The nonprofit state-capitol broadcaster WisconsinEye is facing an imminent shutdown unless it secures emergency funding, throwing Wisconsin’s window into government proceedings into jeopardy.
The network, which has covered legislative sessions, committee hearings and budget deliberations since 2007, announced it will suspend live coverage and take its 30,000-hour archive offline as of December 15 if it does not raise the roughly $887,000 needed to sustain operations for the upcoming year. The network serves as Wisconsin’s version of C-SPAN, the national coverage of the federal government.
The WisconsinEye is entirely reliant on private and charitable donations. It receives no regular tax-payer subsidy. The president and CEO, Jon Henkes, says the post-pandemic era has brought competition for donation dollars in the state, and donors appear to believe that political spending suffices for transparency. The board has determined that the current model is failing, “the model in the current environment is not working for us,” Henkes said.
The legislature and governor in the most recent session allotted Wisconsin Eye $250,000 for immediate operations and pledged up to $9.75 million in matching state funds. This was on the condition of the nonprofit raising $10 million for an endowment by June 2026. (RELATED: GOP Warn of Water Contamination From Abortion Pills, Pushes ‘Catch Kit’ Mandate)
But with no meaningful donations secured so far for 2026, Henkes knows that achieving a $10 million fundraising target within the timeline is “a very tall task.”
Henkes says one of the main issues is they do not have enough funding is the lack of a loyal following like other non-profit institutions. “We’re very different from many other nonprofits. I mean, we don’t have a loyal alumni base like a university, or grateful patients like a healthcare system, or faithful congregants like a church or a religious organization,” said Henkes. (RELATED: Wisconsin To See Another Increase In Utility Prices)
If WisconsinEye disappears, the state will lose a consistent lens into government. As Henkes puts it, “there’s this cry to save our democracy… We view that as a painting with a lot of people who are coloring that cry for democracy, and we have a role in that as WisconsinEye.”
