Iowa Public Radio seeks funding for the ‘foreseeable future’

IOWA CITY - The goal had been to make Iowa Public Radio financially independent by 2017, but the Board of Regents next week will be asked to approve a much different plan that keeps supporting the organization at 12.5 percent of its budget for the 'foreseeable future.”

The board of directors for IPR - which was established by the Board of Regents in 2004 to oversee public radio operations licensed to Iowa's public universities - included the funding change in its amended 2012-2016 strategic plan.

The revised plan will be discussed during the Board of Regents meeting on the UI campus next week.

The original plan, first approved in 2011, had included an annual funding schedule that decreased regent funding and increased private support with the goal of making IPR financially independent by the 2017 budget year.

However, large donor fundraising was paramount to increasing private support, and documents made public Tuesday indicate IPR has not made progress 'in the development of new revenue streams.”

Changes in the IPR strategic plan are aimed at helping it 'develop the organizational structure and fundraising capacity required to achieve the increase in private support necessary for long-term sustainability,” according to regents documents released Tuesday.

Public Radio officials are asking the Board of Regents for help 'creating an IPR that will serve the universities and listeners long-term.”

In addition to retaining university support at 12.5 percent of its budget, IPR's revised strategic plan includes changes aimed at building a board of directors that can help it meet fundraising goals and developing a capital plan that ensures towers, transmitters and facilities are well-maintained.

The Board of Regents first agreed to abandon IPR's original strategic plan in April by approving a boost in funding for the current budget year instead of a decrease.

IPR received $944,800 from the regent universities in the 2013 budget year, $826,700 in the 2014 budget year, and it was slated to get $708,600 in the current budget year. But the board agreed to revert to the 2013 funding level for the 2015 budget year to allow new IPR leadership to 'launch a large donor effort and to update the strategic plan.”

IPR, at that time, credited its inability to meet fundraising goals to a change in leadership last year.

The IPR board in February 2013 voted to fire Mary Grace Herrington, who had been the system's chief executive officer since 2009. Board members discussed some of the reasons behind her firing in subsequent media reports, including workplace environment issues and Herrington's management style.

Herrington later reached a $197,000 settlement with IPR for 'emotional distress and other compensatory damages” based on the board's public discussion of the personnel matter.

Myrna Johnson was named IPR's new executive director in January - following a monthslong search. Johnson's hiring is listed among IPR's recent accomplishments in a progress report provided to the Board of Regents.

IPR also reports growing its audience from fall 2012 to fall 2013 by 23 percent in central Iowa and 14 percent statewide and increasing its membership and corporate underwriting income by 37 percent since 2011.

But, according to the report, 'one critical area where IPR has not made progress outlined in the strategic plan is in the development of new revenue streams.”