Innovation Key to Funding Nonprofit News

Nonprofit news sites, which have been turning out award-winning, in-depth reporting in markets across the U.S. in the last decade, have scratched out a growing niche within the Web news ecosystem.

Some, such as ProPublica, have barreled into mainstream newsreaders’ consciousness, notching front page space in the likes of The New York Times and capturing Pulitzer Prizes along the way (ProPublica earned its second Pulitzer, for exposing how self-enriching Wall Street bankers helped worsen the nation’s financial crisis, earlier this year). Many others, such as The Voice of San Diego, have caught national attention by earning their investigative bona fides in local markets (the Voice picked up an award from Investigative Reporters and Editors for its exposure of misuse of city funds). These nonprofit sites have fast earned a reputation for hard-hitting, public interest reporting that digs deeper than many of their legacy media competitors (many of whom form content-sharing partnerships with them to enjoy some of their reportorial luster). But unlike ProPublica, which subsists on funding from billionaire mortgage bankers Herbert and Marion Sandler, most nonprofits, such as the Texas Tribune, have turned to innovative revenue streams to stay alive. Some produce content with syndication deals as their end game; others invest in student training programs and user membership schemes; most seek out legacy media partnerships for a kind of news symbiosis. All are learning one elemental rule: Even in the world of nonprofit news, you need to think entrepreneurially to survive.