NPR has received two of the largest gifts in the public media network's existence, totalling $113 million. They will go toward fueling innovation in NPR's use of digital technology, increasing its connection with audiences, and ensure the viability of public radio stations after Congress eliminated all federal funding for public media.
"NPR's mission is unwavering, but our means must evolve," NPR CEO and President Katherine Maher said in a statement. "This remarkable investment will enable NPR to continue to deliver the nation's finest public service journalism, meeting audiences where they are today and will be in the years to come."
The philanthropist Connie Ballmer contributed $80 million specifically toward ensuring NPR transforms its technology to meet the needs and serve the interests of public media audiences on whatever platforms or devices they may seek it.
"I support NPR because an informed public is the bedrock of our society, and democracy requires strong, independent journalism," Ballmer, a former member of the NPR Foundation board, said in a statement. "My hope is that this commitment provides the stability and the spark NPR needs to innovate boldly and strengthen its national network."
Ballmer and her husband, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, have given away more than $3 billion dollars in recent years, according to a joint interview they gave last year to the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Another donor, who has elected to remain anonymous, has given NPR $33 million to build and acquire tools and services that will be shared with public media organizations across the nation.
Last summer, under pressure from President Trump, the Republican-led Congress voted along party lines to claw back all $1.1 billion in federal funding that lawmakers and the president had already approved for public media. The move represented the shattering of a tradition of bipartisan support for public broadcasting stretching back more than a half-century.
The average public radio station lost about 10% of its annual budget; for public television stations and PBS, the figure stood closer to 15%. NPR itself lost about 1 to 2% of its annual budget with the end of federal dollars. The elimination of federal funds has forced widespread layoffs throughout the system.
Though NPR owns no stations, more than 240 public radio stations are full NPR News member stations and hundreds of others carry some of its content.
NPR moved to shore up station finances by easing the fees it charges them to carry its major news programs and to offer assistance in fund-raising, marketing, and other endeavors.
A separate – and in some ways competing – venture called Public Media Infrastructure sprang up promising related services. It includes several major players in public radio, such as New York Public Radio and the American Public Media Group, the National Federation for Community Broadcasters, and a consulting outfit called the Station Resource Group.
Disclosure: This story was written and reported by NPR Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by NPR Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editor Vickie Walton-James. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.
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