KCET Donations Slip; Economy Blamed : Public TV: Fund-raising at KOCE Channel 50 in Huntington Beach, however, is holding steady.

As the economy continues to cast a pall over charitable giving, KCET Channel 28, the area’s major public television station, has fallen $1.2 million behind its budget projections for donations from individuals and corporations, spokeswoman Barbara Goen said this week.

Meanwhile, at Orange County’s smaller public TV outlet, KOCE Channel 50 in Huntington Beach, fund-raising is right on target, station officials said.

Nearly seven months through its fiscal year, Los Angeles-based KCET has picked up about 10,000 new supporters, bringing its total membership to 300,000, Goen said. But, she added, the station’s old members are contributing much less than normal.

Altogether, Goen said, individuals have given $800,000 less this year than station executives had planned, and gifts from corporations and other major contributors are lagging by an additional $400,000. The station’s goal for such “unrestricted general support” is $21 million.

At KOCE, two major pledge drives for the year have been completed and there is one to go. A drive in August brought $116,000 from members, a $6,000 drop from the previous year. But that loss was all but made up when the station had its best December drive ever, bringing in $113,000, a $5,000 increase over 1990. Whether the station meets its goal of matching last year’s total of $401,000 in contributions from individuals depends on the upcoming March drive, which brought $177,000 in 1991.

KOCE spokeswoman Judith Schaefer did not have figures for corporate support but said it is down slightly. Still, Schaefer said the station anticipates it will match its $4.2-million budget of last fiscal year and does not anticipate cutbacks in staff or programming. As part of the Coastline Community College District, KOCE also gets a portion of its budget from the college district.

Goen said KCET--where the budget is $40 million--plans to offset its anticipated shortfall by trimming expenses.

She said that “Life & Times,” the station’s only locally produced series, would not be affected by the shortfall in donations.

Goen also said that no layoffs are planned. Last year at this time, when the budget was short by $1.5 million in donations, KCET implemented a hiring freeze, and wound up laying 17 people off in May.