Donor Profile: Billie Kanter-Monfort and Kirk Monfort
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.” For daily listeners Billie Kanter-Monfort and Kirk Monfort, they are planting seeds with NSPR with their leadership gifts.
Longtime public radio donors, the couple says that when they’re home, the radio is always tuned to NSPR.
“I catch it in the morning when I wake up and I read the paper,” Kirk says. “And then when I’m cooking dinner, I always listen to All Things Considered.”
Billie and Kirk are both now retired from careers at Chico State. Kirk ran the General Studies Thematic Program—“It was like a liberal arts college within the university,” he says—and Billie held administrative positions in the social work and economics departments.
For years, they supported NSPR as monthly donors and as volunteers during pledge drives. And after Billie retired almost a decade ago, she took on a weekly volunteer shift at the station, a commitment that continues to this day.
But in recent years, the Monforts decided they were in a position to support the station in an even larger way financially.
“We finally realized in the last few years that we probably had more money than we were going to be able to spend, since we don’t believe in the consumer economy much, and that we could afford to give some of it away,” Kirk says.
Kirk and Billie say they were motivated to give to NSPR not only because it’s a source they both rely on for quality, trustworthy news, but also because the staying power of the NPR brand gave them a sense of security.
“It’s a matter of not only looking for worthy causes but looking for causes that also won’t waste the money,” Kirk said. “If you think, and this is an educator’s bias, if you think that a lot of social ills are due to ignorance and you want to do something about those social ills, then one thing you should do is help overcome that ignorance. And I think The Economist and NPR News are the two best weapons out there for informing people about what’s going on.”
Kirk believes that listeners like he and his wife, who rely on NSPR daily for news and entertainment, should not be “free riders.”
“It seems that if you believe that something is really worthwhile and working, you ought to support it,” he says.
Billie agrees.
“The radio is always on,” she says. “And if you use something, you should pay for it.”
During NSPR’s spring 2016 pledge drive, the Monforts sponsored a $5,000 grant through which they challenged the listening community to donate to NSPR if “you value education, riding your bike (even when it’s not National Bike Month), love your pets, volunteer in your community, and listen to the informative, humorous, poignant, and entertaining programs on NSPR.” It motivated many donors in the final hours of the shortened spring drive and garnered a single gift of $5,000 from a like-minded listener.
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Great minds think alike! Make your leadership gift here or call General Manager Beth Lamberson for an appointment to learn more at 530-898-6100.