How to better connect fundraising asks to your journalism

This is a series on Better News to a) showcase innovative/experimental ideas that emerge from the Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative and b) share replicable tactics that benefit the news industry as a whole.

These insights were shared during a live Q&A session with alumni of the Table Stakes Local News Transformation Program in November 2024. This piece features tips from Gillian White, chief revenue officer at Capital B, a local and national nonprofit news organization that centers Black voices, audience needs and experiences.

How can news organizations continue to innovate their fundraising strategies?

Highlighting how audiences can interact with and benefit from quality journalism is a clear first step. However, reaching new audiences and encouraging them to become financial supporters can be a long and challenging user journey.

Battling news fatigue, navigating rapid changes in the industry and working with limited resources are also common concerns for development professionals in news organizations.

Gillian White, chief revenue officer at Capital B, oversees fundraising and business development for the nonprofit. Capital B is supported by funding from foundations, major donors, individual memberships and earned revenue.

During a November 2024 virtual Q&A session for Table Stakes alumni, White offered advice for how teams can plan and adapt fundraising campaigns around news coverage that spotlights their organization’s mission.

Be clear with your mission and vision

 Meeting readers “where they are” is key to Capital B’s ethos. Capital B launched in January 2022 and hired about 30 staff members in under three years. As the organization grows, the team is pursuing a deeper understanding of who reads and interacts with its work, how they’re reading and receiving the news, and whether they’re feeling included in the coverage.

The organization – in addition to its original reporting on national issues impacting Black Americans – is also building a network of local newsrooms starting with Capital B Atlanta and Capital B Gary.

When Capital B shares its impact with audiences in newsletter updates and fundraising appeals, the messaging is conversational and aims to be easy to understand. White collaborated on Capital B’s signature style and writing voice for these messages with co-founders Lauren Williams and Akoto Ofori-Atta, and they are now working to refine it further as they onboard additional staff.

“I think it works, because what we’re after is some level of familiarity,” White says.

“We are talking to people who are friends of ours, who are invested in us, who want the best for us and for their communities. And that’s how we’re talking to them.”

When applying this mindset in your news organization, approach all audiences like your ideal reader: people who are “smart and engaged and want to be engaged,” as White describes.

She emphasizes that part of being a community engagement-focused news organization means that audiences shouldn’t feel like the organization’s messaging “at 30,000 feet” or difficult to relate to.

Community engagement should “feel as if you’re at a town meeting and somebody’s saying, ‘Hey, this is what we’re doing. If you want to drop a dollar in the basket on your way out the door, we’d really appreciate that,’” she says.

Define what “meaningful engagement” looks like to you

Capital B’s pre-election event series, the Black Political Power Tour, took Capital B to several communities across the country — particularly in battleground states — who may not be aware of their brand. White shares a takeaway from the tour: Early efforts focused too much on donation.

“These are folks who don’t know Capital B. Why would we think that they would jump all the way through the funnel to give us money?,” she explains. “The place to start was to give us your email, sign up for a newsletter or sign up for something at Capital B that’s free.”

This opens up communication with people who may decide to donate or become a member after they’ve found value in the organization and its work.

As you develop engagement and revenue opportunities, White advises teams to determine what “meaningful engagement” with the public can look like.

In the case of the tour, “people taking the time to come out at 5 p.m., mostly in October ahead of an election, to sit in a seat for three hours — that’s meaningful engagement for us,” she says.

Adapt to community needs – in person and online

For its Gary, Ind., newsroom launched in October 2023, Capital B found a print advertising opportunity after learning more about the community’s needs and preferences.

Capital B discovered that its audience skews older and only a small amount of them read stories on mobile. There are also some internet access issues in the area. So they created a monthly print publication, which includes news articles and information about upcoming local events.

“We strategically put them in different places around Gary that we know are super popular, and people have loved it,” White says, noting high interest from locals about placing ads in the paper.

In contrast, the strategy for the Atlanta newsroom is different: Residents use social media much more frequently and the local newsroom puts effort into posting Instagram Stories on its dedicated account. Reporting from the Atlanta newsroom also led to Capital B’s first viral TikTok, which drew more than 440,000 views.

“The opportunities kind of present themselves, the more that you’re able to experiment and do different things,” White says.

Align fundraising with news coverage

On your website and channels

White says she reassesses Capital B’s revenue strategy throughout the year. For example, adapting fundraising approaches to line up with big news stories as they’re playing out has shaped decision-making, experimentation and best practices for the better.

When articles go viral or become a larger, developing story — like coverage of the first Black mayor in Newbern, Ala. — Capital B sees an uptick in donations and reader conversions. Even when a news aggregator like Apple News or Yahoo highlights an article, White says it’s automatic to think about each story and ask, “How can we monetize that?”

Moving up opportunities to donate — like buttons or embeds — higher up on a site page article can be an effective tactic. On high-performing articles, White says readers should be able to read about 30% of the story before they see a “stop” that creates a break in the story for an opportunity to donate.

On newsletters

White encourages development teams to think about ways to segment existing mailing lists based on user behavior and interest.

For example, you can write a fundraising-specific email and send it to subscribers who have yet to donate. You can further segment by appealing to those who click on climate-related stories and tailor the message to them. An added layer: You can test out language to see if donating a suggested amount, like $15 a month, leads to any conversions.

It’s also helpful to gather data on when people stop opening emails or choose to unsubscribe, then adjust future campaigns if possible.

“When we do that and we really think about our email messaging and plan it out, then we see a bigger return on those,” White says.

Other best practices to try

• Change up your appeals: Extend calls to action by including more text, different details or visuals.
• Highlight good work: Push out developing, recent or notable news coverage on social platforms, encouraging people to share the story or donate.
• Support staff appeals: Share sample language for inspiration and provide images for posting as staff members prepare to make fundraising asks on behalf of your organization or to their own networks.
• Utilize your products: Feature high-performing articles and their impact on the community in your newsletters, mobile app and other channels when appropriate.

Use end-of-year campaigns to reflect and charge forward

Historically, end-of-year campaigns are where Capital B has made the bulk of its annual membership revenue. White says it’s also when the organization sees a significant return on the effort it puts into fundraising.

Around this time of year, people are more philanthropic and inclined to give because of tax deductions on charitable contributions.

“I think it’s also a time where people are really reflecting on the year, and they’re saying this was really hard, or this went really well, or this was really wild — which can be a bit of a gold mine for news organizations,” she says.

Here are some approaches to consider when crafting asks for end-of-year campaigns:

• Breaking news: Remind audiences that your news organization was there to cover important, often unexpected news events like natural disasters.
  • Example: “Remember when the river overflowed and ________ happened? We were there, we were covering it. We were doing X, Y and Z.”
• Recurring events: Highlight unique coverage and the expertise your editorial team has gained by reporting on important local events like elections, then make an ask to give.
  • Example: “This event is going to happen again. We know it, we will be there and we will be covering it to serve you. And to do that, could you please click this donate button? Thank you so much.”
• Give gratitude: Let donors know how their previous contributions made a direct impact on supporting quality news coverage in a given period.
  • Example: “Your support made X, Y and Z happen this year.”
  • Sharing takeaways from specific projects or data from an annual impact report would make this message more meaningful to donors.
• Look ahead: Give audiences insight into what your organization wants to accomplish and where you plan to invest your resources.
  • Example: “In the next year, we, as an organization, hope to do X, Y and Z. We’re going to be focused on covering this big event that’s happening in our city.”

In the last two months of each year, Capital B also participates in NewsMatch. The collaborative fundraising campaign powered by the Institute for Nonprofit News gives dollar-for-dollar matching funds up to $15,000 to INN members with operating expenses below $1 million.

By the end of 2024, Capital B will have completed six fundraising campaigns for the year. Then, White says, the team will work toward revenue goals for 2025 and beyond.