbox. 

And the results showed it — just $38,000 in digital revenue in FY25 from a station that knew it was leaving money on the table.

From guessing to testing
Through a partnership with Greater Public and News Revenue Hub, WFAE adopted a simple structure: two-week sprints with a clear approval process. 

The goal: Pick one thing to test, set a deadline, measure the result, and move on with a clear sense of what drives engagement and revenue.

The team started where email revenue actually converts — the donation experience after the click.

They tested pop-up CTAs against static page placements and found the pop-up outperformed regardless of how someone arrived at the site.

They tested donation module placement on article pages and found top-of-page significantly beat bottom-of-page. 

One pop-up alone generated $20,807!

Simplifying the approval process
The testing only worked because they also clarified ownership. 

The team mapped every project so just one person did the work, one person approved it, and everyone else was either consulted or simply informed. (The classic RACI matrix — Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed.)

Decisions that used to stall in email chains started getting made in days. MSF-USA saw a similar pattern — when approval bottlenecks cleared, revenue followed.

The results
In FY25, WFAE raised $38,000 in digital revenue — 53% over their $25,000 goal. 

In FY26 through December, they raised $133,000 against a $50,000 goal, a nearly 250% jump from the year before.

Their top-performing email during the winter 2026 campaign drove 17.4% of total email revenue for the entire drive — nearly a fifth (!!!) of the campaign from a single send.

An important caveat: The loss of federal funding for public media gave every public radio station a strong case message, and M+R’s 2026 Benchmarks reported a 32% increase in December revenue across the sector. 

WFAE’s system didn’t create that moment, but it firmly positioned them to capture it.

The team is now testing and building an automated welcome series for new newsletter subscribers, with an audience survey built in to shape future content.

How to apply this to your program
Test the experience after the click, not just the email itself. Your CTA placement, donation page layout, and pop-up timing all determine whether an email click turns into a gift.

This is really important to optimize ahead of year-end.

Give your next test a two-week deadline. Pick one variable and commit to measuring it by a fixed date. 

No test should sit in planning longer than it takes to run.

Separate approval from input. Consulting someone’s opinion and needing their sign-off are different things. 

Soliciting opinions on the direction of your year-end campaign messaging from your program staff doesn’t mean they have to be in the approval chain.

Make sure your team knows which is which before year-end ramps up.

The bottom line
WFAE’s growth didn’t come from radically different copy or a bigger list. 

It came from deciding who owns what and giving themselves a two-week clock.

Getting approval and testing processes in place now will save you a lot of headaches in December.

Check our events list for more or reply to this email to submit one for consideration.

‘Til next time!
Sara