The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) has announced that, for the first time, nonprofit news organizations attracted more matching funds from local funders than from national and regional foundations during NewsMatch, its year-end matching-gift campaign. 

The 303 participating newsrooms collected more than $5.5 million in matching gifts from community foundations, local philanthropists, and small businesses. NewsMatch raised $4.6 million in matching funds from a group of national, regional, and interest-based funders to incentivize giving from local partners and individuals. Participating organizations also raised over $38 million in gifts from more than 230,000 individuals, for a total of $43 million generated during the last two months of the year—about 10 times the amount of matching funds from NewsMatch.  

“The question is less about how to save the business model than about how we can build enduring solutions for journalism that serve everyone,” said INN chief of growth programs Courtney Lewis. “The flexibility of NewsMatch allows philanthropists with a broad range of interests to invest in newsrooms that are building new models and methods to reach their communities. Seeing a growing swell of support for this type of journalism is truly exciting.”

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