Model and Strategy
The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) develops, strengthens, and supports a growing network of 360+ independent news organizations across the United States: nonprofit, nonpartisan and dedicated to providing journalism as a public service.
Driven by the urgency to rebuild a free press, INN is creating an ecosystem where new forms of public service journalism are being developed, and accelerating the expansion of this network as a shared reporting resource for the entire country.
INN is the engine of growth for this reinvention of journalism. We help news startups launch in communities that lost their newspapers; guide innovation and growth through research, data-driven programming and learning communities; and develop shared values of independence and transparency that build public trust in fact-based news.
As legacy newspapers continue to cut, INN seeks to amplify the reporting impact of its diverse network of newsrooms. By the end of 2024, INN projects its member nonprofit news outlets will double within three years to 600, making the INN Network the nation’s largest shared resource for original reporting. Accordingly, INN must double its capacity to support the 10,000 people expected to work in nonprofit news in three years. Goals include:
- Expanding collaborations to bring news from our hundreds of members to millions more Americans. By sharing editing, data resources and even artificial intelligence tools, INN member newsrooms can report more, and dramatically increase their respective reach and impact.
- Transforming community support for news. INN manages the largest grassroots campaign for news, NewsMatch, an innovative seed fund that has generated $150 million in new revenue for member newsrooms. A strategic expansion in 2022 will significantly expand local funding for local news.
- Expanding shared research, innovation exchanges and services that speed the growth of these networked newsrooms, especially in earned revenue models and sustainable donations.
- Creating news that is more representative through capacity-building and support for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and leadership development.
Impact
Over the last decade, INN has helped generate tenfold growth in the number of nonprofit newsrooms, with recent years underscoring the importance of their fact-based, nonpartisan coverage in bridging polarized politics and bringing back a spirit of common understanding.
We are on track to build this resource to a force of at least 20,000 journalists by 2030, restoring the foundation of civic coverage previously produced by daily newspapers. Operating as nonprofits rather than proprietary businesses allows their reporting to be readily shared with other media rather than being paywalled, ensuring that virtually all Americans now can receive reliable news that can inform and engage them in public life.
As a field-building network, the success of INN and our programs ultimately will be gauged by the long-term growth and public service impact of our member newsrooms. We use several benchmarks to measure effectiveness, including reporting volume, startup success rates, diversity of member revenue sources, staff size and representation, and audience reach. This data, primarily collected through member surveys and the INN Index, ensures our programming is responsive and robust.
Leadership
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Sue Cross
Executive Director