Like many executives in new roles, I started at the Lenfest Institute with a listening tour. While I was struck by the commitment and resourcefulness of my new colleagues in nonprofit news, I was shocked by the small size of the businesses they had labored so hard to build. In commercial terms, they ranged from pretty small to absolutely tiny — especially in light of the decline in local news that they sought to address. The largest U.S. digital nonprofit local news organization in 2016, The Texas Tribune, was roughly a $6 million business — an amount just one of The Wall Street Journal’s larger advertisers would spend annually. When I asked the Tribune’s chief executive Evan Smith if his was in fact the largest enterprise of its type, he said: “Yes. We are the tallest Munchkin.”

That has begun to change in a big way. In 2022, several important nonprofit news organizations are poised to accelerate their already impressive growth. Still other enterprises plan to launch with commitments of capital, corporate resources, and commercial models rarely seen in nonprofit news. Some examples:

  • The Baltimore Banner will launch with an annual budget of $15 million, funded initially by a public-company hotel executive, Stewart Bainum. While nonprofit, the Banner will sell digital subscriptions to support its journalism, borrowing a business model from successful for-profit news.
  • Chicago Public Media (WBEZ) will likely complete its acquisition of the Chicago Sun-Times, creating a multi-platform, nonprofit local news enterprise of sufficient resources to help offset the sharp decline of the once-towering Chicago Tribune now owned by Alden Global Capital. Matt Moog, CEO of the combined entity, is a software executive and digital marketer by background.
  • Spotlight PA, a nonprofit digital news startup, now distributes its news to more than 75 newsrooms across Pennsylvania, reaching over 35 million monthly unique visitors. Its hybrid business model, that of a digital startup leveraging legacy news audience and distribution, is highly scalable and worth copying.
  • And the self-described “Munchkin” has also grown up. The Texas Tribune has continued to grow, to inspire, and to share its insights. The American Journalism Project, launched in 2019, has sought to replicate The Texas Tribune, adapting its success to new markets, new models, and new entrepreneurs. Perhaps most striking to those of us who appreciate economies of scale, AJP announced in late 2021 its support for several new and existing national nonprofit news organizations building local news networks, including Chalkbeat, The Marshall Project, and Capital B. Fund 1 of AJP has so far deployed $33.75 million in support of 31 grantees, according to CEO Sarabeth Berman.

Read the full article about nonprofit journalism by Jim Friedlich at Lenfest Institute.