September CDP Index: Federal defunding continues to drive massive giving spikes

The final vote to rescind federal funding for public media spurred giving in July and August to record-breaking heights for all types and sizes of public media organizations.

The Membership Revenue Index showed a 68.6% increase for the three-month period ending Aug. 30 compared to the same three months in 2024, with a lift of 68% for TV/Joint licensees and Radio seeing 73.2% more revenue during this period. Comparing a full year of data ending Aug. 30 to a full year ending Aug. 30, 2024, revenues increased 20.6% at the median for the system.

We’ve run out of ways to express our amazement at what has been happening with the New Donor Index this year. Over the most recent three-month report period, the median increase for all public media organizations increased again, exceeding 200%! The number of new donors to Radio in the months of June, July and August of 2025 was more than six times greater than the same three months last year. TV/Joint new donor counts are seeing a 171.7% increase.

Of the 178 organizations that submitted data this month, all but two had growth in new donors in the three-month index. All but nine organizations had flat or growing new donor counts in the last 12 months — a remarkable turnaround from just six months ago, when well more than half of public media organizations were experiencing 12-month new donor declines.

The strong performance in new donor growth since early 2025 lifted results for the entire 12-month period by 47.2%. Radio had a greater 12-month increase, at almost 82%; TV/Joint licensees achieved a very strong 40% gain over the 12-month period.

A just-published CDP study found that while the numbers of new donors increased across all generations, there was a marked shift in the share of new donors younger than 60. Millennials (ages 30–44 in 2025) increased from just 12% of all new donors in prior years to 23% in 2025.

Though they may not be in the financial position to support at the same dollar level as older generations, the enormous number of Millennials in our population justifies research and investment to attract and retain these donors.

Not to be outdone by new donors, the High-Dollar Gifts Index, tracking gifts of $500 or more, has achieved similar levels of growth in this most recent reporting period. The three-month index shows an increase in larger gifts of nearly 196%, and the 12-month index shows growth at nearly 47%.

For the three-month period ending Aug. 30, TV/Joint licensees had gains of 192%, and Radio saw growth of 244% in gifts of $500 or more. High-dollar growth approached or exceeded 200% across organizations of all sizes. 

As was the case last month, performance across all key fundraising metrics in the Public Media Index was relatively similar for all breakouts by organization size, and the same is true for the Passport Users Index. The median increase in the number of donors using Passport was 11.2% for the three-month period, the biggest increase in more than a year. The CDP study of new donors also found that new donors younger than 45 engaged in Passport viewing at greater rates, suggesting this younger generation is a potential driver for Passport usage growth this quarter.

Looking ahead, new donor acquisition, particularly via digital channels, continues to be very strong among CDP’s fundraising co-op group of Member Service Bureau organizations, with huge spikes in giving noticeable during high tune-in events and ongoing federal funding impacts in September. Maximizing these high-traffic and highly motivational events with strong, clear calls to action will ensure you are maximizing this moment before potential donors’ focus turns elsewhere.

Public media fundraisers, while encouraged by this enormous show of public support, remain pragmatic in their forecast for 2026.  Even at these extraordinary levels, individual giving cannot replace the lost federal funding. And the lost federal funding will cease to be the rallying call that it is today. There is much work to be done and more hard decisions ahead, but already we’re seeing the kind of innovation, flexibility and vision needed to meet these challenges and not just survive but thrive.

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.