Partnering with Educational Institutions
The mission statements of most public radio stations contain the word "education" and with good reason. Educating the public is part of most stations' raison d'etre. It has also become an important way for a public radio station to carve a niche for itself in the competitive marketplace.
Creating important and long-standing partnerships with educational institutions (i.e., public and private schools, community colleges and universities) can help a public radio station pursue its educational mission and create greater visibility in its community. More and more stations are finding that one of the most important ways to establish these partnerships is through combined outreach and programming campaigns.
Here are a few suggestions to help stations develop strong ties with educational institutions:
1. Develop a list of educational institutions
Create a list of the key educational institutions in your market and the names of contacts for each organization. Begin making contacts with the most important organizations and keep adding to the list.
2. Develop a strategy
Talk to educational experts about the best way to approach each educational institution. For the public schools, for instance, sometimes it's better to work with an individual school district while at other times it's best to go straight to the top—to the state's department of public instruction.
3. Analyze your present relationships with educational institutions
Look carefully at existing ties and how they can be better utilized. Consider too, how many day-to-day contacts your station manager may have with an educational institution and work on ways to capitalize on those contacts.
4. Collaborate on established projects
Watch for projects initiated by educational institutions with which your station could collaborate. Perhaps, for instance, the state department of public instruction may have developed mock elections in the schools for a national election. Stations could become important partners in this project because of local and national election programs. This is a natural link that stations can capitalize upon without an inordinate amount of staff involvement.
5. Consider new collaborative projects
Think about topics your station has wanted to pursue but which always seemed too daunting. Consider university or extension departments that might join your station in these ventures.
6. Promote your station's activities in educational publications
Many colleges and universities offer access to a variety of campus publications that have circulation far beyond the campus itself, and often such publications offer free advertising. Also, many trade and educational associations offer free advertising to nonprofit organizations.
7. Educational institutions can help your station extend its local programming
There are lots of possibilities here. Sometimes, for instance, educational institutions will donate staff to write and even print a teacher's guide for your station's prime time programs or series.
8. Fundraising opportunities
Surprising as it may seem, sometimes educational institutions with strong ties to your station may be sources of funding for outreach projects. Funding may also be forthcoming from a university or a department of public instruction as a result of the appeal of partnering with the local public radio station.
9. Use your strengths
Always keep in mind that you are a broadcasting service and that your station can make important contributions to educational projects. Again, this may seem obvious, but often public radio stations forget their appeal to their communities.