We’re approaching the end of our fiscal year with a budget deficit and we need your help to reach our goal by September 30. As of this morning, we’re $185,900 short. More than ever we need the help of our loyal viewers – YOU – to join us. Each and every gift, no matter the amount, from every person who is able to will help tremendously right now.

We hope you’ll consider joining our Countdown Campaign this month. Maybe you’ll decide to renew your support today – make an additional gift for the year – or tell a friend to become a brand new member!

Whatever you do, we appreciate your generosity and support of KLRU-TV, Austin PBS – YOUR public television station.

Look at what you’ve done!
Thanks to support from our community, KLRU has been able to do so much in 2011-2012:

• Threw a downtown block party for our whole city to celebrate 50 years of public television in Austin (Cookie Monster was there, too!)
• Brought Community Cinema back to Windsor Public Library for another great season of independent film – Free every month for anyone to attend.
• Showcased phenomenal women in our community who are changing lives through the national online project Women and Girls Lead (we’ll highlight more women in 2012-2013 so stay tuned!)
• Challenged hundreds of school-aged kids to read this summer with the KLRU Summer Learning Challenge
  
• Brought you new episodes of Downton Abbey, Frontline, Moyers & Company, NOVA, Nature, Antiques Roadshow, Market Warriors, Arts in Context, Central Texas Gardener, Overheard with Evan Smith, Austin City Limits, and many more!

We are now just $30,000 short of what we need to raise this month and now is the time for you to join this final push towards our $240,000 goal. If you made a gift yesterday, THANK YOU! If you haven’t made a donation during this August drive, or if you think you could give a little more, please do so right now.

We can get to that goal with YOUR help. Your support – and the support of your neighbors, friends, and family – is what makes everything we do possible. Together we can continue to make a difference in Austin – please take a minute and make your gift today. Thank you!

The December pledge drive is here and as we approach the end of the year, KLRU needs to raise $240,000 to continue the kind of quality programming and community engagement that Central Texas has come to expect for almost 50 years!

Whether you can donate $1 or $100, your support matters – we have so many ways to thank you for your donation and are excited to present some truly special programs over the next few weeks for your enjoyment!

• Through out the pledge drive, we are going to be giving away t-shirts to folks who comment on our #whyKLRU blog, Facebook and Twitter posts. Everyday, we’ll give away a prize package that includes 5 t-shirts featuring KLRU Q, Central Texas Gardner, Austin City Limits, PBS Newshour, and KLRU-TV – all you have to do is share a comment, a story, a question and you’ll be entered to win! We’ll pick winners everyday, so comment often!

All these could be yours, just let us know #whyKLRU!

• Tonight is the PBS Arts Festival premier of Andrea Bocelli: One Night in Central Park - a beautiful concert made even more special by the exclusive offer for KLRU viewers to see Andrea Bocelli in concert when he comes to Austin in February. Tune in tonight at 8pm (or catch the repeat, Sunday evening at 6pm) to find out how you can receive tickets to the show!

• On Sunday evening at 8:30pm, we are going to be live in the KLRU studios with the first episode of Downton Abbey! Whether you’ve seen it before or have been dying to see what everyone’s been talking about, you won’t want to miss this evening. We’ll have special thank you gifts, with the opportunity to see an advanced screening of Downton Abbey Season 2 which starts in January 2012.

Don’t Resist! Watch the preview of Downton Abbey, Season 2

The Inspiration Fund is a mechanism to sustain comprehensive services at our station: local productions, outreach and education activities including Ready To Learn, Community Screenings, Community Cinema, Spark at The Moody Theater:  KLRU’s Engaging Speaker Series, and more.  Each of these elements frames KLRU as a trusted window to the world with universal access to educational and creative content in and beyond Austin.

Austin City Limits has presented audiences with the most diverse, original, cutting-edge talent that music has to offer for more than three decades. ACL airs nationally on 97% of the country’s PBS stations.  In addition, select episodes are available to view online.

The Foundation’s investment in our mission will help bring pioneering programs, authentic engagement and meaningful acquisitions to the citizens of Central Texas.  On behalf of all who will benefit, thank you!

KLRU is committed to providing the best programming and services to its Central Texas viewers and members, and we need your help. You are invited to participate in our annual viewer/member survey.

The survey should only take you a maximum of 15 minutes to complete. Your insights will help us guide the strategic direction of KLRU over the next several years. Please note that all information collected for this survey is for internal use only and will not be shared or sold to anyone.

At the end of the survey, you will be asked to join the new KLRU Creative Council. As a member of the Creative Council, you will have the opportunity to provide ongoing input regarding programming, community outreach as well as overall ideas and direction for KLRU. Your participation is completely up to you – and you can opt out at any time.

You can also join the KLRU Creative Council without taking the survey by visiting this page.

Thanks for your participation. We really appreciate your time!

As a KLRU Green Member, you join a caring group of viewers who provide us with dependable financial support on a continuing monthly basis. On special for only $5/month, the KLRU Green Membership is convenient, easy on your budget, and helps provide considerable savings to the station. Being a KLRU Green Member means never receiving paper mailings from us and never having to renew your membership – it’s the easiest way to show your commitment to KLRU in your life and your community.

• Enjoy the convenience of automatic payment of your Green Member gifts. Convenient and secure automatic withdrawals from your credit card of checking account save you time and money since you never have to write another check or find a stamp.

• Enjoy the satisfaction of knowing your support is helping to reduce KLRU’s administrative costs – which makes your contribution a full investment in the unique and outstanding television programs, educational workshops, community engagement projects and public events you expect from KLRU.

• You’re in control. You can change or stop your payments at any time. Just give us the word.

• You’re in the know. As a Green Member, you’ll receive only the most important e-communication from KLRU, keeping you informed about upcoming programs and events with the KLRU Green Member eNewsletter.

• Your membership is always active. You’ll never have to look back and see when you last gave to KLRU – and you’ll never have to renew or receive any renewal notices by email or mail.

• Spreading your support out over the year makes generosity easier on your budget and gives KLRU the security of a steady, reliable stream of income.

Please consider all the advantages of becoming a KLRU Green Member – the convenience to you, the savings to us and, most of all, the expression of your enduring commitment to all that public broadcasting stands for – and join during this end-of-summer special for only $5/month.

As a KLRU GREEN MEMBER, you not only support your local PBS station, but as a thank you gift you will receive a KLRU branded GO LOCAL card, valid until August 2012, good for discounts and deals at over 600 businesses in Central Texas.

We acquire meaningful content through a variety of sources, including PBS and the local creative community.  In addition, we offer pioneer productions on a wide variety of interests including education, the arts, our local community and public affairs.  Finally, we provide authentic engagement opportunities around community, cultural and educational topics.

KLRU brings viewers informative and impartial news reporting through PBS NewsHour, Frontline, American Experience, Washington Week and Overheard with Evan Smith.

KLRU is Austin’s largest stage.  We ensure the worlds of music, theater, dance and art are freely accessible on-air and online to all Central Texans – many of whom might never have the opportunity to experience them otherwise.

KLRU is also Austin’s largest classroom.  We offer a full slate of trusted and educational content for viewers of all ages.

Finally, KLRU encourages viewers to embrace their inner explorers through NOVA, Nature, American Masters, Central Texas Gardener and The Daytripper with Chet Garner.  PBS won 9 Peabody awards for programs such as these in 2010.

A teacher journeys with her students to the edge of the universe.  A child experiences ballet for the first time.  Austin music is shared with the world.  A parent learns to read to his child and discovers the joy of reading for himself.  And artist discovers their creative outlet.  A community comes together to discuss challenging issues.

We feel grateful to serve Central Texans in so many ways, and thank The Winkler Family Foundation for their continued support of our mission!

KLRU has reached the end of our August pledge drive and we are just $495 short our goal of $240,000. If you are among the thousands who have responded over the last 17 days, THANK YOU!

If you have not given yet, you have a unique opportunity to give the gift that puts KLRU over it’s goal. Give that gift right now!

During this drive we offered tickets to a number of one-of-a-kind KLRU experiences. As you think about how you would like to be thanked for your support, please consider joining us for one (or more) of these incredible events:

2 tickets to the Austin City Limits taping with Arcade Fire on September 17th

2 tickets to KLRU Antiques Appraisal Fair (bring 3 treasures with you) on January 21st

2 tickets to spend the day on the set of Central Texas Gardener on October 6th

2 tickets to our BBQ bus tour – KLRU-Daytripper Meat-Up on October 1st

We hope you will make a donation, and perhaps join us for one of our events. Also, please consider inspiring others by sharing your reason for supporting KLRU at our Facebook page, or on Twitter – using the hashtag #whyKLRU.

Thank you for watching and supporting KLRU!

If you’ve already given a gift or shared why you love KLRU this August, thank you for your support! In just one week, you have helped raised $90,000 towards our goal of $240,000! We’re not done yet – tonight and Saturday we’ll be live in the KLRU studios with really exciting programs and thank you gifts!

Tonight is our regular Friday public affairs line up starting at 6pm with PBS Newshour, Washington Week at 7pm and Need to Know at 7:30pm. If you call in to support any of our public affairs programs you’ll be entered in a drawing to win season tickets to our engaging speaker series, Spark at the Moody.

Following public affairs at 8:30pm is American Masters: Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides, an incredible portrait of the life, career, and creative journey of a very talented actor, artist and musician. Jeff Bridges just taped his Austin City Limits performance this week (airing in November), and we’ll be giving away his signed, limited edition posters and also tickets to the Big Lebowski quote-a-long at the Alamo Drafthouse this month – you’ll have to watch to win, so don’t forget to tune in!

PBS Preview: American Masters: Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides

The highlight of Saturday afternoon is 90 minutes of Central Texas Gardener starting at 4pm. We’ll be live in the studio with all the CTG folks who are eager to hear from the garden-lovers out there. We have a great fall preview show lined up (read more about it at the CTG blog!), a special gift package to give away from Eastside Cafe, Go Local Austin businesses answering the phones,  and  an exclusive behind-the-scenes experience for fans to see an actual taping of a CTG episode! It’ll be CTG-super-sized and not to be missed!

Central Texas Gardener Saturday Special Promo

Stick around KLRU into the evening for the next live pledge event: Austin City Limits, Season 37 Preview. See next season’s performances and backstage interviews before anyone else does! And if you’re a fan of Arcade Fire, you will have an opportunity to receive tickets to their ACL taping in September – tickets will go fast, so don’t miss your chance! Give now and watch the preview tomorrow for more ACL goodies!

Austin City Limits Special: Season 37 Preview