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HPR raises more than half a million dollars during its Fall Membership Campaign

Members of our news team sport our newest HPR shirt featuring artwork by local artist Kelsey Ige. The shirt was offered as a new thank-you gift during our Fall Membership Campaign. From left: The Conversation producer Lillian Tsang, digital news producer Sophia McCullough, The Conversation producer Savannah Harriman-Pote

(HONOLULU) Hawai‘i Public Radio successfully concluded its Fall Membership Campaign yesterday, with $544,237 raised from 1,116 individual contributors. First-time donors represented 28% of all contributors.

Most of the station’s operating funds come from the community, with member contributions making up 94% of the station’s revenues. The remaining 6% comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit entity that distributes federal funds to public media broadcasters nationwide.

“These membership campaigns are a way to invite our listeners across the Islands and around the globe to become an active part of our public radio business model,” said José A. Fajardo, HPR’s President and General Manager. “The success of this campaign will help us build capacity to serve our island communities with more in-depth local news coverage, curated music programs and digital offerings in the months and years to come. We thank everyone who has supported us during this campaign.”

HPR recently expanded its local newsroom with the hiring of general assignment reporter Sabrina Bodon, previously from Kaua‘i's The Garden Island newspaper; and culture and arts reporter Jayna Omaye, previously from Honolulu Star-Advertiser. HPR was also recently accepted into the western regional PRX Podcast Accelerator program, in which reporters Casey Harlow and Savannah Harriman-Pote are developing an upcoming local podcast.

HPR also recently welcomed new music hosts Olivia Waring and Leimomi Bong to its roster. Waring is the new co-host for Evening Concert on classical music station HPR-2. Bong is the new Tuesday host for the late-night contemporary music program Bridging the Gap on HPR-1.

For 11 consecutive years, HPR has received a four-star rating, the highest possible rating from Charity Navigator, the nation’s largest independent evaluator of nonprofit organizations. According to Charity Navigator, only 2% of nonprofits in the country have received this top rating for 11 years in a row. The rating system examines the financial health, accountability and transparency of nonprofits, enabling donors to make informed giving decisions. HPR’s four-star rating is an indicator of the station’s commitment as trusted stewards of member contributions.

Although the campaign has concluded, contributions are always gratefully accepted at members.hawaiipublicradio.org.

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