HEY EVERYONE IT'S SPRING DRIVE SEASON

It’s our fifteenth anniversary year, and we’re celebrating our history while planning for our future. One of the big projects we’re working on this year is a complete rebuild of our website and mobile apps to create a more streamlined, unified experience with a single sign-on across platforms. That means if you favorite something in the app, it will be in your favorites list on the website as well! Our website is more than 12 years old, so this is a badly needed improvement.

Sustaining member donations account for 33% of our budget each month. Donors who make recurring monthly gifts -- $5, $10, $20, or whatever amount they like – help us better plan our long-term budget and generally provide a solid source of income year-round. If we could bump that up to 50% of our monthly budget, we’d be able to hire a second staff member! Consider becoming a $15 monthly sustainer to celebrate our fifteenth anniversary!

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 exclusive 15th Anniversary CHIRP cap:

Nice, right? 

If you can manage to double that ($10/month or $120), you'll get an exclusive 15th Anniversary t-shirt designed by our own Jason Moody!

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

WOW EXCLUSIVE 15TH ANNIVERSARY HOODIE SO COOL! 

If you can set aside $1/day ($365), you'll get all three gifts (tote+shirt+pajamas).

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.

Help us celebrate fifteen years of CHIRP!

It's hard to believe that it's been a decade and a half since we launched the station! Some things have changed a lot, but what's stayed the same is our commitment to bringing you live, local, commercial-free music programming lovingly curated by our DJs every single day, plus dozens of events that showcase our city's diverse music, arts and cultural scenes.

In 2025 we're celebrating our history while looking to the future, including rebuilding our website and mobile app into a sleek integrated web app that we know you'll love.

We are a truly independent, listener-supported station. Your generosity has helped us thrive over the past fifteen years, and will keep us going for decades to come.

If you believe CHIRP contributes meaningfully to the musical and cultural life of Chicago and want to make sure the station stays strong, please make a donation to show your support 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 chirpradio.org/donatenow 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).

And if you're interested in joining CHIRP's major donor program, The Vinyl Circle, with a gift of $500 or above, please use this form.