At the Doorstep of Change
How Canvassing is Reconnecting Public Media with its Communities
There’s a quiet revolution happening on porches, stoops, and driveways across the country — and it’s reshaping how public media connects with its communities.
As concerns around federal funding for public media intensify, door-to-door canvassing has reemerged not just as a powerful fundraising tool, but as a vehicle for human connection, public education, and civic engagement.
And the results speak volumes.
On average, stations that ran canvassing programs in both 2024 and 2025 — the number of new donors acquired through canvassing has increased by an astonishing 127% year-over-year (January 1 through today.)
And it’s not just large canvassing programs seeing this kind of growth: CDP’s Hunter Sears reports that canvassing programs across the system are experiencing similar record-breaking increases including smaller, seasonal programs.
This surge is not just about dollars; it’s about moments — thousands of face-to-face conversations where neighbors meet the mission of public media through the eyes and voices of trained and passionate canvassers.
Why It Matters More Than Ever
As digital channels become more saturated and on-air pledge yields soften, canvassing delivers something those channels can’t: authentic in-person human interactions. It puts a face to the mission. A voice to the values. A story to the statistics. It makes public media tangible in a way no email, banner ad or on-air spot can. At a time when trust is fragile and attention is fleeting, showing up in person matters more than ever.
These aren’t just donor interactions. They’re doorstep dialogues about journalism, education, culture, community and the future of local public media. In the context of the current federal funding threat, these conversations carry even more weight. Canvassers aren’t just asking for support; they’re helping audiences understand what’s at stake, what’s being done, and how they can be part of the solution.
Canvassing Delivers Immediate Results — And Long-Term Value
Beyond its storytelling power, canvassing is delivering real, sustainable revenue:
For the stations we’ve tracked, the annual value of new canvass-acquired donors increased from $106 in 2024 to $111 in 2025.
Across all canvassing programs, the 36-month value of sustainers acquired via canvassing is $340, that’s nearly $100 more than sustainers acquired though other channels.
Even more critically, the share of new donors opting into sustainer giving rose to 43% in 2025, up from 39% in 2024.
That last metric is essential. Not only do highly retainable canvassing Sustainers help reduce the volatility in donor acquisition caused by the ebb and flow of high-profile Passport premieres and declining on-air results, they provide the predictability public media needs to plan and serve with confidence.
It's Time to Rethink How We Fund Canvassing
One of the most common hurdles to launching a canvassing program is cost. It’s time to shift the mindset from seeing canvassing as a pure fundraising expense to recognizing its role as equal parts outreach, marketing, and public service.
Canvassing builds brand visibility, educates new audiences, puts a human representative at the homes of the neighbors you serve, delivering critical, hyper-local local messaging around public media’s mission and funding challenges. That means things like marketing budgets and community engagement dollars can justifiably be part of the investment mix.
Creative cross-departmental funding strategies—including partnerships between membership, underwriting, marketing, and public affairs teams—can ensure canvassing efforts are properly resourced without overburdening any one line item.
This Is More Than Fundraising — It’s Movement Building
Every knock on a door is an act of outreach. Every conversation is an opportunity to educate. Every sign-up is a signal that the mission of public media still resonates, deeply and personally.
Canvassing isn’t just about raising money — it’s about increasing awareness, building trust, and reinforcing relevance in a fragmented media world. It’s grassroots public media, literally.
As we look ahead, stations that embrace canvassing not just as a tactic but as a philosophy—grounded in transparency, curiosity, and community — will be better equipped to weather uncertainty and grow stronger relationships with the public they serve.
Because in the end, the future of public media may just be found on a front porch.