PBS

Legal name: Public Broadcasting Service

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
520899215
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Arlington, VA, USA
Phone
7037395000
Rating
90
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Television

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$696,585,777
Expenses
$584,483,243
Assets
$752,838,793
Liabilities
$233,609,017

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

44 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Paula A Kerger (President & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Paula A Kerger (President & CEO): $1,602,897 total reported compensation
  • Jonathan Barzilay (Chief Operating Officer): $866,097 total reported compensation
  • Ira Rubenstein (Chief Digital & Marketing Officer): $737,464 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

PBS is a membership organization (incorporated in 1969) 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. PBS Foundation is the national fundraising arm for PBS and supports PBS as a whole. Your gift helps keep the PBS system strong and provides revenue that makes outsized impact possible. Donate to the PBS Foundation or let us know how we can help you reach your philanthropic goals. Donate to the PBS Foundation. Donate to the PBS Foundation Landon Meets His Hero.

What it reported doing in 2024

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)

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some related-organization disclosures are missing and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 98
  • Sustainability: 67
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.4%; rating input score 78
  • Program expense ratio: 92.1%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7,481.35 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 98.6%; rating input score 99; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Scored; rating input score 0

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 96%; rating input score 96; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 16.1%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.29; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.31; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.6%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
  • Where the money goes: 78.4% of revenue deployed · 92.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 24 of 25 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $538.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $1.6M · 44 people listed · 6 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.6M reported
  • Consistency: 40 of 41 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 51 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 40 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Related-party transparency scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.