A combined nearly $37 million to provide immediate relief to public media stations at risk of closure following federal funding cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has been pledged by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Pivotal, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, the Schmidt Family Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The recent rescission of $1.1 billion in federal funding for CPB will have dire impacts on the nation’s more than 1,500 locally owned public radio and television stations. Some 115 stations — serving 43 million people — are losing more than 30% of their budgets, according to the most recent data available cited by the foundations.
This places them at risk of drastically reducing service, or even closing, after October 2025 without emergency funding. Rural, Indigenous, and underserved communities are most vulnerable to losing their local stations — and with them, access to reliable local news and educational services, according to an announcement from the foundations.
“Local public media stations are trusted community anchors that connect people to vital news, culture and civic life,” Maribel Pérez Wadsworth, president and CEO of Knight Foundation, said via a statement. “This is an urgent moment that calls for bold action. We are proud to stand with our fellow foundations and urge others to join us in securing the future of public media.”
The commitment of $36.5 million includes $26.5 million in support for the Public Media Bridge Fund, a philanthropic effort managed by Public Media Company. The fund aims to secure local public media service across the country and will provide immediate stabilization grants and low-interest loans to the most vulnerable stations, particularly those in communities where public media is the sole source of local information. It will also offer advisory services to help reimagine operations and achieve long-term financial sustainability.
To learn more about participating in the fund, please click here. In addition to supporting the fund, MacArthur is committing $10 million in direct support to public media stations, programs, and organizations.
“Millions of people rely on public media for trusted local news, educational programming, and stories that reflect their lives and experiences,” John Palfrey, president of the MacArthur Foundation, said via a statement. “Stations serving rural, small to mid-market and Native communities as well as documentary ecosystems are disproportionately impacted by the funding cuts and need intentional support. These stations are more than just broadcasters. They are critical sources of information and connection.”
Today’s announcement demonstrates the philanthropic sector’s commitment to public media as a durable pillar of civic life. This initiative creates a vital emergency revenue stream, providing the public media network with the stability and time needed to diversify funding sources and develop sustainable business models that will help secure its long-term future.
Many of the at-risk stations have already eliminated entire teams or canceled critical programming in anticipation of revenue losses. If the stations close or scale back, millions of Americans will lose access to free, reliable local news, educational content, cultural programming and emergency alerts. Critical reporting networks at the local, state and regional level will be severely disrupted.
“For more than half a century, the Ford Foundation has been proud to support public media and ensure everyone has access to free, quality news and regional programming, whether they live in rural America, the suburbs or big cities,” Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, said via a statement. We are proud to join this emergency funding effort to get additional resources to public media at this time of great need. We all must continue to support public media and develop new and innovative strategies and funding mechanisms for the long-term sustainability of this critical resource.”
The foundations also issued a nationwide call to philanthropy to join them in fortifying public media at this critical juncture. Their aim is to ensure that every community has continued access to trusted, independent, local journalism.
