Community News Funds

Community foundations across the country are working with local news leaders to create Community News Funds — permanent funds from multiple donors to support local news for years to come. Report for America has worked with 20 Community News Funds, including 14 that took part in our 2022 workshop with Google News Initiative.

Want to learn how your community can create a Community News Fund? Our Local Sustainability team will gladly schedule a meeting with you. Email us today.

In February 2023, Report for America published its 2022 Update: Community News Funds report.  It follows the report released last year that identified a major new trend,  the creation of “Community News Funds,” and outlines how the funds can be created. The strategy involves community foundations working with local news leaders to create a single, permanent fund that draws upon donations from multiple sources, to support local news for years to come.

 
Read the 2022 Update to the Community News Funds Report

The original report offered case studies reflecting how community news funds are already making a difference. Seven communities raised $15 million over three years with variations of this model. 

Report for America’s local sustainability team interviewed more than 30 philanthropic and newsroom leaders to develop its findings. Featured communities included Traverse City, Mich., Lancaster, Pa., Fresno, Calif., Lexington, Ky., New Haven, Conn., Rappahannock, Va., Seattle, Fauquier County, Va. and statewide efforts in Pennsylvania and California. 

The report also highlights challenges to consider. Many foundations have bylaws or practices that direct their funds exclusively to nonprofits. In some communities, where for-profit news organizations are the only providers of local news, funders will need to become more flexible, allowing for a greater diversity of business models. 

Newsrooms, meanwhile, should expect funders to hold them to certain standards of quality and impact, while still maintaining complete editorial independence. For-profit newsrooms will eventually need to create a development staff position to partner with community philanthropy leaders.

Though this will be a shift in strategy, Report for America believes community news funds are the best path forward for communities in danger of losing their local news coverage. 

Read the 2022 Update to the Community News Funds report here. 

To be successful, community news funds should:

  • Encompass multiple funders of varied giving levels
  • Pursue multi-year contributions with a fund goal of 6- and 7-figures depending on the community size
  • Demonstrate and articulate that the community (not merely the newsroom) is the beneficiary of improved local news
  • Direct funding support to more than one newsroom, where feasible, to better serve an entire community
  • Create a steering committee of civic leaders that eventually grows to become a board of governance for fund expansions and dispersals
  • Ensure with local news partners that the community benefits from a wide range reporting (news, investigative, features, etc.) and coverage areas (ie., education, environment, health, local business, local government).

Hear from our partners

“I think if you want to have healthy, resilient, thriving communities, which is part of our vision statement, then there’s certain institutions that are really important to exist in your community, community writ large, right? And that includes having a newspaper, you know, along with things like having a community library, and, and a vibrant arts and culture community.”
Dave Mengebier
Dave MengebierPresident and CEO, Greater Traverse Regional Community Foundation.
"Twenty years ago I knew philanthropy was a need because the funding model wasn’t sustainable ... there’s no way we could continue trying to scrape by with advertisers, that we needed something different.”
Dr. Paulette Brown-Hinds
Dr. Paulette Brown-HindsPublisher of Black Voice News, President of the Inland Empire Community Foundation
"Over the last five years, we have shifted to community transformation work and have really built the organization around how-do-we address the intractable challenges that our community faces.”
Gretchen Moore
Gretchen MooreFormer Chief Strategy Officer, Central Valley Community Foundation
“You know, by collaborating together and thinking differently about the way we work together, we can build stronger media ecosystems, and we can build really strong and robust philanthropic communities for the industry."
Annie McCain Madonia
Annie McCain MadoniaChief Advancement Officer, Lenfest Institute

The “Community News Funds” report was made possible with support from the Lenfest Institute for Journalism and Meta Journalism Project.