Opinion: Fund-Raising Diversity May Hold Key for Nonprofit News

Differences in the finances of local and national nonprofit journalism entities may offer clues to their potential sustainability, according to an informal study reported at the Nieman Foundation’s Nieman Journalism Lab.

Jim Barnett, a veteran reporter now studying nonprofit management at George Washington University, assessed the finances of 12 established news sites, six primarily serving particular neighborhoods or regions (such as MinnPost and the Texas Observer) and six that seek national audiences (such as ProPublica and the Center for Investigative Reporting). He says the regional sites tended to have greater diversity of income sources, while the national outlets relied more heavily on large gifts from foundations and their initial donors.