NPR seeks staff buyouts despite receiving $113 million in donations last month

NPR announced it is offering buyouts to staffers just weeks after it received over $100 million in charitable gifts.

According to a report from NPR’s media correspondent David Folkenflik, NPR CEO Katherine Maher wrote in a memo that the outlet “has to fill a gap of $8 million in its $300-million annual budget” after President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers cut federal funding last year and that NPR is expected to “earn $15 million less in station fees this year and is anticipating a drop in corporate sponsorship revenue.”

“The network is offering buyouts to approximately 300 employees, mostly within newsgathering desks in the newsroom. Staff of NPR’s news programs, including hosts, are not eligible,” Folkenflik wrote.

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NPR reportedly is seeking up to 30 staffers to accept the buyout by May 26, and that layoffs could take place if not enough staffers take a buyout. The outlet has 425 newsroom employees, according to NPR editor-in-chief Thomas Evans.

“We have to change this organization,” Evans said in a statement. “We have to think about this audience. We have to think about how they are consuming us. We have to think about the member stations. We have to keep what I consider to be the last truly independent newsroom in the country healthy and alive and vibrant.”

“We have made every effort to preserve the core capacity and strengths of what makes NPR different and distinct,” Maher wrote in the memo. “This is never an easy choice to make, to have to cut anywhere near the newsroom.”

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Last month, NPR received a whopping $113 million in charitable gifts from two megadonors. One came from liberal philanthropist Connie Ballmer, who gave $80 million, while the rest came from an anonymous donor. 

However, that money was specifically dedicated to “technological innovation.”

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

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NPR did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Over the past year, NPR and PBS have faced uncharted territory after the GOP-controlled Congress voted to cut funding from the two public media organizations, something Republicans campaigned on for decades.

In recent years, NPR and PBS have been in the crosshairs of Trump and GOP lawmakers over allegations of political bias, which NPR and PBS leadership have vehemently denied.