There are plenty of stories out there about how donations to various organizations from food banks to social service organizations are down because of the economy. This is a time when radio especially SportsRadio shines. You don't have to have a promotion budget to get involved. In fact you can even create a revenue opportunity. ESPN 1420 in Honolulu has done just that teaming with a local auto dealer to collect  new and 'gently used' sporting equipment for the Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii. They call it Sporting Goods for Neighborhoods! Listeners that drop off equipment can get discount coupons for various retailers plus they can enter to win a trip for two to Las Vegas. (I always wondered where people in Hawaii go on vacations!)

There are plenty of ideas that lend themselves to various promotions - everything from frozen turkey bowling which lets listeners bowl (bowling balls not frozen turkeys) against the personalities with a chance to donate turkeys to a food bank to giving away cash and matching the donation to the winner's favorite charity - the listener wins $100 and the station donates $100 to their favorite charity.

The two critical factors about this are that your station can actually make a difference in your community which is what radio is supposed to do and second it develops a stronger bond with your P1s. To them it is their station getting involved and helping out the community during a difficult time. That goes a long way!! So what are you planning to do?