Ways to Support
Ways to Support
Federal Funding and WXPN
The threat is real: the Administration is actively working to defund public media. This is despite the fact that total federal funding of this resource accounts for less than one-hundredth of one percent of the federal budget, and millions of Americans rely on this lifeline of essential emergency information, local news, and access to free and independent music and cultural programming.
A rescission package calling to eliminate all funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) — a nonprofit authorized by Congress since 1967 to steward the government’s investment in public broadcasting, via grants to individual stations — has passed in the US House of Representatives and will move on to the US Senate, to be voted on by July 18th. These funds had already been approved for the next two years, and stations are counting on the support for their essential operations.
This package clawing back already appropriated funds is the latest in a series of actions aimed at public media. The President signed an Executive Order in May, targeting funding for NPR and PBS. The CPB responded that it is “not a federal agency subject to the President’s authority” and is authorized and funded by Congress to be wholly independent. NPR, PBS, and several affiliate stations have filed lawsuits against the administration stating that the Executive Order violates their first amendment rights.
This rescission package has the potential to deal a heavy blow to the entire public media system. While the Executive Order was targeted specifically towards NPR and PBS, this rescission package affects all stations that receive CPB funding.
What does this mean for WXPN?
WXPN receives approximately 5% of our annual budget through a CPB grant, on top of which we will be further impacted by less direct hits to our budget, such as music licensing costs, which CPB currently covers.
To put it simply: if the CPB funding disappears, WXPN would have to raise an additional million dollars per year to offset the loss of funds and services.
While this wouldn’t halt WXPN’s operations, it would hamstring our ability to provide a wide range of programs and activities to our community of artists and audiences. Our work powers the local music ecosystem and the creative economy through concerts and promotional partnerships; opens up free access to experiences, both in person and digitally, for music fans; expands and builds upon our place as a national leader in musical discovery through our hosting of the annual NONCOMMvention; and invites community to take root through regular shared events like weekly Free At Noon concerts and the XPoNential Music Festival. All this and more is at risk.
The most important thing you can do is support WXPN and the public media system in a way that is meaningful to you.
Federal support is important, but the support and advocacy of this community are crucial.
Join the Community
We are a member-supported, public media organization from the University of Pennsylvania. What does that mean? It means that even though we are part of UPenn, donations from members are our largest and most reliable source of financial support. That’s why we ask the people who rely on our public service to invest in it, to the degree that works for you. We are here for you every day, 365 days a year, which is why every day is the right day to give.