Federal Communications Commission FCC 12-43
STATEMENT OF
CHAIRMAN JULIUS GENACHOWSKI
Re: Noncommercial Educational Station Fundraising for Third-Party Non-Profit
Organizations (MB Docket No. 12-106)
Today we take another step in our efforts to modernize the FCC by revisiting a policy that has 
been in effect for more than 40 years.  We propose relaxing our longstanding ban on third-party 
fundraising by noncommercial broadcast stations and giving these stations more flexibility to raise money 
on-air for charities in their local communities and around the world.  
Noncommercial broadcasters have long served the American public by providing high quality and 
innovative educational, cultural, and news programming to their local communities.  As recommended in 
The Information Needs of Communities Report, we are now proposing to allow noncommercial stations 
to spend a modest amount of their total annual broadcast time—up to one percent—conducting 
fundraising activities on behalf of non-profit organizations. 
Allowing noncommercial stations to partner with charities, churches and other religious 
organizations, schools, and other non-profits to raise money for worthy causes will enable these stations 
to help meet the needs of their local communities.  On-air fundraising by noncommercial stations can also 
help raise awareness about important local and international topics, such as poverty, health care, and 
humanitarian issues.  
We have historically granted waivers of the prohibition on third-party fundraising, particularly in 
response to disasters.  For example, we have granted waivers to allow noncommercial broadcasters to 
raise funds in support of relief efforts for Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina, the September 11, 2001 
terrorist attacks, the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and, most recently, the March 2011 earthquake and 
tsunami in Japan.  
Given our experience in these and other cases, where the ability to raise funds for third-party non-
profits has been invaluable, we question whether it remains appropriate to require noncommercial stations 
to seek a waiver just as emergencies are occurring.  This proposal would eliminate the need for such 
requests.
This action reflects an effort to balance our continued interest in preserving the core educational 
mission of noncommercial stations with our goal of providing these stations additional flexibility to 
support non-profits of their choosing.  We look forward to hearing from all interested parties on the issues 
raised in this proceeding.
I thank our Media Bureau and staff across the Commission for their hard work on this item, and 
the work yet to come in this proceeding.