March CDP Index: Reactionary giving lifts donor acquisition for first time since 2023
The strong start to station fundraising reported in early 2025 by the CDP Public Media Index continued through February. The Membership Revenue Index shows a year-over-year increase of 5.6% for the three-month period ending Feb. 28 compared to the same three months in 2024. No matter how we sliced the data, median increases in membership revenue were near or above 5% for all organization types and sizes.
As reported in Current, the threats to federal funding for public media appear to be lifting audience responses during pledge, especially for organizations that are addressing the situation directly.
To dig further into the impact that funding threats may be having on giving, we drilled into the data for the nearly 50 public media organizations that participate in CDP’s fundraising and technology collaborative Member Services Bureau and focused on general online giving trends. Excluding pledge giving and Passport, we noticed remarkable increases in online giving — one of the best ways to gauge reactionary giving.
Like pledge results reported by Current, we noted significant increases in response to email solicitations that included brief federal funding messaging. These emails saw a conversion rate 4 times greater than typical e-solicitations.
Based on our findings for online growth and reporting on pledge, it is very welcome news to see the first increase in the New Donor Index since 2023. Over the three-month period, the median for all public media organizations increased modestly by 0.8% compared to the same period last year. The 12-month report is still showing a year-over-year decline in new donors, so cautious optimism is warranted.
Radio had a remarkable 39% increase in new donors compared to the same period in 2024. Eighty-three percent of all participating Radio organizations showed at least some increase in new donors during this period.
On the other hand, TV-only organizations and Joint licensees saw declines in new donors of 3.2%. TV/Joint licensees have been experiencing new donor declines since the second quarter of 2024, with Passport as the suspected primary factor. Data from the Passport Users Index reflects flat results for the last five reporting periods.
It is extremely important to monitor the rates at which new donors are making sustaining gifts. One-time gift donors acquired during a period of heavy reactionary giving are often less reliably retainable. Looking more closely at sustainer giving from new online donors for the 12-month period ending February 2025, nearly 34% of all new online Radio donors and 41% of all new online TV/Joint licensee donors made sustainer gifts — at or near peaks for both organization types.
Finally, higher level giving is also seeing an increase in these early months of 2025. The High-dollar Gifts Index, tracking gifts of $500 or more, increased by 11.6% in the three-month comparison period. TV/Joint had gains of 11.5%, and Radio saw a very healthy 13.6% increase.
This monthly report on the fundraising performance of public media stations is provided through an editorial collaboration between Current and Contributor Development Partnership (CDP). The collaboration draws from CDP’s National Reference File, which collects monthly membership and revenue data from more than 170 public media stations. (Read more about the methodology.)
Deb Ashmore joined CDP as Analytics Strategist in September 2023. With more than 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector and public media fundraising, she is passionate about working to help clients understand their fundraising data to inform strategies for long-term file health and growth. Her previous public media experience includes 10 years as director of individual giving for WXPN in Philadelphia.
