Aileen Alfandary

KPFA’s fund drive beats its goal by $45K, budget has surplus

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KPFA’s Summer Mini-Fund Drive was the first in recent memory to finish on time, and on goal. Ahead of goal, actually: by the time the pledge room closed at 7 PM last Thursday, KPFA had exceeded its $285,000 goal by a whopping $45,000 — bringing in a total of $330,000. More donations continue to trickle in online. A hearty congratulations to all, and a big THANK YOU to everyone who pledged!

What accounts for the turnaround? For one thing, good news. On day two of the fund drive, word got out via this SaveKPFA newsletter and elsewhere that the Pacifica National Board had declined to renew the contract of Pacifica Executive Director Arlene Engelhardt, the executive who killed KPFA’s Morning Show.

This was also the first full fund drive with UpFront — the new 7 AM news collaboration that returned former Morning Show co-host Brian Edwards-Tiekert to a morning timeslot. Just 10 weeks old, the program, co-hosted by Edwards-Tiekert and KPFK’s Sonali Kolhatkar, delivered KPFA’s top pledge totals, bringing in nearly $50,000 over the course of the mini fund drive.

Donate to KPFA now, so you can vote this fall. If you didn’t give during the drive, you can still show support for KPFA’s new direction by donating online at www.kpfa.org. In order to vote in this fall’s general election for representatives to KPFA’s Local Station Board, you must have given at least $25 in the year ending August 30, 2012.

Send a strong message to Pacifica by voting YES on the recall

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Pacifica treasurer Tracy Rosenberg claims that she “saved” KPFA from bankruptcy, but as KPFA News co-director Aileen Alfandary writes in an open letter released today, “a close examination of that claim shows it doesn’t hold water.”

Alfandary continues: “Virtually the entire reduction in staffing in 2010 was from union members who took voluntary layoffs. When the dust settled, and Pacifica was forced to rehire Brian Edwards-Tiekert, the only involuntary layoff that occurred in 2010 was that of the other Morning Show co-host who had been paid for a grand total of 27 hours a week. It’s absurd to claim that this small salary saved KPFA from bankruptcy. It’s quite the contrary. The reduction in fundraising from purging the Morning Show cost us dearly and drove listeners away from KPFA.” | READ ALFANDARY’S ENTIRE LETTER HERE