CDP report: Individual giving to public media held firm in 2024 despite economic pressures

A new report from Contributor Development Partnership shows that individual support for stations held steady in 2024, thanks in part to a strong fourth quarter. The report draws on CDP’s pool of station data to highlight public media’s financial position as it entered 2025. The full report can be read here. This introduction is republished here with the permission of the authors.

In 2024, facing declining on-air audiences and high inflation, individual giving to public media organizations remained mostly constant. This is a testament to the relationships that organizations have established and cultivated with their communities of supporters.

A strong fourth quarter for new donor acquisition for radio, and systemwide sustainers and higher-level donors that maintained or increased their support, drove the following results.

• Overall revenue from individual donors increased by more than 3% for the system in 2024 with growth for TV, joint and radio
• Revenue from higher-level donors ($1,000+) increased by a median 8% for the system with growth across all organization types — a key factor for overall revenue growth
• Despite steep new donor declines, year-over-year total donor counts for the system declined by less than 2%
• Donor counts are holding up due to large shares of loyal sustainers — reaching 55% by the close of 2024 — and some turnaround for new radio donor acquisition in the final quarter
• The median share of new donors making sustainer gifts neared 40%, which should further strengthen file stability if the current stellar 13th-month retention rate remains at 74%

These results compare favorably to trends reported by the Foundation for Philanthropy in the Fundraising Effectiveness Project for Q3 2024, which highlighted a 5.3% decline in donors and a less than 1% increase in revenue across the nonprofit sector (Fundraising Effectiveness Project, 2024).

Overshadowing these successes and ongoing challenges for public media is the current threat to government funding right at a time when public media is most crucial. While federal funding is a small but important piece of most organizational budgets, it supports the interconnectedness that enables public media to operate. And the organizations that would be hardest hit serve areas that need it most — our rural areas with few, if any, other local journalists and content creators.

Fortunately, public media possesses several assets to address the situation.

Collaboration. We are a system of independent public media organizations that work closely together to solve problems. We share our ideas and lend our strengths without reservation to each other for a combined powerhouse of strong thinkers.

Experience. We’ve been here before, friends, and while funding cuts may feel more imminent than in the past, we have learned from those instances how to communicate with our audience, draw support from our local communities and talk to our representatives.

Extended “Family.” A number of organizations are dedicated to the mission of public media and ensuring its solvency, and we are working together to provide materials and support for you.

Community. The most important and biggest asset we have is our local communities. Our public media organizations are local institutions creating bonds with our neighbors through local engagement, local events and local content.

We’ll leave you with this message from a public media supporter: “[Public media] is all the more vital in this time of despair and isolation from fellow citizens. Thank you so very much for your dedication and courage.”