Annual Reports, Audited Financial Statements, and Form 990s
NPR operates on an October 1 - September 30 fiscal year. Documents referenced on this page are posted as soon as they become available. To open any of the documents below, please install the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.
NPR is an independent, self-supporting media organization.
It is also a membership organization of separately licensed and operated
public radio stations across the United States.
(Read more about NPR's mission and operations.)
NPR supports its operations through a combination of membership dues
and programming fees from over 860 independent radio
stations, sponsorship
from private foundations and corporations, and revenue from the sales
of transcripts, books, CDs, and merchandise. A very small percentage --
between one percent to two percent of NPR's annual budget -- comes from
competitive grants sought by NPR from federally funded organizations, such as the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting,
National Science Foundation and the
National Endowment for the Arts.
Published reports in Worth Magazine and Consumers Digest cited NPR as a leading U.S. nonprofit charity because of the organization's program spending efficiency, high level of private support, and outstanding public service.
On average, public radio stations (including NPR Member stations) receive the largest percentage of their annual operating revenue (31%) from listener support. For FY07, the most recent data available, the average station's revenues came from the following sources:
- 31% from listeners in the form of pledges, memberships, and other donations
- 20% from businesses via corporate underwriting
- 11% from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which is federally funded*
- 10% from licensee support
- 9% from foundations and major gifts
- 5% from local and state governments, and
- 14% from all other sources.
*A note on CPB funding: There are 434 stations in 47 states and territories (including Guam and Puerto Rico) that specifically serve rural and minority communities; the latter includes numerous African-American, Native American, Latino, and multicultural licensees. In many cases, they are the sole local broadcasting service available. These stations receive significantly higher funding from CPB - in some cases, as much as two-thirds of their budgets - since many of their listeners simply don't have the financial resources to provide support.
Audited Statements and IRS Filings
National Public Radio, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation, whose consolidated financial
statements include the accounts of NPR, Inc. and of the NPR Foundation, also a
not-for-profit organization. Consolidated financial statements are prepared because
NPR and the NPR Foundation are under common control; thus, the consolidated statements combine all
components of the entire NPR organization.
All financial statements include a Statement of Financial Position, Statement of Changes
in Net Assets, and Cash Flows, and should be read in conjunction with the Notes to Financial
statements, which immediately follow the statements.
Audited Statements | FY2006 | FY2007 | FY2008 |
NPR Consolidated | |||
NPR, Inc. | |||
NPR Foundation |
The IRS Form 990 is the annual federal information return filed by all charitable corporations that are exempt from income tax. The amounts in these statements are presented in accordance with IRS regulations, which in some cases are at variance with generally accepted accounting principles. Both NPR, Inc and NPR Foundation are 501c (3) organizations and are each required to file Form 990. In addition to the Forms 990, NPR and NPR Foundation are each required to file form 990T to report unrelated business income.
IRS 990 Filings | FY2005 | FY2006 | FY2007 | FY2008 |
NPR, Inc. | ||||
NPR Foundation |
IRS 990T Filings | FY2006 | FY2007 | FY2008 |
NPR, Inc. | |||
NPR Foundation |
Annual Reports and Donor Lists | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006* | 2007* | 2008* |
NPR |
* Please see the Audited Statements section on this page for the related financial information for these years.