eTown is a non-profit organization with a mission to educate, entertain and inspire a diverse audience through music and conversation to create a socially responsible and environmentally sustainable world. The organization was founded in 1991.etown.org
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E Town is a non-profit multimedia production company with a mission to educate, entertain and inspire a diverse audience, through music and conversation, to create a socially responsible and environmentally
sustainable world.
Since 1991, eTown has delivered a weekly, internationally syndicated radio broadcast/podcast featuring the world’s best musicians along with champions of sustainability. One of the most widely syndicated shows in the country, eTown is carried by 300 stations worldwide and has produced nearly 1000 shows to date.
Since the very first show, eTown has attracted the most renowned names in the music industry and field of sustainability. eTown artfully pairs musicians like James Taylor, Buddy Guy, Sarah McLachlan, Lyle Lovett, Ben Harper and Willie Nelson with the brightest minds in sustainability, from energy specialist, Amory Lovins, and environmental entrepreneur, Paul Hawken, to animal activist, Jane Goodall, and climate scientist, Bill McKibben.
eTown
JIMI HENDRIX“If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.”
JAMES TAYLOR“eTown is a beautiful and rare thing on the radio and in this land. I’m so glad it exists, and I’m happy to be on the show again.”
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eTown
ETOWN HALLeTown has recently renovated and moved into eTown Hall, a state-of-the-art, solar-powered theater, community arts center, and one of the greenest production facilities in the world. eTown Hall is home to the eTown radio broadcast and an extensive archive of sustainably-minded digital media. eTown Hall also includes a world-class recording studio, concert hall, editing suites, offices, and community spaces. From live performances and music education to environmental programming and social justice events—eTown Hall has become a community hub of consciousness, environmental stewardship, social responsibility and the performing arts.
MIKE GORDONPHISH
“eTown Hall strikes me as a mini musical mecca.”
NATALIE MERCHANT“What I’ve always admired about the show is its focus on activism, and the eChievement award that recognizes people who are trying to make this a more sane and endurable world. eTown gives a voice to the people who are fighting the good fight.” OPPORTUNITIES
Now equipped with full production capabilities, eTown is poised and ready to significantly develop its programming and impact by modernizing to meet the demands of the digital age. We have unlimited capabilities, enormous amounts of substantive content, a proven track record and an unshakeable intention to better the world. For the first time in our history, we can utilize digital media to transcend geographic, socio-economic and political boundaries, broadcasting interactive, engaging and inspiring content to the world.
Evolving to meet the age of digital media requires organizational expansion. Although we have maintained our audience, some sponsors and listeners are moving to digital programming. As sponsors focus more on online advertising, we are losing one the major revenue streams for our operations. eTown is determined to evolve and develop new digital content in order to recapture sponsor interest, expand our audience and increase our impact.
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Sustaining eTown
F or the past 24 years, Nick and Helen Forster, eTown’s visionary founders, have been writing, editing and mixing shows, attracting artists and speakers, raising funds, securing sponsors, managing staff, hosting programming, playing in
eTown’s house band, and running eTown Hall. While this is an amazing feat, it is not sustainable. eTown must hire new staff to transition from a founder-led organization into a self-sustaining, fully staffed and funded institution.
eTown is already a world-class multimedia production company that serves a growing community. With the success of this capacity building campaign, we will expand that community, secure eTown’s future and reach beyond the current limitations of terrestrial radio.
Capacity Building Campaign
E Town is seeking strategic partnerships and funding that can help expand our capacity. We intend to raise $560,000 in order to hire four new positions at eTown, and create an eTown television pilot.
This Capacity Building Plan will not only help fund eTown’s expansion, but it will set the organization on the path to sustainability by developing new products and revenue streams. These four new staff positions will help generate revenue to support those ongoing salaries in the future. New staffing and resources will improve our digital media presence, allow for succession planning and ensure eTown’s longevity and impact indefinitely.
Our Plan
HIRE ADDITIONAL STAFF
• Producer• Chief Operating Officer • Development Director• Marketing Director
EXPAND DIGITAL MEDIA PRESENCE
• Produce short form videos for social media channels
• Improve sponsor’ digital media exposure
• Employ existing video content to produce a documentary, television series and video clips geared toward a younger audience
• Improve viewer engagement via digital media channels to better track viewership and impact analytics
• Make an eTown TV Pilot for PBS
EXPAND AUDIENCE
• Upgrade our strategic marketing and social media efforts
• Escalate our value to radio stations via video content offerings
• Partner with high profile artists and iconic speakers to promote video content on their social media channels
• Improve viewership via digital media content, search optimization and interactive engagement
AUGMENT EQUIPMENT
• Add technological devices to expand our capacity to produce short form videos, documentaries and television programming
MELISSA HOLLAND LISTENER
“eTown feeds our desire for community and connection, along with great music to uplift and bring us together.”
“eTown’s unique storytelling approach, wrapped in its live music and warm conversation, positions eTown to be a leader in thoughtful learning.”
WYNN MARTENSUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER
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NICK FORSTERis no stranger to the world of music. He began his career as a professional musician more than 30 years ago. He is a founding member of the world-renowned bluegrass band, Hot Rize. He is also an accomplished record producer, session musician and touring sideman. Nick is the leader of the highly respected eTown house band, the eTones. As eTown’s host, Nick nimbly walks the line between musician and radio journalist/host, playing guitar, mandolin or lap steel with world-class musical guests then switching gears to engage those artists in conversation live on stage.
HELEN FORSTERhas extensive experience both on stage and behind the scenes. After studying theater in Minneapolis, she moved to Telluride, Colorado in her early 20’s, where she became a principal actor for several years with two professional theater companies. Since 1991, as a cofounder of eTown, she has served as executive producer, overseeing production details of each live taping, producing the show’s popular eChievement Award segment and contributing as a writer/editor. In addition, Helen performs on the program, both as co-host and as vocalist in the eTones.
The Founders
eTown
CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE“It just feels good. Their whole approach and message about the environment. It’s all the stuff I believe in, and we work together effortlessly.”
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eTown
Some of eTown’s Artists
Aaron Neville QuintetArlo GuthrieAvett BrothersBand of HorsesBlind Boys of AlabamaBuckwheat ZydecoBuddy GuyChris IsaakCyndi LauperDavid CrosbyDoc WatsonDr. JohnEarl ScruggsEmmylou HarrisGordon LightfootGrace Potter &The Nocturnals
Graham NashHot TunaIndigo GirlsJakob DylanJames TaylorJoan ArmatradingJoan BaezJohn CaleJorma KaukonenJudy CollinsKat EdmonsonKeb’ Mo’
Ladysmith Black MambazoLake Street DiveLeon RussellLoretta LynnLyle LovettMavis StaplesMeshell NdegeocelloMobyMumford and SonsMy Morning JacketNatalie MerchantOdettaPeter, Paul & MaryRalph StanleyRandy NewmanRichie HavensRosanne CashShakey GravesShovels & RopeSpoonSteve MartinStrand of OaksSweet Honey in the RockTaj MahalT-Bone BurnettThe Dixie HummingbirdsThe Hold SteadyThe LumineersWillie Nelson
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eTown
The eChievement Award
Every week, eTown presents the eChievement Award to citizen activists who are helping to make their communities a better place. These outstanding individuals, nominated by our listeners, have created successful solutions to environmental and social challenges in their communities.
Whether it’s feeding the hungry, addressing environmental/social justice issues, mentoring at-risk teens, or providing natural disaster relief, these everyday heroes share their own uplifting stories, inspiring our listeners to explore ways that they, too, can effect positive change.
eTown acts as an amplifier of these compelling stories, raising awareness and boosting their impact and fundraising efforts.
Interview Guests
Dr. Jane GoodallAl GoreAmory LovinsPaul HawkenBill McKibbenDenis Hayes, co-Founder of Earth DayPresident Jimmy CarterDaryl HannahRobert Kennedy Jr.Academy Award Winner Louis PsihoyosRalph Nader
In addition, eTown features compelling conversations about sustainability, with some of the world’s most iconic individuals, including :
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Dave Grohl
Nicole Atkins
Dr. Kristen AveryAssociate Director,Cooperative Institute for Researchin Environmental SciencesUniversity of Colorado Boulder
Foo Fighter, Dave Grohl, is the musician of the hour these days. When he visits eTown’s solar powered studios and learns more from our interview guest, he’ll go back to CA and convert his own home studio to solar.
ARTISTS EXPERTS INTERVIEW TOPICS
Jack White
Shovels and Rope
Beth ConreyPresident,Colorado State Beekeepers Associationand the Western Apicultural Society
Jack White, formerly of The White Stripes, has established himself on his farm in Nashville where he records. Who better to be concerned about the fate of bees than a Tennessee farmer?
Beck
St. Vincent
Pardis SabetiAssociate Professor,Center for Systems BiologyHarvard University
Who doesn’t like science? Lots of people don’t, but they’re not among our musical guests as we welcome a celebrated evolutionary biologist.
Hozier
Angel Olsen
George MarshallCo-founder,Climate Outreach and Information Network
Perception management and other obstacles to perceiving long range, large scale challenges, can be broken down through the arts.
The Avett Brothers
Shakey Graves
Nicolette HahnLivestock rancher, attorney, and author of Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms
The Avett Brothers hail from North Carolina, and Nicolette Hahn Niman got her start busting factory pork farms in North Carolina for their waste water and inhumane practices.
Keb Mo
Madisen Wardand the Mama Bear
Wes JacksonFounder, Land InstitutePioneering agricultural innovator
Madisen Ward (who really does play and sing with his mother) and Wes Jackson are both from Kansas City. Musically, they mine the deep heritage of their hometown while Wes goes against the grain and suggest an entirely new (and old) way of large-scale agricultural practices.
While there is no shortage of access to facts and figures about the health of the planet or the environment, that information tends to interest only those who already self-identify as environmentally concerned. In other words, there is very little real exchange of ideas across a broad cross section of the population. What eTown does so well—by using music as common ground—is to stimulate dialogue with people who may NOT agree about issues like climate science or the need for responsible energy consumption. They come together for the music and wind up being exposed, gently, to good, solid information about how we can take better care of our communities and our planet.
In the chart below, you will find proposed examples of eTown’s 2016 shows in which the artist and interview guests have been chosen specifically to enable us to maintain a thematic thread through each program. By engaging the artists about issues that they care about, their fans and followers are more likely to pay attention to the issues raised during the broadcast. We reinforce this information by including credible experts in the field to make sure that all of the information is accurate, balanced and compelling.
Father John Misty
Jenny Lewis
Katharine HayhoeAssociate Professor of Political Science andDirector of the Climate Science CenterTexas Tech University
Father John Misty grew up in an evangelical household, a faith-based family that he eventually rejected. We’ll explore ways in which the evangelical movement intentionally subverts science and tries to equate climate science with time of conception.
Alabama Shakes
Charlie Musslewhite
Shaun McGrathRegional Administrator, EPA;Deputy Director,White House Intergovernmental Affairs Office
Blues Legend Charlie Musselwhite is politically active, and vocally progressive. Former mayor and current Region 8 EPA Director knows about civic engagement and stewardship.
Potential Show Pairings
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Capacity Building Campaign and Budget
NEW STAFF
Chief Operating Officer
Director of Development
Producer
Station Relations
Marketing Manager
15% Benefits
TOTAL
$100,000
$75,000
$70,000
$45,000
$35,000
$50,050
$375,000
12 months
7 months
12 months
12 months
7 months
CONSULTANTS
Fundraising and Revenue
Marketing andCommunity DevelopmentPublic Relations
TOTAL
$40,000
$25,000
$15,000
$80,000
5 months
4 months
3 months
PRODUCTION COSTS
New Program Costs—Pilot
Materials Development
Travel
TOTAL
$75,000
$20,000
$10,000
$105,000
TOTAL NEW FUNDS REQUIRED FOR YEAR ONE $560,000
“The more I travel around and do radio shows, the more I realize how special eTown is, and I can’t say that enough.”Ben Harper
WEB www.etown.org EMAIL [email protected] LOCATION 1535 Spruce Street, Boulder, CO 80302
Five-year Revenue Forecast
SOURCE
Board
Major Gifts
Corporations
Foundations
Individual Gifts
Earned Revenue
TOTAL REVENUE
$37,750
$869,250
$216,667
$362,037
$70,054
$832,409
$2,386,167
FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018
$90,000
$800,000
$302,000
$600,000
$80,000
$1,075,000
$2,947,000
$100,000
$700,000
$460,000
$750,000
$95,000
$1,100,000
$3,085,000
$100,000
$700,000
$460,000
$750,000
$110,000
$1,100,00
$3,200,000
$150,000
$700,000
$550,000
$750,000
$200,000
$1,250,000
$3,600,000