Trends in high net worth giving
Dive into research on giving motivations of wealthy contributors to help formulate your major donor strategy.
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Foundation and donor support
Subscribe to Updates Nonprofit news organizations typically lean — at least partially — on the support of foundations and major individual donors to accomplish their work and achieve financial sustainability, and a growing number of for-profit institutions are taking donations for specific work. This application of nonprofit structures to media and a changing dynamic for for-profit news offers important philanthropic opportunities but also creates some tricky ethical and operational questions.Big Picture A primer on philanthropic support for news
Financial support from philanthropic sources offers all sorts of new opportunities for funding journalism and sustainability. It also raises some ethical questions that can potentially challenge reader trust.
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Plan Strategic considerations around foundation and grant support
The ethical implications of donor support
The burgeoning nonprofit news industry requires further work to set operational and editorial work on consistent, ethical footings.
19
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What influences waves of donations?
The moment of tension between the GOP and the press after the 2016 election fueled unprecedented donation and subscription revenue for news organizations, demonstrating that context matters for journalism that’s perceived as a public good and its ability to raise outside funds.
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Do donations reduce editorial independence?
Donors have the power to influence coverage, implicitly and explicitly, and this piece unpacks why that’s happening and how media organizations can protect their independence.
6
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Do Tips and tactics around philanthropic support for news
The do’s and no-no’s of foundation funding
Democracy Fund’s Local New Lab embodies the transparency it advocates for among funders in this accessible summary of how to build relationships with funders, steer clear of the pitfalls, and understand what’s beyond a grantee’s control.
7
min
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Who’s funding local journalism
This rundown of funders who back individual reporting projects and industry-changing innovation in local journalism is a helpful leg up for non-profit and for-profit news organizations exploring foundation support. It also includes links out to comprehensive resources for exploring foundation funding.
5
min
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Lessons learned from three years of matching campaigns
Matches are a powerful incentive for news orgs to recruit donors and engage existing supporters. These case studies show how local news organizations capitalized on the ground-breaking NewsMatch campaigns to fund their work with donor dollars.
20
min
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Foundation partnerships enable big experiments in Seattle
Partnerships with trusted community philanthropic bodies can boost foundation and donor fundraising, as The Seattle Times proves with its latest project-specific fund in partnership with the Seattle Community Fund. The structure and tactics they use are adaptable to funding other local reporting efforts.
7
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Court-side rivalries and collaborations fund student papers
College newspapers at UNC and Duke University turned their storied basketball rivalry into a successful fundraising campaign by aiming at new donors, creating urgency, and collaborating to expand their capacity.
19
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A December Campaign Strategy from ProPublica
End-of-year fundraising campaigns with foundation matches are both an art and a science, as an examination of ProPublica’s strategy reveals. Email, direct asks, and a campaign mindset helped the organization bring in more than one-third of its small dollar revenue during its December campaign.
20
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How to handle the major donor “ask”
A high-dollar donor shares how they like to be approached.
5
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7 tips for identifying major donors
A quick overview of tactics to improve prospecting for donors.
4
min
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Examining donor-funded beats
MinnPost’s crowdfunded, beat-specific blogs are a model for donor-supported journalism on critical topics.
5
min
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Grant writing tips
Learn more about how journalism grant-writing requires clear arguments and research to bring in the money.
3
min
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Practical ethical guidelines for accepting outside funds
ProPublica’s president shares a new take on old journalism ethics about advertisers as they apply to new forms of support from donors and foundations.
16
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A sample donor database
The Texas Tribune’s donor page is a searchable, public database of gifts to the publication over time.
1
min
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A sample donor disclosure form
Among INN’s resources is this downloadable, boilerplate document for donor transparency.
1
min
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