If you care aboutcommunities,you care about local news.
Information is a fundamental building block of thriving communities. Old models for local news have collapsed, with devastating impacts. Thankfully, new, sustainable approaches are emerging.
Communities benefit from local news.
Local news and information helps weave communities together, keeps institutions honest, and strengthens civic life.
Shared understanding
Local news provides the most trusted shared understanding of what’s happening in our city halls, schools, and businesses, and helps residents access the services they need.
Local connections
Local news connects us to our community and to our neighbors. It uplifts voices that would otherwise go unheard.
Agency and accountability
Local news keeps institutions honest by ensuring decision-making structures operate within the public’s view. It gives us the knowledge we need to make informed decisions about issues critical to our daily lives.
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Local news and civic engagement
The Connecticut Mirror
The CT Mirror’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into predatory towing practices helped drive legislative reforms and the creation of a state DMV task force.
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Boyle Heights Beat
After Boyle Heights Beat reported on the lack of in-person polling options for the Boyle Heights neighborhood, county officials stepped in and announced that four pop-up polling centers would be made available for the Nov. 4, 2025 elections.
Learn more
Open Campus
Open Campus and CalMatters exposed millions in financial-aid fraud across California community colleges, prompting state and federal officials to review safeguards and propose reforms.
Learn more
Flatwater Free Press
Flatwater Free Press’ investigation into misconduct by a Nebraska police chief led to his termination within 24 hours of publication.
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The old model for local news has collapsed.
The quality and quantity of essential local news and information is declining as old models fail.
newspapers have closed since 2005
counties have only one remaining local news outlet
of newspaper jobs that existed in 2005 have been lost
How we got here
For 150 years, we relied on advertising revenue, a market transaction, to support a public good. That model has collapsed. Advertising once accounted for 80% of newspapers’ revenue, but in the past 20 years, that revenue stream has fallen by 80%. Many of the newspapers that remain have been acquired by financial institutions that strip newsrooms of resources, turning them into “ghost newspapers” that can barely cover basic community information. Meanwhile, changing algorithms and the rise of AI continue to put pressure on digital business models.
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What it means for communities
Without local news, communities lose their shared source of trusted information. In its absence, misinformation spreads through social networks and websites masquerading as legitimate news sources. People turn to national news outlets and social media instead — but these platforms use local stories as cherry-picked anecdotes to engage national audiences rather than inform local ones. The loss of local news weakens civic life, leaving communities without the information they need to hold institutions accountable and make informed decisions about their daily lives.
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A new, sustainable local news model is emerging
Community engagement and philanthropic support are
keys to making it work.
Purpose-driven and connected to the communities they serve.
By aligning business incentives with their core mission, nonprofit news organizations, like the organizations in our portfolio, are able to focus on producing the type of news and information that builds trust and prioritizes impact.
Nonprofit, but still commercial and sustainable.
To be sustainable, nonprofit news organizations must hold themselves accountable to their readers. Nonprofit news organizations in our portfolio are raising philanthropic capital as one pillar of a robust and diversified revenue strategy that includes advertising, sponsorship, events and memberships.
Nimble, entrepreneurial and innovative
Nonprofit news organizations are experimenting with sustainable, scalable business models that support local journalism that strengthens communities. They’re also exploring smart uses cases for new technology, including through programs like our Product & AI Studio.
New approaches are working
3X
growth in nonprofit local news sector since 2019. Local news is now the most common type of nonprofit newsroom in North America.
40%
Growth in philanthropic grantmaking for news and public information from 2020 to 2024, in comparison to the previous four years
$160M
in diversified revenue generated by our grantee portfolio in 2025, through a mix of subscriptions, philanthropy, earned revenue, major gifts and more.
Join the movement
Local news is vital to our communities. We can all play a role in ensuring its success.
Local news research
A body of independent research conducted in recent years on the crisis in local news, solutions and emerging trends.
