We Were Wondering - WFDD Funding Sources

Out of the responses we got to this question, no submissions were fully correct—which tells us that we need to do a better job explaining how we're funded! Only approximately one-third of respondents correctly guessed that 7% of our funding comes from the federal government; and less than a quarter correctly answered that 5% of our funding comes from Wake Forest University. The other 88% of WFDD's funding comes from community support. That's right: WFDD doesn't get any funding at all from the state or NPR. Federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) fluctuates based on several factors, including government appropriations and certain criteria on the part of stations. For the current fiscal year, we anticipate a slight increase in our CPB funding that will amount to about 8% of our overall budget.

In January's We Were Wondering question, we asked listeners if they thought NPR owned member stations like WFDD. 100% of respondents answered correctly that WFDD is independent of NPR, but this month 50% of our respondents incorrectly guessed that WFDD receives funding from NPR. The truth is that WFDD pays NPR for its programming; NPR provides no financial support to WFDD. You can read more about that relationship in January's article.

Listeners submitted their answers with notes like "I'm just guessing" and others mentioned that they were "proud to be a sustaining member." We appreciate everyone who took the time to answer this We Were Wondering question and hope that we can shed some light on how public radio is truly funded.