Last week, Colorado Public Radio announced that a donor gave it $8.34 million to buy a “six-story building at 777 Grant Street (that) will become home to CPR News, Denverite, CPR Classical, Indie 102.3, Audio Innovations and the organization’s production and business offices.”
Who is the donor? We don’t know. CPR President and CEO Stewart Vanderwilt said, “We’re not announcing the donors at this time.” That raises an interesting journalism ethics question – should CPR, as a news organization, withhold that donor’s name?
I’m sure CPR would say there is an inviolable firewall between its fundraising and news gathering organizations, much as there is a firewall between the journalists and ad sales teams at, say, 9News or The Denver Post. But we know who the advertisers are at 9News and the Post because we see the ads. It is a different situation when an $8.34 million gift is made without any disclosure.
Over the past few months, CPR and Denverite have covered numerous companies and wealthy individuals capable of providing that $8.34 million gift. While I trust the leadership at CPR to maintain ethical standards, those standards are supposed to ensure that it doesn’t get to the point that “trust” is required.
Denver Public Relations Blog 
What if the donor’s mandatory stipulation is anonymity?