In 1969, Fred Rogers, better known as Mr. Rogers from “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” testified before the Senate in the hopes of preventing Congress from cutting funding for the newly founded PBS from $20 million to $10 million. U.S. public broadcasting as we now know it was then in its earliest years and received a significant leg up from philanthropy, specifically through the Carnegie Corporation. Other advocates helped too: After Rogers’ speech to Congress, funding for PBS increased from $9 million to $22 million.
Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in attacks against public media and universal access to knowledge, which PBS provides free of charge for children and adults across the U.S. Earlier this month, these efforts resulted in the House approving President Donald Trump’s proposal to cut $9 billion for public broadcasting and foreign aid. The cuts include canceling $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) that had previously been approved. This was the amount it was supposed to receive in the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is responsible for distributing funding for local public stations across the U.S., including for PBS and NPR stations. According to CPB, 70% of its funding goes to “more than 1,500 locally owned public radio and television stations.” Other public sources of funding for PBS, including the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, have also been cut.
According to the PBS Foundation, which is responsible for raising and providing funding to PBS, only about 15% of the public television system’s revenue comes from federal funding. That comes out to about $1.40 per taxpayer a year. Instead, most PBS funding comes from foundations, corporations and individuals who can choose to provide funding either to their local PBS stations or to the PBS Foundation to support PBS as a whole.
This structure means that while all PBS local stations will feel the impact of the federal cuts, some stations will be hit harder, particularly those located in rural areas. According to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 245 of its total 544 radio and TV grantees are considered rural. Rural stations depend significantly more on public funding than urban stations, with grants from the CPB representing 17% of an average rural station’s revenue and only 9% of revenue for nonrural stations. Almost half of all rural grantees rely on CPB for at least a quarter of their revenue, with some relying on this funding for half of their revenue.
Critically, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting also noted that rural stations have a more difficult time raising money from individual donors than stations in urban areas. Given the limited broadcast stations and the lack of high-speed internet in many parts of rural America, public media plays a critical role in providing important information to rural areas, especially during emergencies.
Although donations to local PBS stations have jumped in recent weeks, with 120,000 new donors contributing an estimated $20 million, according to the New York Times, this surge isn’t enough to make up for the federal funding that has been lost. Already, stations are making cuts, with some even finding themselves at risk of closure.
From news coverage, bringing theater and music into people’s homes, and documentaries about American history to beloved children’s programming like “Sesame Street,” “Arthur” and “Reading Rainbow,” PBS has and continues to play a vital role in people’s lives. And while it would be impossible to name all of its backers, here is a look at some of the broadcaster’s national funders. Of course, that doesn’t include the funding provided by, as PBS famously notes, “viewers like you.”
Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
Public media is one of the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations’ major focus areas through its Public Educational Media giving, which spans support for broadcast television and film, local journalism and podcasts. Through its broadcast television and film area, Arthur Vining Davis supports programming for children and science and American-history-focused programming for adults.
The foundation has funded a number of public media companies that produce programming broadcast on PBS, including the GBH Educational Foundation, American Experience, WNET, and Fred Rogers Productions. Arthur Vining Davis’ grants have supported the development of children’s programming, including “Alma’s Way,” “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” “Cyberchase,” “Nature Cat,” “Donkey Hodie,” as well as older shows like “Arthur” and “Reading Rainbow.”
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a research and education funder focusing on the fields of science, technology, engineering, math and economics. Through its Public Understanding program, the Sloan Foundation seeks to build bridges between the cultures of science and the humanities to develop a common language between the two. It does so by funding television, radio, books, theater, film and new media to commission, develop, produce and distribute works that bring science and technology to mainstream audiences.
For years, the Sloan Foundation has supported the PBS Foundation, along with the GBH Educational Foundation — which produces many PBS signature programs, including “Frontline,” “Masterpiece,” “Antiques Roadshow,” “NOVA” and “American Experience.” Sloan also backs Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association and Public Media Lab, among others, to produce and develop documentaries about medicine, science and public health.
Acton Family Giving
Acton Family Giving is a grantmaker established by Brian and Tegan Acton of WhatsApp fame. It is part of Wildcard Giving, a family of three sister organizations founded by the Actons, including Sunlight Giving and Solidarity Giving. Through Acton Family Giving, the Actons have supported empathy-building through stories, animal connections and what the grantmaker calls “Good Fight” grants, which are one-time, responsive grants to elevate bold narratives that spotlight social injustices and systemic problems. Acton Family Giving has also supported a number of efforts around increasing access to knowledge, including support for the Internet Archive and Wikipedia.
A few examples of its support for PBS includes funding for children’s programming, including “Wild Kratts,” “Carl the Collector,” “Alma’s Way,” “Donkey Hodie,” as well as documentary programming, such as “America ReFramed” and “POV.”
Rosalind P. Walter Foundation
The inspiration behind Rosie the Riveter, Rosalind P. Walter focused much of her philanthropy on public television, with “PBS NewsHour” describing her as “one of the most generous and devoted supporters of PBS programming.” She served as a trustee at WNET — which produces PBS series like “Nature,” “Great Performances,” “American Masters,” “Amanpour and Company” and the children’s series “Cyberchase” — for more than 30 years and was the station’s “most generous individual supporter in its history.” She also helped back Ken Burns’ documentaries.
Walter passed away in 2020 at the age of 95. The Rosalind P. Walter Foundation has continued its support for PBS and WNET.
Ford Foundation
As one of the biggest and most influential philanthropies in the U.S. and around the world, the Ford Foundation has provided PBS with millions of dollars in grants over the years. In addition to its support for PBS NewsHour, Ford has awarded grants to the PBS Foundation, the Smiley Group, Firelight Films, WNET, Haas Media, The History Makers, WQED Multimedia and OZY Media for the development of programming related to American history, documentaries and “Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.” Most of the programming Ford has supported is geared toward discussion of race and inequity in the U.S.
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Another one of the biggest legacy funders in the U.S. is the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Its mission fits in well with PBS offerings: to support children, families and communities with the goal of helping vulnerable children both achieve success individually while also becoming contributors to their communities and society.
An example of its public broadcasting grantmaking is a $1.5 million grant to the PBS Foundation in 2015 to advance the educational mission of PBS Kids through the development of new digital tools and resources. Kellogg has also provided funding for children’s programming, including shows like “Alma’s Way” and “Molly of Denali,” and has supported the PBS documentary “Too Important to Fail.”
—
Other PBS Foundation donors include the Anne Ray Foundation, Kern Family Foundation, Hoveida Family Foundation, Leighty Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation and PNC Foundation, among others. Funders for local stations can be found on the individual stations’ websites.
Related Inside Philanthropy Resources:
For Subscribers Only
