After an exceptionally tough year for public media, Connie Ballmer, billionaire philanthropist and wife of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, donated $80 million to support NPR’s future.
“We need fact-based journalism, and we need local journalism,” Ballmer told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Saturday. Ballmer is an avid NPR listener and said she listens to shows such as Morning Edition and All Things Considered while she walks, drives, and works.
The donation comes at a critical moment for public broadcasting after the Trump administration pressured Congress to slash about $1.1 billion in already approved funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes funding for public radio and television.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
The gift makes Ballmer the largest living donor ever to NPR. An anonymous donor also gifted the organization $33 million to strengthen NPR’s network of more than 240 local member stations, many of whom were affected by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher said that together the gifts “provide catalytic support” to the network and its stations and set them up for the next 50 years, NPR reported.
“I support NPR because an informed public is the bedrock of our society, and democracy requires strong, independent journalism,” Ballmer 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.”
Her commitment to journalism spans decades. She earned a degree in journalism from the University of Oregon before entering a career in public relations and marketing in the tech sector. She currently serves on the board of the Obama Foundation and previously sat on the NPR Foundation board.
In 2015, Ballmer and her husband, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, founded the Ballmer Group, a foundation dedicated to improving economic mobility for children and families. Steve Ballmer, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, has an estimated net worth of $149 billion. The couple has donated at least $8 billion through 2025, a Ballmer spokesperson told WSJ. They also founded Rainier Climate, a nonprofit aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions, with their son Sam in 2024.
Coming back from cuts
Last May, President Donald Trump signed an executive order demanding CPB cut all federal funding to NPR and PBS because of “biased and partisan news coverage.” In July, Congress rescinded more than $1 billion in funding for public broadcasting.
Only about 1% of NPR’s budget came directly from CPB, but the average public radio station lost about 10% of its annual budget. For some local stations, especially in rural areas, more than half of their budget came from CPB.
On Jan. 5, nearly 60 years after CPB was founded by Congress, the nonprofit formally dissolved. In late March, a U.S. district judge ruled Trump’s executive order was illegal and violated the First Amendment, but that does not mean public broadcasters will get their funding back.
While Ballmer’s gift won’t replace all the lost funding, it is a major step toward strengthening NPR’s financial future. The donation is specifically dedicated to helping NPR’s digital transformation across platforms to meet the needs and serve the interests of public media audiences.
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