March CDP Index: Growth continues but at slower pace, especially for new donors

This edition of the Public Media Index covers giving from December 2025 to February 2026 compared to the same three-month period ending February 2025. In February 2025, initial threats to federal funding for public media had just started impacting fundraising. In the March 2025 Index, we reported a modest 5% increase in revenue, with a 39% increase in new donors for Radio and modest declines continuing for Television and Joint licensees.

It’s an important reminder that the current three-month period is in comparison to a period that was just starting to feel the effects of the funding threats. Though current year-over-year changes remain strong, the rate of growth has been declining since September 2025. 

We are seeing this most significantly in the New Donor Index. Last month, the three-month change in new donors was 66%.In this most recent period, the overall growth rate dropped to 50%. This remains a very strong growth rate. TV and Joint licensees are still seeing a 60% increase in new donors, and Radio a healthy 40% increase. But we highlight the change since last month to prepare the system for the inevitable plateau and highly likely decline in new donors in the coming months.

The Membership Revenue Index growth rate declined as well, but at a much slower rate, dropping from 46% to 43%. Both TV/Joint licensees and Radio-only organizations had year-over-year revenue increases exceeding 40%, as did organizations across all sizes.

The Membership Revenue Index was more stable than the New Donor Index due to slightly more consistent performance on the High-Dollar Gifts Index. In this most recent index, growth in gifts of $500 or more is still a remarkable 60%, though down from 68% last month. TV/joint licensees are still seeing a 62% increase in higher-level gifts, and Radio is at 54%.

The Sustainer Index continues to see an increase in year-over-year growth as these donors continue making gifts and being counted each month. The number of donors making at least one sustainer gift in the most recent three-month period increased by 18% over last year. The current share of all new donors who made sustainer gifts is 45% compared to 39% last year. This bodes very well for retention in 2026.

For TV and Joint licensees, increasing donor engagement via Passport can also drive lifts in donor retention. The number of Passport Users increased by 15% in the most recent index. This, too, is a decline from last month’s 17% and the first such decline in growth rate for Passport Users in the last 12 months.

CDP has published the full State of Fundraising report for 2025 to provide deeper insight into last year’s trends with breakouts for Television, Joint Licensees and Radio to help prepare for next year’s opportunities.

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.