Having spent more than 20 years in news philanthropy and fundraising, and recently back from the Knight Media Forum, I have a clear perspective on what has changed — and a strong point of view about what still needs to change — in news philanthropy.

The conversation is shifting from promoting sustainability to defending press freedom.

The First Amendment and technological innovation have long been priorities for the Knight Foundation and news philanthropy as a whole. But this year’s mainstage at Knight Media Forum featured speakers, especially the Foundation’s President Maribel Pérez-Wadsworth, stated clearly that press freedoms are being tested and undermined in this current political climate; simultaneously, AI is a tectonic disruption for the industry and shifting how consumers access and engage with news and information. In the hallways, my conversations with attendees similarly were much less about the longstanding challenges of keeping journalism operationally sustainable and much more about the immediate concerns about keeping a free press free.

News leaders have become more comfortable with membership campaigns and more open to taxpayer funding.

As the nonprofit news movement has exploded, with INN’s membership now exceeding 500 independent newsrooms, I’ve watched the boards and executive directors of nonprofit news organizations become more comfortable with fundraising from individuals. Several longtime INN newsrooms were launched by journalists passionate about reporting but who started as fundraising novices for their organizations, proximal to news philanthropy. As one member told us, ”Having never run a fundraising campaign before, NewsMatch gave us the push to really begin building relationships with donors for the long haul.”

Since it launched 10 years ago, INN’s NewsMatch has given members not just a matching dollars incentive but crucial training, templates and a national campaign to accelerate and increase their individual fundraising. NewsMatch didn’t just change nonprofit newsroom revenue and membership practices, supporting news philanthropy. Today, nonprofit newsrooms know they have to build a case for their work, and the stars of our field have implemented year-round fundraising campaigns. NewsMatch is a true game-changer for the field.

There is also more openness among news leaders to bring in local or state-level taxpayer dollars as a part of news philanthropy. In 2024, 45% of INN newsrooms taking our annual Index survey reported participating in some form of policy-related work or discussions pertaining to revenue for news organizations. This is a marked shift from just a few years ago, where these conversations were non-starters.

Read the full article about news philanthropy by Lisa Gardner-Springer at Institute for Nonprofit News.