Michigan · Nonprofit
DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA
DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA (Michigan) receives grants from 123 organizations whose IRS filings report $40,806,650 to it, the largest being CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING ($20,899,055). 86 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $26M
- Funders on record
- 123
- Grants received
- $41M
- Net assets
- $31M
What Detroit Public Media does
Mission
Educate, engage, entertain, and inspire through the power of public media.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Broadcast: Detroit Public Media operates wtvs detroit pbs, which continues to operate as the only community licensed, independent, non-profit television station in metropolitan detroit, broadcasting on five digital channels: 56.1, 56.2 (detroit pbs kids), 56.3 (create), 56.4 (world), and 56.5 (michigan learning channel). Detroit Public Media also manages 90.9 wrcj fm, detroit's only public radio station dedicated to classical and jazz.viewership and public trust for detroit public television:detroit pbs is the only public television station in the detroit market and michigan's most-watched public station, regularly viewed by some nearly 2 million people in southeast michigan and canada.public television has been named the most trusted institution in america for 22 years in a row (source: marketing & research resources, january 2025). 90.9 wrcj fm is listened to by more than 150,000 listeners in southeast michigan each week and is streamed worldwide on wrcjfm.org.
$6,222,381 spent$294,509 earned by the program39% of program spendingProduction & content creation:the production team continues to produce content in spaces across metro detroit including the detroit school of arts and lawerence tech university, as well as taking the detroit pbs hd production truck on the road to capture important conferences, events, and concerts. Below are productions by category.arts and culture: detroit performs: live is a television series with a digital presence. The series has been recorded at the marygrove conservancy theater and features detroiters performing live on stage with a different arts and cultural partner curating each episode. This format assures a diverse lineup of musicians, artists, storytellers, actors and other performance artists, all presenting original material. Sphinx finals concert: detroit pbs partnered with the sphinx organization to livestream and broadcast the 28th annual sphinx finals competition concert. The sphinx competition offers young black and latinx classical string players a chance to compete under the guidance of an international renowned panel of judges and to perform with established professional musicians in a competition setting. Live streaming and broadcast services: detroit pbs…
$6,891,808 spent$1,275,977 earned by the program43% of program spendingEngagement and outreach detroit pbs and 90.9 wrcj are committed to creating positive outcomes in southeast michigan. We provide on-air and online resources, special events, and social media dialogue with a goal of fostering knowledge, collaboration and action. In addition to the productions above, examples of successful community engagement activities this year included: aapi story series: detroit pbs is commited to lifting up and celebrating the lives, impacts, voices, and contributions of asian american and pacific islanders in the region and throughout the country. Detroit pbs has highlighted experiences, perspectives, and rich cultural benefits to the region from the aapi community through regular coverage and stories. The aapi advisory group, formed in 2022 continue to meet regularly to advise on opportunities and stay informed with perspecitvies from the region. Education community events: detroit pbs kids brings resources directly into communities, reaching families who are hard to reach. In fy25 the education team attended and hosted 112 in-person events, reaching over 7,000 participants through these programs which include pbs kids in the neighborhood, partner and…
$3,001,145 spent19% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $16,115,334.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $26M to $31M (+19%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 11% · 2018 14% · 2019 11% · 2020 16% · 2021 30% · 2022 18% · 2023 13% · 2024 33% · 2025 21%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
81% of DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Ritschard Homberg
CEO & general manager
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 37 funders to 59 funders, grant income rose $3.3M → $5.5M.
19 of 123 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 123 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 51% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
68% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 63% · 2018 68% · 2019 60% · 2020 44% · 2021 54% · 2022 47% · 2023 42% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
46% of DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA draws 64% of its grant income from funders outside Michigan, across 19 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 570 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $977k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$882k
- National Endowment for the Arts$95k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Vision Communications Inc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA?
- DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA (Michigan) receives grants from 123 organizations whose IRS filings report $40,806,650 to it, the largest being CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING ($20,899,055). 86 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA have?
- IRS filings report 123 organizations giving $40,806,650 in grants to DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA, 86 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA?
- CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING is the largest funder on record, with $20,899,055 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DETROIT PUBLIC MEDIA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 123 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing