MIAMI – April 8, 2015 – A study of 20 nonprofit news organizations shows strong growth among many outlets in the sector, with sites increasing revenue by an average of 73 percent from 2011 to 2013. The report, “Gaining Ground: How Nonprofit News Ventures Seek Sustainability” provides detailed data and analysis on 20 nonprofit news organizations that are geographically focused—local, state and regional—tracking expenses, Web traffic and revenue. It reveals the significant progress many of these organizations have made toward sustainability but also shows that progress has been uneven, with several organizations facing an uncertain future.

The third in a series of reports tracking the progress of nonprofit news organizations released by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation since 2011, the report identifies growing trends and best practices in the nonprofit news arena.

“There are some promising success stories emerging in the nonprofit news arena that hold important lessons for organizations looking to scale and meet new audience demands,” said Jennifer Preston, Knight Foundation vice president for journalism. “Using compelling data, the report highlights these best practices, while creating an important narrative around the progress of nonprofit news organizations that can contribute to the growth of the sector.”

Using data on the 20 news outlets as a basis, the report highlights the ways in which nonprofit news organizations are navigating the changing news environment. It examines data around revenue generation, organizational capacity and social engagement tracking:

●      The site’s ability to attract multiple revenue sources beyond foundation support, including events, advertising, syndication, donors and sponsorships.

●      Investments made in editorial and technology tools, as well as marketing and development.

●      Web and mobile traffic, social media and the ability to build lasting connections with audiences;

Using data from the 20 news sites, the report gives nonprofit news organizations and funders a reference point to develop best practices, providing a benchmark for progress. Importantly, it shows that the sector is growing with organizations that report having specific financial goals experiencing the most success; news sites that invested in business planning saw 88 percent revenue growth from 2011 to 2013 versus 16 percent among sites without any plans in place.

Other key findings among the 20 sites in the study include:

●      Between 2011 and 2013 average revenue grew considerably: Average revenue for the sites was around $873,000 in 2013 and median revenue was around $518,000.  Sites have increased revenue by an average of 73 percent since 2011. While average revenue growth in 2013 was 30 percent, revenue was either flat or down for five of the 20 sites.

●      Sites with a state or regional news focus grew faster than local sites: The revenue of state or regional sites grew by an average of 55 percent in 2013 compared with 2011, whereas local sites revenue growth averaged 12 percent over the same period.

●      News sites are becoming slightly less reliant on foundation funding: In 2011 grant funding represented 63 percent of total revenue for the average news site; this dropped to 58 percent in 2013. However, foundation support is still the largest funding source for most sites—especially for organizations less than 5 years old, which receive 75 percent of total revenue in the form of grants.

●      Earned income is inching upwards: Earned income made up nearly a quarter of total revenue (23 percent) for the average site in 2013, up 5 percentage points since 2011.

●      Individual donor support is growing: All sites reported an increase in the number of donors with the average site going from 498 in 2011 to 757 in 2013. This increase is mainly driven by an increase in donations of less than $1,000, which accounted for 97 percent of all donations in 2013.

●      Site traffic is increasing: News sites increased total visits by an average of 75 percent between 2011 and 2013. State and regional sites averaged more visitors than local sites, largely driven by The Texas Tribune, which had nearly 6 million visitors in 2013.

●      All sites experienced strong growth in mobile traffic: On average, 22 percent of site traffic came from mobile devices in 2013, up from 14 percent in 2012. Nearly all sites are moving toward a mobile-friendly responsive website design.

●      Experimentation with impact measurement is limited: A few sites are testing more sophisticated efforts for tracking impact beyond basic website analytics, but most struggle to capture more meaningfully data about audience engagement.

“These nonprofit news sites have demonstrated impressive revenue and audience growth over the past few years and have shown much progress in beginning to transition from startups to scale-ups,” said Jon Sotsky, Knight Foundation director for strategy and assessment. “However, progress has been uneven across the group and sustainability remains a distant reality for most of these organizations, which is why it’s important to continue to study and promote best practices for business models and product innovation within this still nascent field.”

“Gaining Ground: How Nonprofit News Ventures Seek Sustainability” studied local news organizations: Charlottesville Tomorrow, City Limits, inewsource, The Lens, New Haven Independent, Oakland Local, Philadelphia Public School Notebook, The Rapidian, Voice of OC, Voice of San Diego; state and regional news organizations: Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, IowaWatch, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, MinnPost, New England Center for Investigative Reporting, NJ Spotlight, The Texas Tribune, VTDigger, WisconsinWatch, and WyoFile. The report also captures insights from interviews and data collected from five additional organizations: Center for Investigative Reporting, Center for Public Integrity, Chalkbeat, ProPublica and St. Louis Public Radio. Knight conducted the study with support from Community Wealth Partners on the data analysis; additionally, researcher Kate Marshall Dole led the data collection efforts and report development.

The report is the third in series of studies benchmarking nonprofit news sites release by Knight Foundation. Previous reports include: “Getting Local: How Nonprofit News Ventures Seek Sustainability,” released in 2011, and “Finding a Foothold: How Nonprofit News Ventures Seek Sustainability,” released in 2013.

To download the report visit http://kng.ht./npn15 Follow the conversation on Twitter with #nonprofitnews. 

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more visit knightfoundation.org.

CONTACT:

Anusha Alikhan, Director of Communications, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, 305-908-2646, [email protected]