Within three weeks of each other, two conferences aimed to make philanthropy a more accessible and lasting source of support for newsrooms. The Lenfest Philanthropy Summit, held in late May, and the Media Impact Funders Forum, held in early June — both in Philadelphia — brought together hundreds of journalists, newsroom leaders and funders to help bridge the gap between those who produce the news and those who fund it.
The Lenfest Summit drew more than 350 attendees, primarily from Press Forward newsrooms and chapters, with an additional 70 to 80 on a waitlist. Held in person for the first time since its 2019 launch, organizers described it as the largest convening of its kind focused on helping news leaders build fundraising skills.
“We are here today because I spent a lot of time on the journalism conference circuit. ... I was waiting to go to one focused on fundraising, and there wasn’t one focused on journalism,” explained Dale Anglin, director of Press Forward, who partnered with the Lenfest Institute to hold the Summit.
Annie McCain Madonia, Lenfest’s chief advancement officer, who founded the News Philanthropy Network in 2019, echoed this urgency. “News fundraising has come of age — just when the world needs it most,” she told the packed audience.
The Summit’s sessions included in-depth discussions on tracking and presenting impact to funders, building membership and donor pools, collaborative fundraising and specialized sessions for newsrooms of color.
Joseph Lichterman, Lenfest’s head of communication and editorial, explained the evolution: “We initially wanted to do like 80 to 100 people. Once Press Forward joined and we opened up the Save the Date, we were really blown away by the response.”
The opening keynote by Mallory Mitchell focused on reframing your relationship with money and considering how it influences fundraising. This was followed by the session featuring Kimberly Griffin, publisher and chief financial officer for the Mississippi Free Press, and Kimberly Spencer, director of the Colorado Media Project.
Griffin and Spencer’s session included detailed schedules for calling prospective donors, along with strategies for identifying small donors who might become major supporters. Griffin explained her policy of personally reaching out to all new donors with phone calls or handwritten notes.
“Good journalism begets more dollars,” Griffin explained in an interview. “You have to cultivate those relationships … You can’t just let them [donate] — oh, look, somebody gave me $100 — and never talk to them again.”
Kimberly Spencer, a funder herself, reminded people that it’s essential to truly value small donations, as they are about building long-lasting relationships. She also cautioned not to ask for support right after meeting a funder, “Slow and steady is the way you’re supposed to go,” she said. “If you’re going on a first date, you don’t pull out an engagement ring. Same goes for donors.”
Their candid, specific recommendations resonated particularly with leaders who came from editorial backgrounds.
Griffin’s own experience at the Mississippi Free Press illustrated the strategic thinking behind sustainable newsroom development. “One of the first things we did was we started with a development director,” she explained. “Someone who can generate revenue should be one of the first hires. That is very hard for editorial to hear sometimes, but if you can’t fund the work, the work won’t get done.”
Lisa Snowden, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Baltimore Beat, appreciated the practical advice. A former reporter who co-founded the alt-weekly in 2019 as a nonprofit newsroom after Baltimore City Paper closed, she focused primarily on editorial work while wearing “all hats” as the nonprofit alt-weekly grew to serve the city’s Black community.
“I did not come to this from a business, fundraising or development background. I was a reporter,” Snowden said. “One thing I learned in that session was how important it is to cultivate one-on-one conversations with your donors.”
Snowden said she has adopted Griffin’s suggestion to call all new donors to learn more about them and why they donated.
She also noted that the peer-to-peer environment was unlike any other media conference she had attended. “Sometimes you go to these things and it feels exclusive … but I did not feel that,” she said. “It felt very welcoming.”
Organizers emphasize this training isn’t just for nonprofit newsrooms. “With for-profit, it’s a lot of legacy newspapers that are these community institutions. And realizing the for-profits — their community, their legacy newspapers and their community institutions — a lot of the way they talk about subscriptions and membership aligns with philanthropic fundraising,” said Lichterman, “And so can make the case to individual donors talking about being a community institution worthy of support.”
One of the livelier events at the Summit was what Graham Ringo, Press Forward’s membership and grantee manager, called “Blind Date” sessions — 20- to 30-minute conversations between newsroom leaders and funders, with no pitches allowed.
Ringo said the idea came to her that creating a setup where both the funder and the newsroom didn’t know who they would be meeting would allow for candid conversations that might never happen if a specific grant was on the line. More than 60 newsrooms got the chance to meet with a funder.
“People were excited to have the opportunity to meet with funders in an unstructured environment,” said Lichterman. “The funders got a lot out of it. It was an opportunity to meet with people in the field and learn what their priorities are, and be able to demystify the relationship a little bit.”
“I’m also looking at opportunities for our newsrooms to do something similar soon and also how they can connect with each other,” said Ringo. “We’re here for the long haul. This isn’t about a quick fix; it’s about building systems and relationships that can last.”
The Summit’s design was intentionally designed to foster connections. “We wanted to schedule long lunch breaks, so people could sit and connect with other people,” Lichterman explained. “People valued being able to meet others doing this work and see that other people are going through what I’m going through.”
“I don’t know that anybody has a conference out there that’s just for the financial side of journalism, and it’s so important,” said Ringo, “Because that’s really the root of what’s going to create sustainability and success.”
Madonia reminded attendees of a deeper purpose: “Fundraising is actually a privilege. We get to work with extraordinary people who want to do extraordinary things — things they never thought possible because they believe in you. You are working with them in an intimate, special moment to help them do this.”
The funder’s perspective
Three weeks later, about 170 people gathered at Philadelphia’s Constitution Center for the Media Impact Funders Forum — an annual event designed to educate philanthropists about media trends and opportunities. Unlike the Lenfest Summit's focus on skills-building, the MIF Forum positions itself as an educational membership organization for funders.
“These sessions are not meant as pitches for funding,” explained Nina Sachdev, director of communications at Media Impact Funders. “The Forum is intended to inform funders about trends in media and new research, and to learn from innovators to help them better assess their own strategies in media funding.”
The Forum’s keynote speaker, Nobel Prize recipient Maria Ressa, founder of Rappler, warned about attacks on press freedom, drawing parallels between her experiences in the Philippines and current challenges in the United States. As E&P reported in June, Ressa warned that the ongoing attacks on journalists and free speech in the U.S. reminded her of what she went through in the Philippines, and she said it is a time of action to defend those rights.
“It was important to us to get Maria Ressa to keynote this. We just thought that she had the right thing to say at the right time,” explained Nina Sachdev, head of communications for Media Impact Funders. “We knew that she would approach the conversation not just with what the threats were, but also how we could respond to them. That is really what we were looking for, because we want our funders to be galvanized.”
Other sessions explored bias in news organizations, the work of public radio programs and the “creator movement” — independent creators and influencer media personalities who may or may not be traditional journalists but are successfully reaching audiences.
One of the forum’s most poignant moments came when Maritza Félix, founder of Conecta Arizona, a Spanish-language nonprofit newsroom founded in 2020, took the stage as a guest of Internews’ Jesse Hardman. As she spoke, her team, many of whom are immigrants themselves, were covering ICE raids and protests, with Félix and some staff members receiving messages telling them to “go back to their country.”
Félix told E&P she was surprised to find herself on that stage, as invitations to the forum are hard to come by, particularly for smaller ethnic community-serving newsrooms like Conecta. She credits Harden for asking her to join him. She said that, given her access to that audience, she felt compelled to represent newsrooms like hers, especially given the urgent circumstances her team and others face each day.
“These spaces and events usually are very exclusive. I would never have imagined me being in this,” Félix said in an interview. “But it is important — not just for my organization, but for me to be here to talk about newsrooms like my own. To share our experiences so funders know our work and the challenges we face.”
The two conferences illuminated several persistent challenges in the relationship between journalism and philanthropy. Knowledge gaps persist. Most newsroom leaders come from editorial backgrounds without fundraising experience, while many funders struggle to understand how newsrooms operate and the impact they can have on communities.
Looking forward
Both conferences reflected a maturing conversation around sustainable journalism funding.
Dale Anglin’s message to those attending the Lenfest Summit earned applause: “I know this is hard. I know some of you are two-person newsrooms. We were worried you wouldn’t come because you are so busy,” she told the crowd. “We hope this conference will be the start of conversations about how … you can approach funders and raise revenue in different ways for sustainability. We see you. I will just say this — the world needs you. We need to understand what’s happening in this rapidly changing world.”
Each of the organizations is already thinking about next year’s conferences. Press Forward and Media Impact Funders will continue to host ongoing online learning sessions regularly for their members, as will Lenfest, which requires only signing up for a newsletter to become a member.
One aspect of the Lenfest Summit that was additionally distinctive was the regular request for feedback at each session. Lichterman said the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with many stating they wanted at least an additional day and more.
“They need to do it every year,” said Kimberly Griffin. “A journalism fundraising conference — chef’s kiss. We need more.”
Diane Sylvester is an award-winning 30-year multimedia news veteran. She works as a reporter, editor, and newsroom strategist. She can be reached at diane.povcreative@gmail.com
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teaster
You're gullible enough to think that the philanthropists won't tell you what to write about... True News should not need any philanthropist support, in this new world of money for information editors and publishers need to get in on that. Personally, it seems to me that "News" is currently too "opinionated" and not actually supplying cold hard facts to anyone and THAT is what is wrong with "News". Work on that! Discuss!
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