Posted on 07/25/2025 8:30:05 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
It's striking how similar NPR's situation is to that of Planned Parenthood. Both organizations have an affiliate model and both just had a lot of federal money cut from their budgets. That means both are now hoping to find new sources of funding to keep the doors open. The NY Times reports there has been an increase in donations to PBS and NPR but so far the amount isn't nearly enough to offset the cuts.
Over the last three months, as the prospect of the cuts intensified, roughly 120,000 new donors have contributed an estimated $20 million in annual value, said Michal Heiplik, the president and chief executive of the Contributor Development Partnership, a firm that analyzes public media fund-raising data. Overall, donations committed to public media for the year are about $70 million higher than last year.
The numbers are encouraging, Mr. Heiplik said, but far from enough to make up for the federal cuts. Scores of stations in the United States could struggle to continue operating without grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a taxpayer-funded company that has long distributed federal money to PBS and NPR member stations.
Because donations are local and regional, the new contributions coming in aren't coming in uniformly. Some stations are seeing big donations that really could keep them going, at least for now.
Amanda Mountain, the president and chief executive of Rocky Mountain Public Media, a PBS and NPR member network in Colorado, said she received 6,620 donations from Friday to Sunday, including 1,000 from new contributors. One donor gave a $500,000 gift.
At WUNC, an NPR member station in North Carolina, a donation drive raised more than $1 million. WMNF, an NPR member station in Tampa, Fla., raised more than $280,250. The funding haul was unusually high for both stations.
Tampa's WMNF radio leaned in to the political angle of the cuts and saw a windfall that should keep them going.
At Tampa’s WMNF, General Manager Randi Zimmerman organized a one-day “Save Our Signal” fundraiser that brought in $280,000 — more than enough to replace their $130,000 CPB loss and another $100,000 recently pulled from state funding in Florida.
The station's pitch was for supporters to "Join the resistance!" Not very subtle, even if they avoided mentioning Trump by name.
The problem with this is that future donations from people wanting to join the resistance aren't as reliable as government funding. The station may have enough to keep going this year but will it be the same next year or the year after? What about after Trump is out of office? That seems pretty uncertain.
“This may or may not be sustainable,” Zimmerman said, noting that “only a small percentage of listeners pay for public media, right? Like four to six percent.” She is holding off on new hiring until the path forward is clearer.
The broader question facing public media is whether private philanthropy can replace public funding — and whether it should.
Evan Smith, a senior adviser with the investment company Emerson Collective and a founder of the Texas Tribune, says public funding at large regional stations can probably be replaced with private philanthropy.
“It’s a hole, no question … but the hole can be filled in,” Smith said. “In the grand scheme of things it will be tough but they can probably make it up.” Smith said federal funding typically accounts for between 6 percent and 10 percent at public TV or radio stations in larger regional markets.
Some of the stations in larger markets (Tampa has 400,000 people) probably can keep going but the smaller markets with fewer people (and fewer big checks) are probably doomed. Margaret McConnell, head of WDIY in Pennsylvania, described the current situation this way, "“It feels like the ship sank and here’s your life raft and we hope it stays afloat while you’re navigating the ocean.”
Some of those rafts are definitely going under, which just means they'll stop paying money to NPR or PBS for programming and instead will find other, cheaper (maybe even less progressive) sources of news. The bottom line is that NPR's footprint will shrink to the blue cities that have a market for left-leaning news instead of blanketing the whole country with it.
And we care because???
My wife likes Masterpiece Theatre.
“If they die, they die.” - Ivan Drago
Yes plus all the fundraising they do on tv and letters.
RE: And we care because???
BOTTOM LINE: If you don’t care, Let them die. If you care, donate and keep them alive. But NO TAX MONEY FOR THEM.
New York transplants in Florida coughing up Greenbacks for the cause.
They obviously CAN. The question is, WILL they.
Not me, not even for a DVD and TWO tote bags.
It’s called earning your keep by your own efforts.
Sort of like us when we get up in the morning, fight traffic and go to work every day. New to them.
And if they don’t produce a valuable product they don’t stay on the air and get more money.
Of course they CAN, but WILL they?
Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.
No. Amanpour won’t give up her limo and personal chef, News Hour won’t fire the reporters who do 4 or 5 stories per year, NPR won’t want to get its stories from real reporters instead of paying the lefty “news groups” they’ve got now, etc.
More important, will they?
Unfortunately, tax cuts and a stronger economy result in more disposable income for undeserving donors and organizations that oppose rational economic policies.
More money for indulge limousine liberals and AWFLs to assuage their white privilege.
I think NPR and PBS are funded about 20% from Federal Funds. They will survive and continue to give us great programs and at the same time total political bull sh-t. If they had not done the political side they would still be funded. I enjoy their programs on history, science and art. I abhor their programs on science that are simply propaganda about many subjects. They lie.
I am a scientist.
If they could let-go of the top 40 employees (making the big salaries), and cut 10-to-20 percent of the FM stations...I think they could make it. Oh, they’d have to insert advertisements to cover some cost. But yeah....they could survive.
“The station’s pitch was for supporters to “Join the resistance!” Not very subtle, even if they avoided mentioning Trump by name.”
So now what we get is all the hysteria of MSNBC but presented by earnest, grey haired, 60 year old, shag haircut lesbians.
Dear Mr. Big bird,
Why don’t you gather up ALL monies in ALL areas, and put it in a collective to break it down into smaller amounts to distribute to ALL affiliates? That is your communist model for the rest of us. Why won’t it work for you?
Premature question.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has not been abolished by Congress yet. So what private donors do temporarily is of little effect. When the CPB is formally, legislatively abolished and won't come back, then the question will be timely.
Can private donors fund a human manned trip to Neptune? I don't know. CAN they? I mean I don't think we're there yet.
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