The donation was announced on Thursday by Connie Snyder, the wife of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and a former NPR board member who co-founded the Ballmer Group. According to Forbes, Steve Ballmer has a net worth of $153 billion and owns the Los Angeles Clippers NBA team, which he purchased in 2014 for $2 billion. 1 billion in federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which later voted to dissolve.
NPR receives only about one percent of its budget from federal funding, but many of its member stations rely heavily on such support. NPR chief executive Katherine Maher called the donation a remarkable investment but warned that private donations cannot replace the loss of federal support. In an official statement, Maher said that while these investments are extraordinary, they do not replace federal funding, noting that the permanent loss of more than $1 billion in federal funding has created significant financial pressure across all of public media and that no single benefactor can or should carry this responsibility alone.
Steve Ballmer added in an official statement that he supports NPR because an informed public is the bedrock of society and democracy requires strong, independent journalism, expressing hope that this commitment provides the stability and spark NPR needs to innovate boldly and strengthen its national network. The identity of the anonymous donor and the specific allocation plan for the $113 million remain unknown, as does the exact financial impact of the federal funding loss on NPR's member stations.