Five ways INN helps nonprofit newsrooms get smarter about fundraising
Fundraising from individuals is a crucial part of running an independent, nonprofit newsroom. It can also be daunting for news leaders with little fundraising experience or dedicated development staff.
A unique challenge for news organizations founded by journalists is a potential clash between their natural inclinations to be skeptical and then “pitching” for donor support. For founders and other news organization leaders whose backgrounds focused more on editorial operations than business, their pressing fundraising question may be an overwhelming one: Where do you begin? More and more nonprofit news leaders are exploring where the two meet — editorial and fundraising — and identifying ways that engage potential donors and funders in a manner that feels authentic to their mission.
As a benefit of membership, the Institute for Nonprofit News offers a variety of resources to help news organizations with individual fundraising. Those programs, services and tools go beyond webinars and training. They also include options such as one-on-one coaching and subsidies for donor prospecting tools — all tailored to news outlets’ needs to help make fundraising more accessible. More than 90% of newsrooms that INN serves make it through the startup phase — a statistic that shows attaining financial solvency is possible. Newsroom leaders boost their chances for success even more by taking advantage of INN resources and experts who can guide them through the initial learning phase.
Coaches to field questions and help develop a customized fundraising plan
An easy way that nonprofit news organizations can leverage their INN membership is to ask questions about their fundraising needs. INN coaches offer office hours to discuss fundraising and philanthropy strategies, NewsMatch and more.
Free and discounted tools to identify potential donors
For those at the early stage of developing a fundraising plan, it’s important to complete a wealth screening to identify the organization’s donor base and assess donors’ capacity to give. INN encourages nonprofit news outlets to better assess their donors and prospects by offering free and subsidized wealth screening reports outlining the giving potential of donors. Last year, INN processed more than 70 wealth screenings for the news outlets it serves. INN also subsidized subscriptions to DonorSearch, a company that provides donor prospect research, for 28 organizations.
We held individual wealth screening coaching sessions with 40 news outlets to help them digest their wealth screening report, segment their donor file and create a plan for approaching major donors.
Peer learning opportunities
News organizations within the INN network are a resource, too. Newer members often take advantage of the expertise within the Network by talking to people who have accomplished what their team aims to do. One way for members to connect is the peer fundraising community on Slack, where participants can ask questions and get feedback about fundraising campaigns. With our annual Index data, INN has created the Pods program to match members with organizations most similar to their revenue, staffing, audience resources and needs with the goal of delivering more targeted benchmarking data, and putting members into conversation with one another to swap best practices.
Throughout the year, INN hosts member-led From the Field webinars on a variety of practical topics and also publishes case studies that highlight lessons learned from newsroom leaders — like this one on Honolulu Civil Beat, which in 2016 had about 1,000 subscribers paying $5 a month and by 2022 generated $792,000 in small donations from over 7,300 individual members as well as an additional $191,000 from mid-level and major donors.
This year’s INN Days conference in San Diego on June 11–12 will also feature member-led sessions on fundraising.
Resources for diversifying revenue
More than two-thirds of INN members have at least three revenue streams. To help members balance individual fundraising with other sources of income, INN provides other programs, like Google News Initiative Fundamentals Lab for INN Members, through which newsrooms can get insights and training into audience development, reader revenue and sponsor advertising. As part of the program, members are also eligible to receive up to $20,000 in implementation funds to put their learnings into practice. Another example is our Who’s Your Source? messaging deck, which helps members talk to institutional funders as well as major donors about the nonprofit news movement and the standards and values of the INN Network.
Coming soon: More fundraising fundamentals resources
Fundraising is a perpetual need for nonprofit newsrooms, so INN is expanding the ways it offers support. INN is developing more resources focused on the fundamentals of fundraising for nonprofit news organizations. The curriculum is designed to engage participants with creative teaching techniques to help them master critical fundraising tactics and concepts essential for cultivating major donors through three modules: messaging and positioning, board development, and donor prospecting and development planning. The program will help newsroom leaders from small organizations to:
- Craft bold, audience-tailored messaging for impactful conversations with potential donors
- Leverage and enhance their board for fundraising success
- Create a comprehensive development plan and confidently prospect and engage potential donors
- Build meaningful peer connections and hear from newsrooms that have demonstrated fundraising success.
Fundraising is challenging, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Taking advantage of INN’s resources can help news organizations focus on producing strong journalism while receiving the support needed to stay afloat financially and serve their communities for the long term.
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