Nonprofits come in many shapes and sizes, and raising money for each can be a little different. As more news organizations opt for a nonprofit model, fundraising takes on a different tenor; it takes more time and effort to educate donors accustomed to traditional newsrooms. That’s been the experience of the Baltimore Banner, one of a slew of nonprofit news organizations to crop up in the last few years.
Since launching in 2022, the Banner has sought to find its footing with the right mix of traditional media revenue, such as advertising and subscriptions, and philanthropic dollars. At its launch, it relied primarily on philanthropy, with more than 90 percent of its funding coming from donations, according to its most recent 990. Philanthropist Stewart Bainum Jr. helped launch the news site with a $50 million pledge.
The organization would like to shift to a model that relies more on earned revenue, according to CEO Bob Cohn. To make that shift, the Banner’s fundraisers are trying to build on the rapport they have with the foundations that support the news organization, attract more individual donors, and educate the newsroom on how they do business.
Making the Case to Donors
The growth of nonprofit news is a relatively recent trend in philanthropy, and many donors are new to the idea, making educating donors a big part of the equation, says Sarah Walton, chief philanthropy officer at the Banner.
“When I started in this role, some of the donors were asking, ‘Oh, are you a journalist now?’ And I’m like, ‘No, I’m working in philanthropy. I’m still in fundraising,’” Walton says. “This is just a totally new concept for donors. So I’m having conversations with these extremely sophisticated, seasoned philanthropists who just aren’t aware.”
Walton has focused on communicating to donors both that the Banner is a philanthropic endeavor and how gifts to a news organization help the community.
“It’s having that conversation about aligning their charitable-giving priorities with what our newsroom is doing, everything from housing to education to the environment,” Walton says. “To reach a sustainable model, we know that we need the community’s buy-in.”
While the organization initially focused on grants from foundations, which were larger, fundraisers are now also courting individual donors. People who give more than $2,500 are part of the “founding members” group, and get special benefits, such as invitations to events or opportunities to hear about the paper’s work from staff. In the founding members group, there are newspaper-related tiers: Beat donors give $2,499 to $4,999, Byline donors give $5,000 to $9,999, and Headline donors give $10,000 to $24,999.
So far in 2024, the Banner has secured 700 new donors. Walton says the organization had success asking donors to invite friends and colleagues to their homes to learn about the Banner, hear from a staff member, and ask questions about the paper — similar to porch parties the Chronicle wrote about in 2022.
“We see real value in this because we’re pulling them together, raising awareness, and then they’re out talking about the Baltimore Banner in the community,” Walton said. “Not only can you subscribe, but you can also make a donation. We see that as a real opportunity for us.”
A Different Revenue Mix
The Banner hopes to get the philanthropic contribution down to just 20 percent of its budget, with the remainder coming from subscriptions (50 percent), advertising (25 percent), and events (5 percent), according to Cohn, the CEO.
The funding mix is different from the average revenue pattern for most nonprofit newsrooms, according to the Institute for Nonprofit News. Its survey shows nonprofit news organizations typically get about 45 percent of funding from foundation grants, 28 percent from individual giving, 26 percent from earned revenue, and 1 percent from other sources.
However, that’s not a best practice. Nonprofit news organizations can do well with a variety of revenue mixes, says Karen Rundlet, executive director of INN.
“Different newsrooms have different mixes,” Rundlet says. “It’s kind of what they can bring in. There are some that are very reliant on foundation support, and there are some that just don’t have the relationships. I spoke to one newsroom, and they were really focused on individual giving.”
In addition to diversifying its revenue sources, the fundraisers are also trying to educate employees in other parts of the organization, many of whom come from for-profit journalism and have little knowledge of how newsrooms raise philanthropic dollars.
“We have been hosting Ask Me Anything sessions,” Walton says. “We’re inviting the newsroom, our business colleagues together and sharing: Here are the basic principles of fundraising. This is how we work together. Here’s success stories of collaboration. Here’s how you can support our work.”
The newsroom helps fundraisers by explaining some of the journalistic priorities and areas of coverage, which Walton can use as she talks to donors. Those types of newsroom-philanthropy team discussions led to the Banner securing philanthropic support to hire reporters and launch an online news hub focused on local education.
Both Walton and Cohn stress that they’ clearly explain that donors do not influence coverage. Newsrooms’ long history of being independent of funders — whether they are advertisers or donors — helps keep those relationships tenable. Walton was able to connect with a donor who wasn’t happy about the Banner’s coverage of her in a profile.
“She still came in a year later to talk about how she appreciates the work that we’re doing,” Walton says. “She may not agree with what the article said a year ago, but she understands the bigger picture.”
