NPR gets $113 million in gifts, including $80 million from Connie Ballmer

National Public Radio has received two charitable gifts totaling $113 million after President Trump moved to slash funding for NPR and PBS in 2025.

Philanthropist Connie Ballmer, the wife of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, made an $80 million donation, NPR announced on Thursday. The money — the largest ever from a living donor — will help enhance the radio network’s use of digital technology and increase engagement with audiences across platforms, according to NPR.

“I support NPR because an informed public is the bedrock of our society, and democracy requires strong, independent journalism,” Ballmer, a former member of the NPR Foundation board, said in a statement. “My hope is that this commitment provides the stability and the spark NPR needs to innovate boldly and strengthen its national network.”

NPR said the second gift, totaling $33 million, came from an anonymous donor. NPR CEO Katherine Maher said the charitable donations would put the network and its stations on solid financial ground in the decades to come. 

Congress last summer cut $1.1 billion in funding for public broadcasting, leaving some 246 NPR stations and hundreds of PBS outlets scrambling to fill the hole.

A federal judge ruled earlier this month that Mr. Trump’s executive order to slash funding for NPR and PBS violated the First Amendment by seeking to punish media outlets for speech he dislikes. But the decision did not restore funding to the stations. 

“[W]hile the court recently ruled in favor of NPR and PBS against the Trump Administration’s executive order — an essential victory for journalistic independence and the First Amendment — it did not reverse the devastating reality of the congressional defunding,” Maher said in a blog post.

“The permanent loss of more than $1 billion in federal funding has created significant financial pressure across all of public media,” she added.