Ways to Support

Ways to Support
Federal Funding and WXPN
The Federal Government has voted to defund public media. This is despite the fact that total federal funding of this resource accounted for less than one-hundredth of one percent of the federal budget, and millions of Americans have long relied on this lifeline of essential emergency information, local news, and access to free and independent music and cultural programming.
A rescission package eliminating 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 been passed. These funds had already been approved for the next two years, and stations had been counting on the support for their essential operations.
This action, while primarily intended to harm NPR and PBS, deals a heavy blow to the entire public media system. Music stations like WXPN were never the target. Nonetheless, we are collateral damage.
What does this mean for WXPN? WXPN previously received approximately 5% of our annual budget through a CPB grant, on top of which we are further impacted by additional hits to our budget, such as music licensing costs, which CPB previously covered.
WXPN will now have to raise an additional million dollars per year to offset the loss of funds and services.
While this won’t halt WXPN’s operations, it will limit 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.
Now we have to take a hard look at our remaining resources and determine what can continue as usual and what will need to be reconsidered in this new funding climate. The most important thing you can do is support WXPN and the public media system in a way that is meaningful to you. To all our members and donors: THANK YOU for having our backs. Together, we will forge a new path. Federal support we will learn to live without. But it is YOUR support that breathes life into WXPN. Onward.
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.