RESOLUTION
PUBLIC SESSION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING
WASHINGTON, DC
Monday, December 11, 2023
unanimously
WHEREAS,
Under the provisions of the Public Broadcasting Act, CPB makes grants to eligible public television stations in a manner intended to provide for the needs and requirements of stations so that they may serve their local communities and audiences; and
WHEREAS,
The Community Service Grant (CSG) program is the primary mechanism for CPB to provide this financial support to local stations; and
WHEREAS,
CPB management has consulted with a panel of television station representatives regarding changes to CSG policy and invited and received comment directly from public television stations as part of this consultation process; and
WHEREAS,
CPB management has reviewed and endorses the panel’s recommendations that current policies be retained – including the base grant formula, methodology for reporting indirect administrative support, the minimum non-federal financial support eligibility requirement, and the second base grant policy for mergers – except as outlined below.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT
The CPB Board of Directors hereby adopts CPB management’s recommendations for the following changes to television CSG policy.
Recommendation 1
Incentive Grant
Retain the tiering of non-federal financial support (NFFS) to calculate the incentive grant portion of the CSG with a change to Tier 3, applying the incentive rate of return (IRR) [1] to 80% instead of 95% of a grantees’ NFFS:
- Tier 1: Apply the IRR to 100% of a grantee’s NFFS for each dollar up to $3 million.
- Tier 2: Apply the IRR to 92.5% of a grantee’s NFFS for each dollar over $3 million but less than $20 million.
- Tier 3: Apply the IRR to 80% of a grantee’s NFFS for each dollar of $20 million or more.
Recommendation 2
Incentive Grant
Calculate the incentive grants of grantees that report NFFS of $35 million or more by using a five-year average NFFS. Then, tier the average NFFS per CPB policy.
Discontinue the current year-over-year growth limit on NFFS and options for grantees reporting more than $35 million in NFFS to make allocations of NFFS into future years.
Recommendation 3
Universal Service Support Grant
Increase the pool for the Universal Service Support Grant program from 2% of the CPB’s federal appropriation to 2.2%.
[1] IRR is the incentive rate of return or CPB’s match to each eligible dollar of NFFS. The IRR is derived by dividing the total amount of system NFFS dollars approved for matching by the total amount of dollars in the incentive grant pool. The incentive grant pool is comprised of the balance of CSG funds available after the base grant and supplemental grants are calculated.