Donations have allowed Maine’s public broadcasting network to stave off staffing and programming cuts after the Trump administration clawed back federal funding that made up about 12% of its annual budget, CEO and President Rick Schneider said.

Maine Public lost nearly $5 million over two years when Congress agreed last summer to cut more than $1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Leaders of the CPB — a private nonprofit agency that previously steered federal funding to PBS, NPR and hundreds of public television and radio stations across the U.S. — voted Monday to dissolve the organization created in 1967.

“It was a sad day, but we saw it coming,” Schneider said Tuesday. “When Congress rescinded federal funding that had already been approved, there was no longer any reason for CPB to exist.”

Schneider said private donors have stepped forward to help fill the budget gap during Maine Public’s recent membership drives, including individual, corporate and foundation support. Exactly how much additional funding has been or will be received is unclear because the network’s budget year runs through June 30, he said.

But it means donors who previously covered about 75% of Maine Public’s $19 million annual budget now face the need to cover about 87%, and a majority of the network’s private support comes from individual donors, he said.

“We’ve seen a strong outpouring of donations so far,” Schneider said. “We just need that to continue into the new year. We’re navigating it well. I’m optimistic we can avoid drastic cuts.”

The network employs about 120 people, runs public radio, television and website programming throughout Maine and coordinates emergency alerts. About 13% of its budget is covered by the state and other miscellaneous sources.

CPB had been winding down since Congress acted last summer to defund its operations at the direction of President Donald Trump. Its board of directors decided on Monday to shutter CPB completely instead of keeping it in existence as a shell.

“CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving, rather than allowing the organization to remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attacks,” said Patricia Harrison, the organization’s president and CEO.

Trump and many Republicans have long accused public broadcasting, particularly its news programming, of being biased toward liberal politics.

Schneider holds out hope that public broadcasting will one day regain bipartisan support and federal funding.

This story contains reporting by The Associated Press.