HEY EVERYONE IT'S SPRING DRIVE SEASON ALREADY

And since we moved the Record Fair to fall I actually have time to do this. Wowzers! And since I keep knocking out my biannual $500 goal, how about we raise the stakes a bit this time around? LET'S GET TO $1K

So, I imagine you have some questions about the drive:

How does my $$$ help CHIRP?

• $10 covers one day of transmission from our studio to our transmitter site, half a day of streaming costs, or one album that isn’t sent to us by an artist or label
• $25 covers the cost of a replacement stylus for a turntable
• $50 covers one day of rent for the CHIRP studios
• $60 ($5/mo.) covers one month or CHIRP’s phone or DSL bill
• $120 ($10/mo.) covers a turntable tune-up
• $240 ($20/mo.) covers a hand-held field recorder for our features team, or one month of maintenance for our mobile app
• $365 ($1/day) covers just over a week of rent for the CHIRP studios
• $500 covers one month of rooftop rent for our broadcast antenna
• $1000 covers a year of insurance for our studios or our broadcast antenna

Okay, cool, but what do I get out of it?

I'm guessing you mean besides a sense of goodwill at furthering the cause of independent music radio in The Second City?

Yeah. Let's talk tangibles. I've got bills to pay, lady.

Fair enough. Well, any donation made to a 501(c)3 non-profit (like us) is tax-deductible --

-- But I already did my taxes. What do I get right now?

Okay, okay. So we've got some pretty cool donor gifts this time around. If you sign up to give $5/month, or a flat $60, you'll get this dope six-pack cooler:

Nice, right? 

If you can manage to double that ($10/month or $120), you'll get a t-shirt designed by Ganser's Alicia Gaines plus our very awesome CHIRP Member Card App (good for 2-1 entrees at a ton of restaurants, as well as admissions to local museums and other great stuff!)

Things get fancy at the $20/month level (that's $240 flat if you're not a math kid):

WOW AN UMBRELLA SO COOL! That's in addition to the aforementioned CHIRP Member Card.

If you can set aside $1/day ($365), you'll get all three gifts (cooler+shirt+umbrella) in addition to the Member Card. 

Wow, that's a lot. How do I make sure I get my sweet gift?

Either donate via this page, or donate via chirpradio.org/donatenow and select "Jenny West's Radio Quest" where it says "CREDIT THIS DONATION TO THIS SOCIAL FUNDRAISER". Otherwise it won't count toward my goal. And I like meeting goals.

So like... are you putting anything on offer here? Like, personally?

Not sure how to take that, but... if you donate $50, I will make you an hourlong custom playlist on your preferred platform. Add an hour for every $50. So like, if you did a $10/month thing + $30, that's the t-shirt AND a free 3-hour playlist. Pretty sweet deal, right? 

Dang, cool. So this is pretty important to you, huh?

YES. This is the organization I honestly spend something like 75% of my free time on. Sometimes even my not-free-time. I've made amazing friends and awesome music scene connections through this group, and I'm allowed to DJ and share music I love with people once a week for two hours (my show's called Music For Chameleons, it's 8-10pm Tuesdays, check it out!). None of that would happen if this organization didn't exist.

Sounds like it's pretty important for the local Chicago music scene too.

Now you're getting it. We focus on local artists and labels pretty heavily - for some bands, we're the only chance they'll have to be on the air. We also promote local concerts and fellow non-profits, so we'd like to think there's a net benefit to the community.

Well, I'm sold. How do I contribute?

Through this page, or through chirpradio.org/donatenow. 

Great, that's taken care of. Good luck with your drive!

Thanks so much! And don't forget to tune in for your on-air shoutout. You're the best!

No, you are!

Oh, stop. We'll be here all day.

CHIRP is radio as it's meant to be: live, local and independent.

We are true radio believers at CHIRP. We love the music that we share with you, and we are committed to our community -- playing local bands every single hour of the day, interviewing Chicago artists for our podcast series, showcasing local nonprofits doing important work, and generally making sure we are shining a light on our city's diverse, vibrant, creative scenes. And we're doing it all without any commercials!

Your generous support makes everything we do possible. We are a truly independent, listener-supported radio station, never beholden to corporate interests.

If you believe in this work, and if you're able, we please make a donation to CHIRP today.

IMPORTANT: If you would like to become a sustaining member by making a recurring donation (monthly or quarterly), or if you want to select a thank you gift, please visit CHIRP's main donation page to make your contribution (and to give in support of the person making this post, be sure to type their full name in the "volunteer to credit" section so they can receive credit for your gift).