October 8, 2024 – Since 2017, Report for America has supported nearly 400 newsrooms, helping them collectively raise $30 million from within their communities to become more sustainable. The nonprofit journalism program now aims to use its experience and resources to help other newsrooms achieve greater sustainability through its new pilot “accelerator program.”
Through the program, local news organizations—for-profit and nonprofit—will receive coaching, training and fiscal sponsorship (if needed) to help them diversify their revenue streams by tapping into local philanthropic support.
Report for America plans to select 25 local newsrooms to participate in the pilot. If all goes as planned, that number will double next year.
Interested newsrooms can apply here. The deadline is Nov. 17, 2024. Newsrooms selected for the program will be announced in December.
While not guaranteed, it’s hoped that successful newsrooms will become prime candidates for hosting Report for America corps members in the future.
“Each year, we receive hundreds of newsroom applications from organizations that would benefit from our local sustainability support but are not yet ready to welcome an early career journalist on their staff,” Baum said. “Sometimes it’s because the newsroom needs to get other parts of its finances in order. Our accelerator program will expand our support to newsrooms as they make a plan to expand their staff.”
To learn more, schedule a visit with our local sustainability team. A recorded information session is also available to view here.
About Report for America: Report for America is a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered topics and communities across the United States and its territories. By creating a new, sustainable model for journalism, Report for America provides people with the information they need to improve their communities, hold powerful institutions accountable, and restore trust in the media. Report for America is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project, an award-winning nonprofit journalism organization dedicated to rebuilding journalism from the ground up.