Virginia · Nonprofit
PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE
PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE (Virginia) receives grants from 78 organizations whose IRS filings report $795,152,824 to it, the largest being CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING ($669,860,798). 27 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $697M
- Funders on record
- 78
- Grants received
- $795M
- Net assets
- $519M
What Public Broadcasting Service does
Mission
The Public Broadcasting Service (pbs), incorporated in 1969, is a membership organization that in partnership with its member stations serves the american public with programming and services of the highest quality, using media to educate, inspire, entertain and express a diversity of perspectives.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Content and promotion - a core function under pbs's mission as a multi-platform media organization and represents costs associated with the diverse content offered to its 151-member public television licensees. Pbs's wide array of content expands the minds of children, includes documentaries that enlighten the public on new worlds, non-commercialized news programs that keep citizens informed on world events and cultures and programs that expose america to the worlds of music, theater, dance, and art. As america's largest classroom, pbs is available to all of america's children and offers educational media that helps prepare children for success in school and in life. Pbs is committed to bringing the power of media into the classroom and helping educators to engage students in new and different ways. This expense category also represents institutional and program promotion and press efforts (continues on schedule o)
$435,657,512 spentof which $2,069,209 as grants$126,539,004 earned by the program81% of program spendingDistribution and information technology - represents network, media, and satellite operation centers handling, technical evaluation, and other pre-transmission processing of all program video; program origination transmission including operational support for news and other live event coverage, and the scheduling and logging of all satellite feeds. This expense category also includes other technical research and planning, and the oversight, lease, and acquisition of satellite capacity.
$76,938,082 spent$1,009,254 earned by the program14% of program spendingMember services - represents services provided to pbs's member stations, including digital products and services, development, and copyright administration.
$16,990,438 spentof which $371,248 as grants$120,927,062 earned by the program3% of program spendingOther - represents other services provided to public broadcasting stations and producers from cable and license fee revenue received from cable and satellite providers.
$7,666,693 spentof which $5,836,076 as grants$239,912 earned by the program1% of program spendingVentures - represents activities associated with marketing and selling programs across multiple platforms, including subscription video-on-demand, digital content, producing and manufacturing physical goods such as dvd and blu-ray products and program-related products; the licensing, development, and distribution of interactive products; the licensing of video content to commercial online and mobile service providers; and online sponsorship activities.
$820,231 spent$48,569,843 earned by the program0% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $538,072,956.
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 2024 to 2025, from $655M to $753M (+15%).
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 2% · 2018 2% · 2019 4% · 2020 4% · 2021 3% · 2022 2% · 2023 4% · 2024 4% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
55% of PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (56% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Paula A Kerger
President & CEO
Board chair
Larry Irving
PBS Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 26 funders, grant income rose $44M → $78M.
15 of 78 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $100M from 5 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Pbs Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE raised.
From the IRS filings of PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 78 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
PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 84% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 64% · 2021 84% · 2022 63% · 2023 67% — 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
38% of PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 35% 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
PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Virginia, across 26 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 43 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 43 arts & culture nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.2M on record.
- NJ$5.1M
- OK$46k
- VT$1k
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 PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE
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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
77%
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 4 related entities
- Pbs Digital LLC · disregarded
- Pbs Enterprises LLC · disregarded
- Pbs Foundation · exempt
- Public Media Distribution LLC · partnership
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE: 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 PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE?
- PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE (Virginia) receives grants from 78 organizations whose IRS filings report $795,152,824 to it, the largest being CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING ($669,860,798). 27 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE have?
- IRS filings report 78 organizations giving $795,152,824 in grants to PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE, 27 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE?
- CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING is the largest funder on record, with $669,860,798 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 78 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