CPB will tap unspent funds to deliver $7.1M in last grants to stations

CPB plans to soon provide to stations $7.1 million in leftover Community Service Grant money. 

The nonprofit distributed $388.35 million in CSGs earlier this year for FY25 payments. Some money remained, however, largely because of funds reserved for grantees that were not awarded or that were returned because of Inspector General audits, a CPB news release said. 

The money would usually roll over to the next fiscal year, but CPB is winding down its operations after the rescission of $1.1 billion in federal funding.

The $7.1 million is expected to be distributed in “the coming days” and will be the final CSG payments to stations unless federal funding returns, according to the release. 

Public TV grantees will each receive $15,680, while radio grantees will receive $5,370 to $26,582, according to the release. The amount is based on CPB’s formulas that use station size, coverage and service obligations. 

The release said the payments represent “CPB’s commitment to delivering every last dollar to stations.”

“CPB is winding down its operations, but it is not abandoning its responsibility to steward the remaining federal funds and distributing them in line with its longstanding statutory mission,” the release said. “Yet the reality is that many stations will not endure—and the heaviest losses will fall on small towns, rural areas, and tribal communities, where public media has long been a lifeline.”

In one example, KIXE PBS GM Rob Keenan told Current Monday that his Redding, Calif., station “ultimately will need outside funding” to survive. Federal funding accounted for 41% of the station’s budget. 

“Local public media stations are rooted in and responsive to the information and education needs of the communities they serve. Through unique local programming and reporting, civic engagement and volunteer opportunities, their viewers and listeners become a community of neighbors,” said CPB COO Kathy Merritt in the release. “But the public media neighborhood has been hard hit because of the loss of federal funding.”