Seattle’s KEXP receives $10 million anonymous donation
Nonprofit radio station and arts organization KEXP has received its largest-ever philanthropic gift, in the form of a bequest from a generous donor. The gift, totaling just under $10 million, is among the largest bequests to a single public radio station. It will be used to implement a range of music and media education programs, accelerate KEXP’s digital content strategy, and allow for more room for experimentation with radio and online music programming. The bequest has also inspired the creation of a new planned giving initiative at KEXP, The Reverb Society.
The donor directing the bequest had requested to remain anonymous in her giving during her lifetime, and KEXP will continue to honor that request, identifying her only by her first name, Suzanne.
“Suzanne’s love of music, her support for artists, her sense of philanthropy and service to the community, and the joy she found in exploration and discovery will live on in the programs and services that are made possible through this amazing and generous gift,” said KEXP Chief Content Officer Kevin Cole.
Kevin Cole will celebrate Suzanne’s life, generosity, and love of music with a special set of programming dedicated to her memory on The Afternoon Show, airing on 4/16 at 3PM Pacific at 90.3 FM in Seattle and online at KEXP.ORG.
The bulk of the funds received by KEXP through this bequest will be placed in a long-term reserve and board-directed strategic initiatives endowment, intended to provide seed money for emerging priorities. Initial investments include education programs aimed at inspiring younger audiences to engage their curiosity around music, services and programming for emerging artists, media creation experiences for aspiring DJs and music journalists, and outreach activities aimed at deepening KEXP’s connections to local communities. Additional investments will be made in accelerating KEXP’s digital content strategy, and in improvements to radio programming. The organization will share more about those plans in the coming months.
“The efforts we’re launching as a result of Suzanne’s generosity will impact thousands of lives,” said Tom Mara, Executive Director of KEXP. “We’ll be working more with schools and youth-focused nonprofits and providing more opportunity for hands-on experience with music and media skills for artists and young people. It’s our fundamental belief at KEXP that music makes our lives better. And this gift means we’ll be getting more music into more people’s lives than ever before.”
Suzanne was the rare and wonderful person that any of us would feel lucky to have in our lives,” said Betsy Troutman, KEXP’s Director of Development. “Suzanne was a lover of music who understood her blessings, and a generous supporter of everything she found beautiful in life. I’ll never forget what she told me about her decision to make a significant gift to the KEXP New Home campaign – ‘I’m not sure the wattage can bring the sound up to Heaven so we may as well do what we can to enjoy the music today!’”
Inspired by this bequest, as well as several others from generous KEXP donors, the organization has created a new giving club for donors interested in considering support for KEXP in their estate plans. The Reverb Society, as the planned giving club will be called, will allow KEXP donors to leave a legacy powering KEXP for many years into the future.
“KEXP’s commitment to our donors is to responsibly invest their generous contributions into our work and to carefully manage the organization for long term financial sustainability,” said KEXP Board Development Committee Co-Chair Scott Redman. “We have historically set aside a portion of our annual fund into a reserve or rainy-day fund. Suzanne’s amazing gift has ensured that our reserves are now sufficient, which means that the generous gifts from all of our other 18,000 annual donors will be invested directly into our mission.”
LISTEN: 90.3 FM in Seattle, Online at KEXP.ORG