Donations Up for Public Media

It turns out that people love their public media. I certainly don't go anywhere without about 25 NPR podcasts on my iPod. And I basically grew up on Maryland Public Television, one of the broadcasters that the Washington Post recently reported have seen surprisingly steady donations in this down economy.

A public radio station in Washington, D.C., for example, WAMU-FM, has bested its past performance in each of its last three quarterly fund drives. The station has raised 50 percent more than it had at the same time in the last fiscal year, and its stable of contributors has increased 53 percent. In another example, Colorado Public Radio's fundraising efforts are also thriving; the station's donation revenues increased 15 percent in the fiscal year that closed in June.

Private donors have stepped into a widening breach as government and corporate support of these broadcasters is eroding. To stay afloat, public stations cobble together donations from individual donations, funding from state and federal tax coffers, grants from foundations and corporate sponsorships. With state budgets in the red and corporate dollars drying up, individuals are saving the day.

The response has been so strong, in fact, that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which allocates federal tax dollars to public stations, received only two applications for emergency financial aid this summer. Both of them were from stations that were already in financial trouble before the recession hit.

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