An intensified search for philanthropy by the UK-based Guardian Media Group has touched off an experiment that could provide a new revenue source for American newspapers.

A newly created U.S. nonprofit, theguardian.org, has already raised $2.4 million in foundation gifts and pledges, and has sent some of that money to the Guardian news operations to finance five journalism initiatives.

The Guardian differs from most American newspapers in that it is owned by a trust that returns all profits to the news organization. Yet there is no legal reason why newspapers and other for-profit news organizations couldn't replicate the Guardian’s approach to seeking philanthropic support, says Jeff Hermes, deputy director of the Media Law Resource Center.

“Is it a pain to do this? Definitely,” says Hermes. “There are a lot of limitations. But is it prohibited? No.”

The idea that philanthropy could subsidize for-profit newspapers gained attention a decade ago, when the bottom fell out of newspapers' advertising market. In early 2009, in the middle of a two-year collapse that saw newspapers lose 40 percent of their advertising revenue, I wrote about that possibility for the Online Journalism Review.

Read the full article about how newspapers can attract philanthropy by David Westphal at Columbia Journalism Review.