I am having the best days of my professional career trying to work it out in Charlottesville, Virginia. I've managed to stay afloat as a one-person information shop using Substack, Patreon, and other sources to begin to dream about a sustained future covering my community and getting information out in the way I've always wanted to do. For the first time in my life, I own the fruit of my labor and I hope this benefits the community in the long-run.
Block Club Chicago is doing this very thing and doing it very well. They’re covering neighborhoods in a hyper local, genuine way, and they’re getting a lot of attention and grant money.
Grant money just isn't sustainable in the long run. Maybe the Trust model, like the Guardian, but look at the St Pete Times/Poynter. It may take legislation to level the playing field but news operations have to be commercially sustainable - even if they are non profits. An NPR membership is really a subscription.
Thanks so much for reading, but I really don’t agree with this. Almost all of the country’s great nonprofit institutions are sustained by continuous philanthropy over the years, from our leading private universities to our best museums and performing arts organizations to so much more. The Guardian is actually something of a newcomer to this model, having spent down a significant chunk of its endowment— and its transition has been aided by the growth of its American audience.
Poynter was founded in an era when it was believed newspaper profits were forever. Its challenges have come now that is no longer the case.
Finally, transactional subscriptions (paywalls) and altruistic memberships are actually quite different, although I acknowledge that the line separating them is blurring somewhat.
Very well said Dick. One concern of mine is that the surge in non-profit digital news sites doesn't include many covering small cities or towns. They tend to be focused on specific issues (ones I've reviewed recently cover solitary confinement, Canadian environmental issues, etc.), or entire states or regions. I also think it's difficult for publications in smaller cities and towns to find philanthropists to support their coverage. There are relatively few foundations focused on cities with populations of 100,000 or less. And the foundations that support coverage of admittedly important issues, like racial inequality or immigration reform, aren't going to help a local newspaper or news site pay for someone to cover the city council or local planning commission meetings.
I am having the best days of my professional career trying to work it out in Charlottesville, Virginia. I've managed to stay afloat as a one-person information shop using Substack, Patreon, and other sources to begin to dream about a sustained future covering my community and getting information out in the way I've always wanted to do. For the first time in my life, I own the fruit of my labor and I hope this benefits the community in the long-run.
Good read, Dick, thanks. Here is another one that your readers might like — apropos your mention of the need for sustainable philanthropy for news: https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2021/3/23/for-local-newsrooms-philanthropy-isnt-charityits-revenue
Block Club Chicago is doing this very thing and doing it very well. They’re covering neighborhoods in a hyper local, genuine way, and they’re getting a lot of attention and grant money.
Grant money just isn't sustainable in the long run. Maybe the Trust model, like the Guardian, but look at the St Pete Times/Poynter. It may take legislation to level the playing field but news operations have to be commercially sustainable - even if they are non profits. An NPR membership is really a subscription.
Thanks so much for reading, but I really don’t agree with this. Almost all of the country’s great nonprofit institutions are sustained by continuous philanthropy over the years, from our leading private universities to our best museums and performing arts organizations to so much more. The Guardian is actually something of a newcomer to this model, having spent down a significant chunk of its endowment— and its transition has been aided by the growth of its American audience.
Poynter was founded in an era when it was believed newspaper profits were forever. Its challenges have come now that is no longer the case.
Finally, transactional subscriptions (paywalls) and altruistic memberships are actually quite different, although I acknowledge that the line separating them is blurring somewhat.
Very well said Dick. One concern of mine is that the surge in non-profit digital news sites doesn't include many covering small cities or towns. They tend to be focused on specific issues (ones I've reviewed recently cover solitary confinement, Canadian environmental issues, etc.), or entire states or regions. I also think it's difficult for publications in smaller cities and towns to find philanthropists to support their coverage. There are relatively few foundations focused on cities with populations of 100,000 or less. And the foundations that support coverage of admittedly important issues, like racial inequality or immigration reform, aren't going to help a local newspaper or news site pay for someone to cover the city council or local planning commission meetings.